What is H5P?

H5P is an educational technology tool for creating interactive online content. Think of it as a way to make your online courses or presentations more engaging. It's like a toolbox that lets you add interactive elements like flashcards, quizzes, interactive videos, hotspots, and presentations to your e-learning modules. The best part? It's open-source, which means it's free to use and has a community of users constantly adding new features and improvements.

Imagine you're designing an online course. With H5P, you can make your content more interactive and fun. Instead of just reading text or watching videos, learners can participate in quizzes, fill in the blanks, or even move things around on the screen. It's all about making learning more active and enjoyable. Plus, it works great with D2L, so integrating it into your existing courses should be a breeze.

The most frequently used content types for teaching in Higher Education are:

1. Course Presentations: a series of slides that can include audio, video, questions and links. See the following examples for interactive lectures: 
2. Interactive Video: a video with interactive elements appearing on screen, including annotations, questions, links, etc. See an example here:
3. Question Sets: a series of multiple-choice questions of various types. See the following tool box for examples: 
4. Branching Scenarios: a series of different multimedia rich content (i.e. presentation slides, text, images, hotspots, or video) that can present learners with choices. This can be used to create dilemmas, serious games, and multi-stage lessons. Click on this link for an example: 

There are two ways to integrate H5P learning activities.

Option 1 – Modification: Build on something useful that’s already there. If you find existing H5P content that you like or would like to adapt to your specific course needs, you can upload this to your Word Press DSU homepage. Many university educators across the globe have started creating content with H5P, and many of these resources are now available on university websites, personal instructor blogs or other online spaces. It is noteworthy that many of these shared resources grant you permission to make modifications that better fit your specific teaching needs. If you see the "Reuse" at the bottom of an H5P element, you can download the file and then upload it into your homepage.

If you choose the modification route, you can use an existing H5P file (you may have found on the internet) and upload it into your H5P plugin on your Word Press DSU homepage. 

To adapt existing H5P content:

1. Hover over the H5P Content words located on the left side of your dashboard.
2. Select "Add New," this will bring you to a new page with the H5P Plugin.
3. At the top of this page, the radio button for Create Content is pre-selected, Click on the "Upload" button.
4. Next click on "Upload a file."
5. Find your file and click "Open."
6. Select "Use."
7. Then begin adapting the H5P content.

Option 2 – Creation: Create new and your very own H5P content from scratch by using H5P content editor in your DSU homepage.

In your DSU homepage's dashboard, look on the left-hand side and you will see "H5P Content." When you hover over those words, you will see 4 areas; All H5P Content, Add New, Libraries, and My Results.

To create new content from scratch:

1. Hover over the H5P Content words located on the left side of your dashboard.
2. Select "Add New," this will bring you to a new page with the H5P Plugin.
3. Select the "Content Type" that you would like to use by selecting "Details,"
4. Select  "Use."

Once you have done this, you are ready to create your own interactive content. 

If you need help learning about H5P, or creating H5P elements, contact us at the Center for Teaching and Learning. We would love to help you out!