UTS has been actively engaged with the H5P authoring tool since it was acquired as an enterprise technology for the university in 2020. From creating dynamic layouts to engaging interactive quizzes, the tool has not only increased learner engagement at UTS but has given teaching staff the opportunity to create rich learning materials with minimal time and effort.
Earlier this year, the H5P Group released the H5P OER Hub. The OER Hub allows authors to create, share, discover and repurpose H5P content and activity types created by H5P users worldwide. We’ll be taking a more in-depth look at the H5P OER Hub in our June Tooltime session, but in the meantime here’s a few tips for getting started.
Why use the H5P OER Hub?
If you’re a frequent user of H5P, sharing your content on the OER Hub can significantly amplify its impact. It is widely known that open educational resources minimise barriers to education and support students from low-SES and diverse backgrounds.
On the flip side, downloading and repurposing content from the H5P OER Hub can be an excellent way for you to save time and utilise a wide range of high-quality, pre-existing learning materials.
What’s the best practice for sharing OERs?
When sharing OERs through the H5P OER Hub, various Creative Commons licenses are available. The most flexible of these is CC BY 4.0, which enables you to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. For a full rundown of the CC licences available, we recommend checking out the UTS Library’s guidelines.
It’s easy to apply a CC license to your H5P content by opening the Metadata settings while editing your content. Further information about sharing content can be found in the UTS Teaching and Learning Open Access Procedure (particularly points 4.4, 4.5, 4.7).
How can I get started?
Browsing the H5P OER Hub can be done from within Canvas. Open a page in Canvas and click “Edit”, then choose the H5P logo in the toolbar.
With thousands of items already shared on the hub, you can narrow down your search by using the filters to sort between content types and the discipline (e.g. humanities, engineering, medicine).
It’s important to remember how you can use H5P effectively in your subject site. When used appropriately, the tool can be a great way for students to engage with your subject content. Activity types like “Fill in the blanks” or “Multiple choice” can be implemented if you’d like to give students an opportunity to review what they’ve learnt and get immediate feedback.
Metadata and accessibility
Proper metadata ensures your H5P content is easily discoverable and usable. When creating or editing H5P content, include detailed metadata such as titles, descriptions, keywords, and licensing information. This not only helps others find and reuse your content but also enhances the educational value by providing clear context and usage guidelines.
Accessibility must also be considered when deciding to use H5P content from the OER Hub. While most content types are accessible, there are some activities that aren’t accessible or that are difficult for screen reader users to navigate. For a quick refresher, view our Make your H5P activities accessible resource.
Final thoughts
The H5P OER Hub presents an incredible opportunity for educators to enhance their teaching materials with minimal effort. Whether you’re looking to save time with pre-existing content or improve student engagement with interactive elements, H5P is a valuable tool in the modern educator’s toolkit.
We invite you to register for our upcoming Tooltime session, in which we will introduce the H5P OER Hub and some of its main features. Join us on Wednesday 12 June at 11am.