Technology in the classroom has often been used to present knowledge in many different ways. From videos to slide decks to learning management systems, it has expanded how we interact with the content of a course, albeit typically in a somewhat passive way. This landscape is evolving thanks in part to H5P (an abbreviation for “HTML5 Package”), a technology that helps instructors make their courses more interactive, and helps students improve how they learn. Members of the UBC teaching and learning community are involved in this shift, where two instructors and H5P early adopters explain how they use it, why they are using it, and what they are doing to promote its use for knowledge retention.
To many, knowledge assessment is associated with midterm exams and late-night study sessions, with the objective of getting a good grade.
But to others, like Kayli Johnson, associate professor of teaching in the UBC Chemistry Department, it plays a much more crucial role, especially when it comes to low- or no-stake assessments. “Formative assessment to me is a knowledge check, where the main goal is to help a student learn, rather than to record how much they have learned.”
Studies on using quizzes to enhance assessment performance confirm the link between regular, short assessments and increased knowledge retention, and suggest that one of the most effective ways to learn is when formative testing is used regularly inside the course. Most importantly, formative testing makes information more durable and helps alleviate testing anxiety among students.
Please visit the CTLT website to read the full story and learn more about H5P at UBC.
Kayli Johnson, associate professor of teaching in the UBC Chemistry Department received a 2022 OER Rapid Innovation Grant to support the 2022 UBC H5P Symposium and Simon Lolliot, Simon Lolliot, assistant professor of teaching in the UBC Psychology Department received a 2021 OER Implementation Grant to support the use of H5P in an open textbook.
