How to share a scenario with learners (it’s a link)

By Colin Urban · Updated July 23, 2026

The delivery story in ScenarioSplice is deliberately boring: your scenario becomes a link, and links go everywhere — Canvas, Google Classroom, Schoology, email, a QR code on a slide. Learners tap it and play in the browser. No accounts, no installs, no roster upload, no app.

That plainness is a policy position. Every step between a learner and the content — account creation, passwords, an app store — costs completions, and for minors it drags in data-privacy machinery nobody wants. Anonymous link-based play sidesteps all of it. Here is the full rollout, start to finish.

1. Validate before you share. Run the built-in validation to catch orphan pages and broken links. A learner hitting a dead end mid-scenario costs you all the credibility the scenario was building.
2. Play it through on a phone. Most learners will open the link on whatever device is in their hand. Play every major path on your own phone once — you are checking pacing and image sizes as much as correctness.
3. Click Assign to get your link. Assign generates an unlisted, shareable link in one click. Your scenario is not public — only people with the link can play it, and it stays private until you assign it.
4. Paste the link where your learners already are. Canvas, Google Classroom, Schoology, and email all accept a pasted URL — that is the whole integration, and it is deliberate. There is no SCORM package to upload or LTI tool to configure; if your LMS can show a link, it can deliver your scenario. Slack, Teams, a QR code on a slide, and the morning-announcements doc all work the same way.
5. Tell learners what to expect. One sentence prevents most confusion: "Takes about eight minutes, works on your phone, no account needed, your choices are anonymous." The anonymity note matters — learners choose more honestly when they know nobody is grading the attempt.
6. Plan the follow-through. Anonymous play means candor, not per-learner records — a gradebook with CSV export is on the roadmap. Today, pair the scenario with a short reflection prompt ("which choice did you regret, and why?") or a live debrief, which is where the real teaching lands anyway.

Making the link look like it came from you

Everything above is the free path, and for a teacher sharing with their own class it is the whole job — students already know who set the work. The calculation changes when the person opening the link does not know you, or is paying you. An unfamiliar brand buys a half-second of “is this legitimate?”, and in a corporate inbox that half-second is sometimes the difference between a completion and a shrug.

Professional ($19/month) puts your logo and colors on what the learner opens, replaces the intro and completion screens with your own wording, and drops the “Made with ScenarioSplice” line. Save it as a brand kit and every later scenario inherits it. Keep several kits if you deliver for more than one client and swap between them per scenario.

When the link should not be public

A share link is unlisted rather than secret: anyone holding it can play, and it will not surface in a library or a search result. That is the right default for a class or a team and the wrong one for a scenario built around a client’s real escalation data.

For those, put an access code on the link. Learners enter it once before the scenario opens, which is enough to stop a forwarded link travelling further than intended without building the account system that would defeat the point. Be clear-eyed about what it is: a doorlatch, not authentication. It does not identify anyone and it does not tell you who played.

Frequently asked questions

Do learners need Google accounts?

No. Only authors sign in, with Google, to build and edit. Learners just open the link in a browser.

Can it be a graded Canvas assignment?

You can post the link anywhere Canvas accepts a URL, but there is no grade passback — learners are anonymous. Teachers usually grade an attached reflection instead.

What devices does it work on?

Phones, tablets, laptops — anything with a modern browser. Nothing to install on school or company devices.

Is there a limit on links or plays?

No. Building and sharing is free with no cap on scenarios, and learners never hold seats because they never hold accounts. The paid tier, Professional, is about branded delivery rather than volume. Professional is $19/month and you can start it today.

What data is collected from learners?

Learners play anonymously: no name, email, or account is collected. That is the current design, and it is what makes the one-link rollout possible.