At our last DLT event in July, we showcased several plug-ins and activities for Moodle. One of which was the H5P activity. So, for those who missed the session, and want to look at revamping their Moodle spaces for the new academic year, this one is for you!

What is H5P content?

H5P is an abbreviation for HTML5 Package. It is free open-source content that enables educators to create engaging content that can be integrated into Virtual Learning Environments such as Moodle. There are over 50 types of activities to choose from! This includes flashcards, Cornell Notes, interactive videos and books, diagram hotspots, charts and, when we are feeling Christmassy, advent calendars. On the H5P.org website you can find some examples of H5P activities such as an interactive video on smoothie making to show you what is possible. The DLT team have also set up a Moodle H5P demo site which Lancaster University staff can view. Students can access H5P activities easily and quickly through Moodle and you can keep an eye on engagement through activity completion and the reports.

How does it improve engagement?

These activities can also be used as part of a strategy to improve the online experience for distance learners. The H5P plug-in is part of the ‘gamification’ set that is available in Moodle.  It aims to enhance engagement and motivation by creating similar experiences to those when playing online games. For example, H5P activities such as the memory game, virtual tours, interactive timelines and even crosswords and quizzes make learning more enjoyable for students.

By using H5P activities, course content can be broken down into manageable pieces and learners can complete the activities at their own pace. This is important to ensure that learners don’t feel overwhelmed and feel a sense of achievement as they work their way through their course content.

These types of activities are also particularly good in higher education as retrieval practice (the practice of remembering) and feeds into teaching learners how to learn and what works for them. They can also be used in the lead up to exams to help students with their revision. For more information on retrieval practice, Tom Sherrington’s ‘Kitchen Pedagogy 2:2’ video is a great introduction and you can find lots of information on his website.

How do I start creating some material?

H5P activities are created and stored in the content bank area of Moodle. It acts as a repository and allows individual H5P activities to be reused multiple times. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel and can use resources that you already have. For example, you could use a YouTube video and make this interactive or use some presentations that you already have and turn these into an interactive book.

To get to the content bank go to the drop-down menu under ‘more’ at the top of your Moodle page.

Then click the ‘add’ button and choose the type of interactive content that you want to make from the drop down list.

Once you have made the content in the bank and saved it you can then turn edit mode on in Moodle and ‘add an activity or resource’. Choose the h5P option.

You can change the settings of the activity as usual and when it comes to adding the content from the content bank, you can access this via the ‘file picker’ under ‘package file’.

Remember to either click ‘save and display’ or ‘save and return to course’ once finished.

If you are not worried about tracking the learner’s progress and prefer to use H5P activities more formatively, then you can also add any H5P activity anywhere in Moodle using the standard text editor.

Is it accessible?

It is essential that educators ensure that content can be accessed by all students. Lots of information on this can be found via the ASK page on the staff intranet. Luckily, when it comes to creating H5P content, a lot of the content types are accessible.

H5p.com maintain a list of all the different content types and how accessible they are. If the content on this list states that it isn’t accessible this often means that it has problems such as not meeting colour contrast guidance, not having subtitles or not being compatible with screen readers or voice recognition software. However, in good news many of the activities that are available are accessible, but it is still important to check, especially if you are new to using H5P and not familiar with all the content types yet.

I’m new to this, where can I get help?

Moodle has information on their website on how to create and edit H5P content. There is also an authoring guide available via h5p.com. Alternatively, you can contact one of the Digital Learning Facilitators who can help and advise you. The most important thing to remember is that you don’t need to create all new resources from scratch. You can use H5P to enhance the resources that you already have and make them more interactive and fun for learners.