Best practice

Purpose

It is important that any H5P objects produced are accessible for a range of users and meet best-practice standards for digital learning experiences. The following guidelines are designed to assist you in the creation of H5P objects. These may not necessarily apply to every H5P objects created but are a good starting point for creating effective and accessible H5P objects.

Guidelines

Management

Guideline	Description
Build and store H5P objects on H5P.com	If account login details are needed, please contact the Senior Advisor, Digital Learning & Library Skills. Create a folder of your name to store your published objects and drafts. H5P objects can also be built in the LMS Content Bank, but H5P.com will be used as the Library's repository to ensure ease of access, reuse, discovery, and management.
Use standardised naming conventions	To keep track of published Library related H5P objects, insert LTULIB - before the title. As you may be using multiple H5P objects on the one page, it is important to name your H5P objects with enough detail so you can differentiate between multiple objects.

Engagement

Guideline	Description
Use high quality images	Blurry images will annoy and distract your audience. Make sure any images you use are of a high quality.
Limit the number of interactive H5P objects on the one page	Having too many interactive elements on the one page can be distracting. Limit it to 2-3 activities per page so users do not become overwhelmed with the number of activities they need to complete.

Accessibility

Guideline	Description
Use alternative text	Using alternative text or “alt-text” makes your content accessible to users using screen readers, so whenever prompted to include alt-text descriptions of visual elements so more users can engage with your content.
Avoid fast-flashing content	Fast-flashing content is hard to read and distracting. It can also induce seizures in some viewers, especially if it flashes more than three times in one second. If you must use flashing content, refer to the Trace Center’s Photosensitive Epilepsy Analysis Tool to assess the seizure risk for your content.
Use concise and descriptive links	Using descriptive links rather than a complete URL or a ‘click here’ link provides a clear, concise description of the page they will load. This provides context, so the reader knows what the link is and if it will be useful to them
Use sufficient contrast for text and background colours	Ensuring your document has a high level of contrast between text and background colour ensures more people can see and use the content. You can use the WebAIM Contrast Checker to see if your contrast is accessible.
Enable the FullScreen option where available	Allowing H5P objects to be expanded to full screen assists users with vision problems, so be sure to enable FullScreen in the content types that have this option. You will find this option under Behavioural settings.
Use headings where appropriate	Ensure you use the heading styles (levels 1-6) to demonstrate the hierarchy of your content in H5P activities that enable you to input longer text. Using the correct heading styles for subheadings makes navigating your content easier, especially for those using screen readers.
Avoid using only colour to convey meaning	Avoid using only colour to direct attention in your H5P object as this may be inaccessible to some readers with visual impairments. Use text labels or descriptions instead.
Enable ‘Show label for Assistive Technology’ when using tables	When adding a table in H5P, always add a title and click Metadata to Show label for Assistive Technology (AT). The metadata title always needs to be added to show the table title for a screen reader.
Include closed captions for video	Closed captions include not only the words spoken in the video, but also any other music or sound effects. Closed captions make videos more accessible for non-native English speakers and deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers. For H5P you will need a caption file in .vtt format, which you get from Zoom or Amara. To upload this file to H5P, click on Text Tracks under the video upload area. Change Track label to Captions, and choose Captions from the Type of Text Track dropdown menu. Then click on Add under Track Source to upload your file.

You can also check whether the content type you have chosen is accessible with this guide created by H5P: Recommendations and overviews of content types. For further guidance in accessibility concerns, you can request to join the Assistive Technology MS Teams site found here: Assistive Technology MS Teams Site

Usability

Guideline	Description
Include proper citations	Properly attributing ideas and images that are not your own is important. It’s good copyright practice to always attribute anything that is not your own original work, but it also allows your audiences to seek out more information after your presentation if they have thorough and consistent citations.
Enable autosave	Enabling the autosave feature means that users will not lose their progress if they log off. This allows them to work on a task gradually and may prevent them losing their work in the case of technology failure. To enable autosave, go to LTI settings and tick ‘Allow logged-in users to resume content.’

English as Additional Language (EAL) students 

Guideline	Description
Keep language straightforward	Avoid using unnecessary jargon and idioms in your H5P objects. Students from other cultures may not understand idioms or figures of speech. If you need to use jargon, make sure you provide definitions. This will make your content more accessible, especially for English as an additional language (EAL) readers. Concise language ensures that you are only saying what you need to. This eliminates words or ideas which may detract from the key message and create ambiguity or confusion. Microsoft Editor has a function that helps you adjust your writing to be less technical and more accessible for readers at all levels. You can find out more here: Microsoft Editor checks grammar and more in documents, mail, and the web
Provide feedback on incorrect answers	This is important for international students, as it provides valuable learning opportunities and helps them to learn skills or understand concepts that might be new to them. Reducing the mental load of figuring out why an answer is incorrect – when they are also learning very new concepts or possible experiencing a language barrier – provides a much better user experience for these students.

Learning design

Guideline	Description
Outline learning objectives up front	If appropriate, outline the learning objectives before embedding your H5P object. This helps guide the user about where to focus their attention and emphasises the knowledge and skills they will gain from engaging with the object.
Choose the appropriate content type	There are dozens of different content types available through H5P. When choosing which one to use, keep in mind what the intended learning outcome is, as this will dictate what content type is most appropriate.
Use a combination of short and long activities	Using a combination of longer and shorter tasks provides students with the opportunity to build confidence by completing the shorter tasks, while still working on more complex skills and knowledge that longer activities can encourage.

Diversity

Guideline	Description
Use gender appropriate language	Avoid using unnecessarily gendered language to avoid gender bias. When a person’s pronoun is known you should use their pronouns and when it is not known what pronouns an individual uses, either avoid using pronouns or use they/their/them.
Where possible, refer to an Indigenous person by their language or cultural language group	It is respectful to refer to an Indigenous Australian by their cultural or language group (for example, a Wurundjeri artist instead of an Aboriginal artist). If you are referring to an entire Indigenous community or don’t know someone’s clan, use terms such as Indigenous Australians or First Australians. These terms must be capitalised. And remember that Aboriginal Australians refers to only Aboriginal peoples and not Torres Strait Islander peoples. Use the term Indigenous Australians if you want to refer to both groups.