Interactive H5P Activities

Posted15 August 2021

Updated24 August 2021

ByGrzegorz Rogala

What is H5P

H5P is a content creation tool that enables teachers to create content such as interactive presentations, quizzes, videos and other multimedia learning objects to their Moodle sites. H5P is fully integrated with Moodle 3.9 so content created using H5P can be quickly and easily added as a H5P activity or embedded as part of other Moodle activities and resources. Finally, the H5P content bank can also be included in the course back-up file and migrated to other courses.

The H5P Content Bank

The content bank is new to Moodle 3.9. It is where teachers create edit and store their H5P content.

The content bank is accessible via the Navigation Drawer on your Moodle module or course page.

Click on the ‘Content Bank’ to open the H5P content bank for the module or course. Then you can ‘Add’ and activity or upload an existing .h5p package.

Content bank menu in Navigation Drawer on bottom left Moodle interface

Click ‘Add’ and select the name of the activity you want to create from the drop-down menu. This will launch an intuitive editing interface which you can use to build your activity. After you have finished working on the activity, you can save changes and preview your activity by clicking on its name from the content bank main page.

If you have a .h5p package you previously downloaded, simply click ‘Upload’ and drag-and-drop the package onto the upload area or use the file picker to select the file from a specific location on your computer.

Note: Each module or course on Moodle has its own content bank. This means the content you create in the content bank of one Moodle course will not automatically appear in another module or course. There are a number of ways to share the content you create across modules. See section Manage H5P activities.

For more details on the content bank see Moodle’s documentation

Adding H5P activities to your module

Once you have created or uploaded H5P content to your module content bank the H5P activity tool enables you to add this content to your Moodle module page.

Step 1: Click ‘Turn Editing On’ at the top of your module site.

Step 2: Navigate to the section where you would like to add the H5P content and click ‘Add an Activity or Resource’

Step 3: From the Activity picker select ‘H5P’.

Moodle activity picker with H5P activity highlighted

Step 4: Give the activity a name and click the insert new file icon to choose content from the content bank.

Adding Hp5 content dialog box contains a number of fields including Name, Description and Package file. Name and Package file icon are highlighted

Step 5: From the File Picker click ‘Content Bank’ and choose the H5P content you would like to add to your module.

File Picker dialog box with content bank highlighted and various h5p activities listed

Step 6: When prompted select ‘Create an Alias/shortcut to the file’ and click Select this file

Step 7: Click ‘Save and Return’ to course

Alternatively, you can add a H5P resource using the H5P button in the text editor found in many activities and resources across your module.

You can use this method to display a H5P resource on the module page using the Label resource, on a page along other media (text, images etc.) using the Page resource or in the description field of any activity or resource in your module. For instance, the Accordion menu can be used in a module page to better organise longer paragraphs or descriptions.

Step 1: Click the H5P button in the text editor to add a H5P resource.

Step 2: Click ‘Browse Repository’ to locate the H5P resource you want to add.

Step 3: You can add a H5P resource by selecting it from the Content Bank or uploading a .h5p package.

Note: By Selecting ‘Create an Alias/shortcut’ you are ensuring that any updates or change made to this activity in the content bank will automatically but updated in the activity you are adding to your module.

Alternatively you can ‘Create a copy’. Choosing this option means that ang changes you make in the content bank will note be updated into the activity you have added to your module.

Finally, you can also edit the ‘Author’ field in case there are several teachers creating different edited versions of the same activity in one module.

Managing H5P activities

Once you create several H5P resources in your module content bank, there are a few options available to edit, copy, rename and delete them.

Simply click on the name of the resource in the content bank main page to access additional options.

Click the ‘Edit’ button to access the resource editing interface and edit the contents. Don’t forget to save changes when you finish. You can also click the ‘cogwheel’ button for additional options e.g. renaming and deleting the resource.

If you would like to copy the content and settings of one resource to another resource of the same kind, simply follow these steps:

Step 1: Click the ‘Edit’ button to enter the editing interface.

Step 2: While in editing mode, click the ‘Copy’ button in the upper-right corner and then cancel editing.

Step 3: Go back to the content bank and add a new resource of the same kind. Then, while editing the resource click the ‘Paste and Replace’ button and save changes.

If you want to download the .h5p package, the resource needs to be added to the module page via the H5P activity (selected from the file picker) first and downloading needs to be enabled in the activity settings under the H5P Options tab.

Then, in order to download the .h5p package, teachers can access the activity from within their module page and click the ‘Reuse’ button at the bottom of the activity window.

Note: If you would like to migrate an activity from the content bank of one module to another you can try the following methods.

Method 1: Add the activity to your module via the H5P activity tool and enable downloading in the activity settings under the H5P Options tab. Then download the H5P package using the ‘Reuse’ button at the bottom of the activity window. Finally, upload the activity to the other content bank.

Method 2: Enter the activity editing mode from the content bank page and click the ‘Copy’ button. Then navigate to the other content bank and add the same kind of activity. Finally, click the ‘Copy and Replace’ button and save changes.

H5P Activity types

Content Delivery Resources

Accordion Menu

Easily create a responsive accordion menu which reduces space when presenting a great deal of textual information and allows learners to expand individual sections for a closer look.