Creating Interactive Content with H5P

H5P, (Html-5-Package) is an open-source tool that authors interactive content and media. it is increasingly used to add interactive elements to open textbooks and open educational resources


For this activity, you will create an account on H5P.org and create a Paragraph Sort activity.

  1. Go to H5P.org and click Sign Up for Free Account and complete the required fields. Once you have registered click Login and your profile page will open.
  2. From your profile page click ‘Try out H5P’
  3. Select “Sort the Paragraphs,” “Structure Strips” or “Dialogue Cards” from the list and click Details
  4. On the page that opens click Content Demo for an example of this content type. Once you have viewed the example click Use
  5. Add a title and add different paragraphs, phrases or sentences that you want students to order
  6. Optional: Add feedback
  7. Click Save. You can now view your H5P question.
  8. Share the link to your H5P in the comment box below

Image Credit: Image used on featured image:  Aerial view of computer laptop and a cup of tea by Rawpixel (CC by 0) 

17 responses to “Creating Interactive Content with H5P”

  1. Jessica Norman

    The “sort the paragraphs” exercise was not in the list of options for the H5P.org demos, so I did an “Image choice” question instead. I found the site easy to navigate and the process to create the content was easy with the “WYSIWYG” interface. I was pleased to see I could even edit the image from within the interface, as well as many options to customize the student interaction.
    The exercise I created was very basic but it clearly highlighted the benefits of working with H5P.

  2. Cecile Farnum

    I did the sort the paragraphs exercise as well – outlining the correct sequence to the systematic review process: https://cecilefarnum.h5p.com/content/1291595877708423028

    I’ve used H5P a bit before, but I can see myself getting more comfortable with using this for interaction and engagement with students. I was recently involved in the creation of an OER where we used H5P regularly for quiz-like activities, and it is very useful, and easy to use.

    I’d like to experiment with using it in Brightspace, our LMS, and see what that is like.

  3. Doug Strable

    Hello Cecile,

    When I select the link to the H5P exercise, the system asks for a password. Is this done intentionally? If not, could you check in the ” Display section” that the check box in “Publish” is set to “public” for everyone to enjoy the activity.

  4. Doug Strable

    Hello Everyone,

    Here is my “Sort the Paragraphs” sample. https://strable.h5p.com/content/1291595980025470219

    I’ve enjoyed the information BC Campus has on as well as the catalog of samples from faculty eCampus Ontario. One of the most valuable things I find about H5P is it allows the author to select Creative Commons licenses and H5P can be easily cloned and adapted.

    https://kitchen.opened.ca/
    https://h5pstudio.ecampusontario.ca/

  5. Doug Strable

    Hello Everyone,

    Here is the link to my H5P “Sort the paragraphs” activity. I’ve been experimenting with H5P for about a year now, and enjoy all the various samples eCampus Ontario H5P catalog https://h5pstudio.ecampusontario.ca/. Creating, sharing and adapting H5P content under a CC license will definitely help authors add interactivity in online courses.

    https://strable.h5p.com/content/1291595980025470219

  6. Doug

    Hello Everyone,

    Here is the link to my H5P “Sort the paragraphs” activity. I’ve been experimenting with H5P for about a year now, and enjoy all the various samples eCampus Ontario H5P catalog https://h5pstudio.ecampusontario.ca/. Creating, sharing and adapting H5P content under a CC license will definitely help authors add interactivity in online courses.

    https://strable.h5p.com/content/1291595980025470219

  7. Strable, Doug

    Hello Everyone,

    Here is the link to my H5P “Sort the paragraphs” activity. I’ve been experimenting with H5P for about a year now, and enjoy all the various samples eCampus Ontario H5P catalog https://h5pstudio.ecampusontario.ca/. Creating, sharing and adapting H5P content under a CC license will definitely help authors add interactivity in online courses.

    https://strable.h5p.com/content/1291595980025470219

  8. Christie Hurrell

    Here’s the link to my dialogue cards https://h5p.org/node/1261123
    It was cool to learn more about H5P and I really appreciate the step by step nature of how it guides you to put in metadata and alt text.

