Academic Innovation Blog

H5P for Spring 2021

Spring 2021 course shells are now open and live. If you have enjoyed teaching with H5P integration in your online course for Fall 2020 or want to try out H5P for the first time in Spring 2021, please email me with your classroom section and number(Ex. ENC 1234 12AB). Your H5P integration from Fall 2020 will not roll over into your Spring 2021 course automatically.

Top Three Reasons Why Dr. Parker Uses H5P

The following information is from Dr. Parker's blog post H5P in the online classroom.

I’m using H5P in three main ways.

1. One way is that I can embed questions into videos in my course shell as quizzes that automatically go to the grade book. Have you found a great YouTube video and want to make sure your students watch it and understand the concepts? H5P is the answer!
2. I’m also creating interactive presentations to ensure that students read through material I’d normally share in a PowerPoint. I don’t want to just upload slide shows and hope they watch them. H5P provides a motivational mechanism to get students to look at each slide.
3. Finally, I’m embedding questions in my module text to check for student understanding and increase their engagement with the course material. H5P is a game-changer for my instruction! It’s enabling me to provide rigorous, engaging material to my students and I’ve only scratched the surface. Even when our situation returns to the preferred method of face to face instruction, I’ll still be using H5P to supplement and support my instruction.

Want to see more about how I’m using this? Check out my walkthrough video here:

Contact Us

If you are interested in exploring more applications with H5P, visit the link and create a free account. If you are desiring to implement H5P into your own course, please fill out this H5P request form.

Kris Browne
Instructional Designer 1, Division of Online Studies
Kristian_browne@daytonastate.edu
386-506-4277
Online Studies | Faculty Innovation Center

No Spring shells yet? No problem with a Master shell.

Spring shells are usually planned for release 45 days prior to a new semester. With this in mind, Spring 2021 shells should become available by December 9th. To get a jump start on preparing your courses each semester, consider requesting a master shell that you have access to year-round! A master shell is a great place to make changes as the semester progresses and keep up-to-date so it's ready to roll into the next semester. Imagine the time saved!

Set the stage with the Instructor Profile Widget

Engaging students is the name of the game and a great first step is creating a welcoming environment. The Instructor Profile widget is a great way to introduce yourself to students as soon as they arrive at your course shell. This is the first opportunity to share a little about yourself and set the tone for the course, similar to how you'd introduce yourself on the first day of a face-to-face class. Though we have a great blog post about how to set up your Instructor Profile widget, here are a few reminders and best practices to keep in mind.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Add a picture of yourself to represent the human element - the course isn't running on auto-pilot after all! Depending on what's going on in the picture, maybe even a little bit about your personality can be shared to help create a more approachable and dynamic relationship from the beginning. Check out these fantastic examples from Dr. Ron Eaglin.

Color Contrast Caution

Feel free to switch up the colors but ensure there is enough contrast between the font color and background color as an accessibility best practice. Check out the WebAIM Contrast Checker where you can easily verify this using the code revealed when you pick a color while editing (for example, this is the code for DSC blue: #0079c2).

Social Sharing

Remember to update the social media buttons. Feel free to use the Daytona State College social media accounts, DSC Facebook and DSC Twitter, or to delete them by removing the URLs.

Roll With It

The Instructor Profile widget will copy over into new courses when you roll over from a course where this widget is already set up so you don't have to set it up every time.

As always, please reach out if you have any questions or feel free to schedule a one-on-one appointment for help. Also, if you haven't done so already please consider subscribing to this blog to stay up-to-date with the latest tips and news!

Jasmine Checchi
Instructional Designer, Division of Online Studies
jasmine.checchi@daytonastate.edu | 386-506-4278
Online Studies | Faculty Innovation Center (FIC)