Choosing your OER Tools: A Tool Look Book
4.6 H5P for Presenting Your Content
Theresa Huff
Why Consider H5P?
With nearly 50 different types of interactivities available, H5P can be used for many different purposes in your OER. H5P (HTML-5 Package) is a free, open-source interactivity builder. As mentioned, the choice of which technology you use in your OER should be driven by whether or not it can support the learning objective, rather than just about adopting a cool tool. While H5P has some cool capabilities, more importantly, it can support a variety of best practices and learning theories.
Research around using H5P has show that it can
- improve motivation and engagement (Mutawa et al, 2023)
- support critical thinking (Carr, 2021)
- improve learning outcomes (Rhami et al, 2024)
The next few pages will offer a look book of many (but not all) H5P types, organized by H5P types that help you
- present or organize your content, whether it be text, images, videos, or audio
- provide formative assessments for practice in all kinds of ways and using all sorts of media
- offer your learners reflection and deep learning in as many ways as you can imagine
Using H5P to Present and Organize Your Content
This section will highlight H5P that can help you organize and present your content in your OER.
Supports UDL Engagement , UDL Representation, and UDL Action and Expression.
These tools promote engagement by offering interactivity and a variety of media.
H5P with Audio
Besides offering another way for users to access content (a UDL principle), offering audio in OER for courses like Communications or Music courses are vital for learners to gain understanding and an immersive experience.
H5P Audio Recording
This tool allows you to present your content in an audio recording.
Consider how this Communications 101 course allows students to read and hear an example of using an attention grabber in a speech:
“Just how big is a billion? To put this in perspective, let us look at a single second. Now, let’s figure out how much time passes in one billion seconds. Any guesses? It takes more than 31 years. If you started counting to one billion when Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds radio broadcast convinced some Americans that aliens had invaded the country in 1938, you’d finish counting around the time Neil Armstrong took his first step on the moon.”
More examples – This Pressbook has used this tool to create an audiobook version of their Pressbook.
More examples of the H5P Audio Recording tool.
Note: The Audio Recorder works in Chrome and Firefox browsers. If alternate text is provided (as in the above example), then it is accessible.
Sustainability: H5P is built into Pressbooks and is therefore easy to update or share. However, the H5P Team is not actively fixing problems with this tool.
H5P with Images and Figures
Sometimes a picture can be “worth a thousand words.” It can also engage your learners, break up a page of static text, and solidify a memory. In some fields of study, such as Art or Design, learners need to be able to study an image. In others, such as Data Analytics or Research figures need to be studied. While Pressbooks allows images and figures to be brought in independently, several H5P tools can hold images and figures in ways that may be more meaningful for your learners.
H5P Tools: Collage, Chart, and Image Slider
Look through this H5P Interactive Book to find several ways of using images to display or support your content.
What is this tool? - H5P Interactive Book
H5P for Image Interactivity
Sometimes learners need to be able to study or compare several images over time. For example, in Climate Studies, learners need to be able to see changes in images of the ocean or land over time. Sometimes you want your learners to interact and observe something but not necessarily practice with it or receive feedback about it. H5P has a couple of tools that can help facilitate that.
H5P Tools: Agamotto and Image Juxtaposition
H5P Agamotto
This tool allows creators use two or more images to show changes over time, changes in proximity, or variations between images. Short, text explanations can be added as well.
More examples of Agamotto
Sustainability: H5P is built into Pressbooks and is therefore easy to update or share. However, the H5P Team is not actively maintaining this tool.
H5P Image Juxtaposition
This tool is similar to Agamotto, but only with two images and no explanatory text. It also allows creators to slide between the images using a vertical or a horizontal slider.
More examples of Image Juxtaposition
Note: This tool has accessibility issues.
Sustainability: H5P is built into Pressbooks and is therefore easy to update or share. However, the H5P Team is not actively maintaining this tool.
H5P for Page Content Variety
H5P Accordion and Dialog Cards
H5P Accordion
This tool allows you to condense the amount of text content on a page by breaking it up into expandable portions. Learners can interact with it by choosing which headlines to open and read.
More examples on the H5P Accordion tool.
How-to guides on the H5P Accordion tool
This tool can replace paragraphs of text explanations with interactive flip cards that can hold images and/or text. It can also be used a tool for learners to practice or drill content they need to memorize, such as historical events, formulas, names, or definitions.
Consider these Dialog Cards used for learners writing a persuasive speech:
Example for learning chemical compounds
More examples of the H5P Dialog Cards
How-to guides on the H5P Dialog Cards
H5P Timeline
This tool can help learners visualize and interact with sequenced content, such as events through time or processes.
H5P Timeline
Consider this example of an H5P Timeline used in a Business course:
More examples of using H5P Timelines
More examples on the H5P Timeline
How-to guides on the H5P Timeline
Note: The Timeline content type may or may not be accessible, depending on if text is used in the field above the timeline itself or not. To ensure it is accessible, include text above the timeline.
Sustainability: H5P is built into Pressbooks and is therefore easy to update or share. However, the H5P Team is not actively maintaining this tool.
Resources
Carr, W. H. (2021). Using the H5P digital platform as an active learning tool to build content-based critical thinking skills in an undergraduate immunology course. The Journal of Immunology, 206(1_Supplement), 54-06. https://doi.org/10.4049/jimmunol.206.Supp.54.06
Mutawa, A. M., Al Muttawa, J. A. K., & Sruthi, S. (2023). The effectiveness of using H5P for undergraduate students in the asynchronous distance learning environment. Applied Sciences, 13(8), 4983. https://doi.org/10.3390/app13084983
Rahmi, U., Fajri, B. R., & Azrul, A. (2024). Effectiveness of interactive content with H5P for Moodle-learning management system in blended learning. Journal of Learning for Development, 11(1), 66-81.
Supports UDL for Engagement - Find More Strategies: https://udlguidelines.cast.org/engagement
Supports UDL Representation. Find More Strategies: https://udlguidelines.cast.org/representation
Supports UDL Action & Expression. Find More Strategies: https://udlguidelines.cast.org/action-expression
This is an H5P Interactive Book. This H5P type allows creators put together several interactive H5P types on multiple pages. It can be used as a short, independent lesson with text, images, interactives, and practice.
H5P is a free, open-source interactivity building tool built into Pressbooks. The H5P Interactive Video is one of over 50 different types of H5P interactives.
