In 2026, the UBC H5P Symposium will be exploring the theme: Designing the Future of Interactive Learning: H5P, OER, and GenAI. Visit the UBC H5P Symposium website for more information.
Active learning techniques are now seen as the gold standard in many classrooms (Freeman et al., 2014; Shi et al., 2019; Tutal & Yazar, 2022). To make room for interactive classrooms, many instructors have moved their content online. The shift to online education has been sharply accelerated by the recent COVID-19 pandemic (Pokhrel et al., 2021). Of concern is that online materials often mimic the passive learning that instructors hope to avoid in the first place. For instance, the use of video lectures in lieu of classroom lectures has significantly increased and instructors and students believe that the use of online instructional videos increase educational achievements, the literature shows that traditional videos lead to worse performance than consuming the same information through text (Furnham, Gunter, & Green, 1990). The challenge, then, is to figure out how to embed interactivity and opportunities for formative assessment back into these passive environments.
At this 2026 UBC H5P Symposium, we aim to showcase a free open-source html tool, H5P, that can be used to embed interactivity back into passive learning materials with a focus on creating interactive videos. In this multi-day event, we will explore H5P, demonstrate its strengths and limitations, and highlight successful examples of implementation and course integration for various content types (e.g. multiple choice question sets, auto-graded essays, drag and drop, and interactive videos).
Program
View the full program at: https://blogs.ubc.ca/h5psymposium/2026-program/
February 18
9:00 am to 9:50 am | Keynote: The Counterintuitive Science of Learning
Students’ time and attention is ever more limited. As instructors, we therefore need to design our courses that maximizes the time our students put in. Rooted in cognitive processes that underlie human learning, Dr. Yan’s talk will cover “desirably difficult” strategies that can be implemented into course structures and instruction. These strategies engage learners more effortfully and elaborately in the learning process but require appropriate structuring and motivational messaging by the instructor.
Speaker: Veronica X. Yan, University of Texas, Austin
Dr. Veronica X. Yan (PhD, University of California, Los Angeles) is an associate professor of educational psychology at The University of Texas at Austin. Bridging social, cognitive, and educational psychology fields, Dr. Yan’s research explores the mechanisms underlying long-term learning and the motivational processes involved in empowering people to be effectively self-regulated learners—to want to not just study harder, but to study smarter. Read more…
9:50 am to 10:10 am | Welcome and H5P Overview
- Kayli Johnson, Associate Professor of Teaching, Chemistry, UBCV
- Simon Lolliot, Assistant Professor of Teaching, Psychology, UBCV
10:10 am to 10:30 am | Break
Hang out in the Zoom session during the break to chat with UBC educational developers about practical tips and tricks for using H5P to effectively support your learning outcomes and goals.
- John Cheng, Learning Design Consultant, UBCV
- Manuel Diaz, Learning Design Consultant, UBCV
- Bosung Kim, Learning Design Consultant, UBCV
10:30 am to 11:30 am | Lightning Pedagogy Talks
Join us for a set of brief, focused presentations highlighting pedagogical projects powered by H5P. Presenters will share concrete examples of how H5P supported meaningful teaching and learning enhancements and impacts.
11:30 pm to 11:45 am | Break
11:45 pm to 12:45 pm | Practical Demos
See how it’s done with this series of rapid, interactive sessions where presenters lead hands-on demonstrations of their H5P creations. Participants will see how each activity was built and have the opportunity to ask questions about practical design choices and implementation.
February 19
9:30 am to 9:40 am | Welcome to Day 2
- Kayli Johnson, Associate Professor of Teaching, Chemistry, UBCV
- Simon Lolliot, Assistant Professor of Teaching, Psychology, UBCV
9:40 am to 11:00 am | Practitioner Panel
Join us for a practitioner–expert panel focused on designing the future of interactive learning with H5P, OER, and generative AI. Each panelist will share one key best practice drawn from their own experience creating interactive learning materials. Together, these practices will highlight how sound learning design can be effectively implemented in H5P. The discussion will highlight practical workflows for developing and implementing such practices in H5P, including how generative AI can help and when it is best to avoid using
11:00 am to 11:15 am | Break
Hang out in the Zoom session during the break to chat with UBC educational developers about practical tips and tricks for using H5P to effectively support your learning outcomes and goals
11:15 am to 12:15 pm | H5P Platform Updates
H5P is an open-source, community-driven project, with the H5P Group, a company owned by D2L, currently leading its development and direction. Join this session for an update from the H5P Group on the project’s goals and roadmap, along with a closer look at the H5P OER Hub. The H5P OER Hub, which will soon be openly available, is a shared OER library that will allow educators and students to reuse H5P interactive content from around the world as well as share their own work.
- Kelly Choi, Community Manager, H5P Group
12:15 pm to 12:30 pm | Break
12:30 pm to 1:30 pm | Closing Key Note:Teaching with Instructional Video
This talk will present 14 evidence-based principles for how to design effective instructional videos. These instructional design principles for teaching with instructional video are grounded in learning theory and based on more than 200 experiments carried out by the keynote speaker and colleagues. The work represents an example of the progress made in applying the science of learning to education. The session will include an understanding of how meaningful learning works and evidence-based principles for designing effective instructional videos.
Speaker: Richard E. Mayer, University of California, Santa Barbara
Richard E. Mayer is Distinguished Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research interests involve applying the science of learning to education. His current research is at the intersection of cognition, instruction, and technology, with a special focus on multimedia learning, game-based learning, learning in virtual reality, and learning with animated pedagogical agents. Read more…
Want to learn more?
Location
- Online
- Description/Notes
Please log in using the name you registered with, mute your microphone when not speaking, and minimize background noise.
New to Zoom? How to join a Zoom meeting.
- Zoom Link
- Will be provided upon registration.
Facilitators
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Will Engle
Strategist, Open Education Initiatives, CTLT
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