Add Simple Interactivity—for Free—with H5P

H5P offers an easy way to add interactive elements toeLearning. Whether used as enrichment or to test learning and recall ofinformation, interactive exercises, quizzes, and games make eLearning moreengaging and effective.

What is H5P?

H5P is a free, open-source tool for creating reusable,interactive HTML5 content. An abbreviation for HTML5 Package, H5P is based on JavaScript.The content is responsive and mobile-friendly, which means that learners canuse it on laptops, tablets, and smartphones. Creating content for Drupal,WordPress, or Moodle platforms requires a free plugin, but using theinteractive content does not require that learners have a plugin, only a webbrowser.

A community website, H5P.org,supports the development and dissemination of H5P. Anyone can join thecommunity and contribute to development of new content types and platforms. Thewebsite includes rich instruction and guidance for new users.

Developers can create content in any browser, using asupported platform; it’s even possible to “test drive” H5P using tools on theH5P website. Developers can also modify and reuse content easily, across anycompatible website.

What kinds of content does H5P support?

Developers can use H5P to add interactivity to videos,presentations, and asynchronous eLearning courses. They can create:

• Games—Create matching games, memorygames, flash cards, and more.
• Interactive videos—Add hotspots,supplemental text, or multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank questions to avideo. Triggering an interactive element can pause the video; responses cancause the learner to skip to the appropriate section of the video—a review ofinformation in the case of an incorrect response or a new section when acorrect response is entered.
• Hotspots—Adding hotspots to images allowsdevelopers to reveal text or additional images or trigger a video when clicked.A triggered image or video can fill the entire screen or cover only part of thescreen. Hotspots may be visible or hidden; learners can be asked to find hiddenhotspots by answering questions.
• Hierarchies of information—Layered imagesor accordion text can add levels of detail as learners interact. Presenthigh-level information and ask learners to click on a drop-down list or open anaccordion box to read more detailed facts. Alternatively, provide an image and offermore detailed information as learners click to add layers—a map can addborders, lakes and rivers, and city names, for example.
• Words, words, words—Learners canhighlight words, drag words to the proper place, fill in the blanks, or matchwords with an image or definition, offering myriad ways to create interactivequizzes and word-based games.
• Timelines—Learners can interact withgraphical timelines, clicking on dates, images, or text to reveal additionalinformation along the timeline.

Where is H5P headed?

The H5P website displays a roadmap and timeline of goals,features to be added, and progress on earlier goals.

Developers can get started using interactive H5Penhancements by installing the appropriate plugin for their platform,downloading examples of desired content types, and revising those sample filesto create the content they want. They can then embed the new H5P content intheir web content. Several content types support a function to get xAPI data; somethird-party software can receive xAPI-compatible reports on learners’ H5Pactivities.

It’s free to join the H5P community, where developers can share content,learn from tutorials and documentation, watch demos, and participate increating new content types.