  9. Michelle Johnson

    Hi Everyone,

    I LOVE H5P. Full disclosure, I’ve had experience before this course, but any excuse to explore and use it more is a good one.
    I’d love to learn how to design templates. I’ve been trying to make a branching scenario for a fair dealing decision flow chart. Definitely a work in progress, but a really great way to think through some problems: https://h5pstudio.ecampusontario.ca/content/38634

  10. Erik Christiansen

    https://h5p.org/node/1261799

    Very interesting tool! I chose the structure strips activity because it seemed most relevant to an exercise I often have students complete. I have first-year students identify the aspects of a scholarly article, but I usually create this activity in Springshare (a proprietary library guides tool). I like being able to link to, or embed, activities from third-party tools because it makes it easier to re-use and adapt such exercises for different classes. I’m surprised how easy this was.

  11. Sarah

    Here’s the link to my H5P dialogue card testing activity for the 5R’s of Open: https://h5p.org/node/1262146.

    I’ve created H5P activities before within Pressbooks, but I haven’t had the chance to create one in awhile so I had to take the opportunity. There were some new activity types that weren’t available the last time I created an H5P activity in the list of options, so I’ll have to test them out soon.

  12. Zoe

    I absolutely love h5p. There are more features than are listed on the first page including:
    1. Course Presentation – with interactive slides
    2. Interactive Videos
    3. 360 Virtual Tours
    4. Drag and Drop word tasks
    5. Branching Scenario – for dilemma decision tasks
    6. Image Matching game
    7. Image Slider Tutorial
    8. Image Sequencing
    9. Essay with auto-feedback
    10. Fill in the Blanks
    11. Dictation with auto-feedback
    12. Hotspots
    13. Highlighting
    14. Memory games
    15. Math quizzes
    16. Interactive Summary Tasks
    17. Graphing – Bar and Pie charts
    18. Collages
    19. Timelines
    and a few more…

    Each one has a tutorial and it is really easy to figure out. So fantastic – sure wish we had this when I was a student in university. 🙂

  13. Jordan Pedersen

    I created a dialogue cards exercise, and it was fun and even easier than I expected:
    https://h5p.org/node/1410832

    One downside (or maybe upside for switching to a different, free platform), is that when I checked into including the H5P plugin on my personal website through WordPress, it is only available with business plans.

    1. Will Engle

      Hi Jordan – you might want to check out eCampus Ontario’s H5P studio: https://h5pstudio.ecampusontario.ca/, which I believe is free for post secondary educators in Ontario. It’s also a nice resource for finding already created H5P content.

  14. Carol Brown

    I have never used HP5 before, but I am so glad I’ve learned about it as I definitely see myself using it in the future! It’s fantastic! I made a set of dialogue cards for my son (who’s in kindergarden) to practice the names of shapes in French. I’d like to add audio too but I didn’t have time to record any today – but it’s fantastic

    https://h5p.org/node/1412741

    In reading Jordan’s comment I do worry about what platform(s) will work best with HP5 if I want to create my own online content / modules / courses for my students (or for my kids / for fun!)

    Does anyone have recommendations for a newbie for what might work best?

    1. Will Engle

      Hi Carol – I noted this above, but eCampus Ontario has an H5P studio that is pretty great to use: https://h5pstudio.ecampusontario.ca/. If you are in BC, BCcampus had H5P integrated into their Pressbook service, and UBC also has an H5P server here: https://h5p.open.ubc.ca

  15. Kabir Bhalla

    This was my first time experimenting with H5P and I absolutely love it! I would like to learn more in the future and potentially integrate this tool into my teaching. Here’s a dialog card I created as a part of this exercise: https://h5p.org/node/1417225

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