How to use this guide

When you teach in person, you naturally pause at specific points to ask formative comprehension questions, prompt reflection, let students work individually, or otherwise invite interaction with ideas or processes. In online, hybrid, or other self-paced digital modes, H5P can help you provide similar interactivity at the moment of interactive need.

How We Think About H5P

You may already be aware that H5P (which stands for HTML5 Package) is an open-source digital authoring and collaboration tool that allows creators to build, embed, share, and re-use simple to complex user-facing interactions. With H5P, we faculty and instructional designers can:

• alternatively present information and ask questions that respond to user input;
• incorporate a two-way flow of information between the course content and the learner; and
• stimulate interest that can lead to engagement.

Guide Terminology

H5P offers 50+ “content types.” However, we call each type an “interactive stimulus” (or simply, “interactive” or “stimulus”) because of the potential to stimulate user response and sustain the attention that leads to true learner engagement. H5P stimuli featured in this guide were selected for their accessibility and potential benefit when used in Penn State courses. 

For each stimulus, you will find: 

• Stimulus type: A stimulus is a single-purpose activity (such as True/False) or a combination of activities to meet a larger need (such as Course Presentation, which includes True/False, Multiple-Choice, and more). 
• Gradable: A gradable stimulus gives learners points for the activity. Note that points cannot be recorded to the gradebook unless using the LTI or importing as SCORM. However, the presence of points in the stimulus indicates potential for gradability, if desired. 
• Automated Feedback Option: Notes where the stimulus interface allows for automated feedback to be shown in response to user input. If feedback is desired for a stimulus that does not allow it to be programmed, other approaches will be needed. 
• Multimedia: Some stimuli require audio, video, or images, while others are text only. Multimedia notes indicate any required or optional media possibilities. 
• Production Notes: These notes indicate one or more build considerations that may or may not be applicable to your situation. 

Why We Created This Guide

In short, we saw (and had!) a need that we did not find was being met elsewhere: a categorization of H5P stimuli that is both learner-centered and teaching-centered.

Learner-Centered

First, H5P describes its interactives from the perspective of the creator (H5P Examples and Downloads). Because Penn State is a student-centered institution, we wanted descriptions from the perspectives of the user. In other words, “What can the student do with each stimulus?”

This guide is our attempt to provide learner-centered descriptions of selected H5P interactions.

Teaching-Centered

Second, we have seen H5P interactives organized by time-to-create and information provided (Mohawk College, Intro to H5P, slide 7), by level of creation difficulty (Ng & Rekhari, 2018, p. 3-5), and even as a periodic table (Mealor, 2023; Rao, 2020). We have seen useful “best practices” (NC State University) and thoughtful considerations for choosing H5P interactives (Portland Community College, “Why Use H5P?). While we found the “Single Purpose vs Multipurpose” distinction from The H5P Kitchen meaningful, what we have not seen in our investigations is an attempt to answer the question, “Which H5P interactive can best achieve the type of interaction I want to stimulate?” in other words, “Which interactive is best for my teaching intent?” 

This guide is our attempt to link H5P interactivity to teaching intent.