H5P is an open source plug-in that allows users to create interactive content in an existing authoring platform, through a WordPress site, a Pressbooks site, or through an LTI with a Learning Management System (Canvas, Moodle, Blackboard, etc.).

H5P is important for equity-minded learning design because it allows students to engage more deeply in course concepts and to test their own comprehension of course materials in a low-stakes environment.

H5P allows authors and instructors to include answer feedback to guide students in further study and review. In this way, when a student completes H5P interactives and receives substantive answer feedback, students can gauge their focus in the course materials and feel connected to their instructor.

Pressbooks Directory allows users to filter by H5P Activities. This is a great way to see how other instructors have incorporated H5P interactives into open textbook and course content.

eCampusOntario H5P Studio allows users to search existing H5P by keyword, subject, or question type. Many of these examples are openly licensed and can be adapted for your course.

H5P Kitchen is an open community space with guides, examples, reflections, and shared H5P projects. The space is not currently that active, but the collection of resources is great.

Why create H5P?

There are some powerful reasons to create H5P for our open textbooks:

• Help students achieve chapter learning objectives. Each interactive will deepen a student’s understanding of the key terms, skills, or concepts that guide the chapter. Each interactive should have a clear relationship with at least one chapter learning objective (often more than one!).
• Give students more opportunities to check comprehension. Learner interaction, discovery, and agency allow students to shift from passive to active learners. Interactives in the text reinforce and interleave content, supporting new learning pathways.
• Increase the relevance and overall appeal of the Pressbook. Future educators and adopters look for built-in student interaction. Because many students print the Pressbook or download to read offline, we want to include the text of quiz questions and answers in the PB.

How do I help create H5P?

As course pilot instructors, you play an important role in drafting H5P that aligns with chapter content and draws from existing course activities. You can help to identify opportunities to reinforce concepts and skills by brainstorming interactives that incorporate keywords, learning verbs, and skills described in chapter learning objectives.

Review your textbook chapters for ideas for new H5P. Check our list of accessible content types and accessible behavioral settings below as your guide (see below). You can draft H5P ideas in your H5P Drafting document in your course pilot folder. Your ID can help you to build them into the Pressbook prior to the start of your pilot term.

If you feel comfortable creating H5P in the Pressbook yourself, request access from Phoebe Daurio. Please follow these steps:

1. In the admin view of the Pressbook, hover over “H5P Content” on the left hand navigation menu and select “Add new.”
2. Select the desired content type. If it’s the first time you’re using the content type for this book, you’ll first select “Get.” Once it installs, select “Use.” If you have used it previously, simply select the content type to start a new interactive question.
3. The “Title” for any content type should describe the H5P item itself, not how/where you are using it. For example, “Review for Gender as Social Construction” would be a good title for a quiz about the learning objective “Define gender as a social construction.” We want each title to be rich and descriptive so that future instructors can easily grasp what they are about and use them in their own projects. We will use H5P tags in Pressbooks to indicate where each interactive appears in the book. This will help us to organize our H5P libraries and prepare to integrate interactives into chapters. You can tag each H5P with the relevant chapter section title in Pressbooks while editing H5P. For example: 1.4
4. We won’t embed H5P into the books just yet, as students are still using the Y2 versions. We may also need to switch to building H5P in the launch Pressbook instead of Y2, but will let you know!
5. When selecting Behavioral Settings for quizzes, do NOT select the following options:

• Randomize answers
• Show confirmation dialog on “Check”
• Show confirmation dialog on “Retry”
• Automatically check answers

What H5P Interactives can I create?

H5P includes over 40 content types but not all are accessible to screen reader software. Based on reports from the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) Open Educational Resources Initiative (OERI) (2022) and accessibility evaluations from PCC (2021), we recommend the following content types:

• Accordion: include headings and drop-down explanations of content; great for self-checking definitions of concepts
• Drag and drop: students associate two or more elements in order to make logical connections; be sure to add visible labels for dropzones/draggables and include clear instructions outside of the H5P object to make this activity accessible
• Essay: students enter short answer text in response to a question and receive immediate automated feedback based on preset keywords and rubric question; great for automated practice of specific writing skills but still needs human grading
• Image Hotspots: add hotspots to images to reveal text, images, and videos in internal popup windows when clicked; make sure to add a title to each hotspot to ensure screen reader accessibility (ex: Population of Greenland); content included in the popup window should not assume students have vision and should include alt text
• Image Juxtaposition: compare two images with a horizontal slider or a vertical slider (ex: before and after of the same location); be sure to include alt text to ensure accessible comparison; do not include hover text
• Interactive Video: add interactions to a video, including multiple choice questions with one or more correct answers, drag and drop text, mark the word, images, tables, labels, text, links; be sure to meet accessibility principles for any interactives embedded in the video (alt text, headings, etc) and only use those interactives listed here
• Guess the Answer: students guess an answer based on a picture; don’t forget to add alt text so that students with low vision or who are blind can meaningfully guess
• Mark the words: students highlight words in an example paragraph according to the task description; great for identifying problematic language or related concepts in a sample paragraph
• Multiple Choice Quiz Questions: students identify one or more correct choices and get instant performance feedback; remember not to randomize answers or show confirmation dialog; answer feedback is a real gain for learners
• Summary: students choose between statements to build a collection of correct statements; great for comprehension checks at the end of a chapter section
• True/False Quiz Questions: true/false questions offer a low stakes way to check understanding; remember not to show confirmation dialog; if using images, include alt text; answer feedback is a real gain for learners

Licenses and Attributions

All content on this page is by Veronica Vold for Open Oregon Educational Resources and is licensed under CC BY 4.0.