Every activity, assessment, and interactive learning object in this course has been aligned to one or more InTASC Learning Progression. You can access these materials from the “Ancillaries” section associated with each module; read more about each type of ancillary below.

Activities

Activities are practice opportunities (which we consider “formative” assessment, as they provide insight into learning progress and challenges for both the learner and the educator). These activities may be synchronous or asynchronous, completed independently or collaboratively, or offered face to face or online. In many cases, the activities provided can easily be converted to work in any of these modalities. We provide alignments to InTASC Learning Progressions, suggestions for which modalities might work best, brief descriptions of the activity, and a downloadable document that provides detailed instructions for both instructors and students. The activities are designed to be adapted as desired.

Assessments

Items appearing under “Assessments” are designed to be summative, but many of them could be adapted to be formative. We provide alignments to InTASC Learning Progressions, suggestions for which modalities might work best, brief descriptions of the assessment, and a downloadable document that can be adapted as desired. The document includes a rubric, with grading criteria that are each aligned to one or more InTASC Learning Progressions, along with performance levels that you can adjust to whatever grading approach fits for your course.

H5P Learning Objects

H5P stands for HTML5 Package. It is an open source tool that allows content creators to design interactive learning objects using HTML5 without having to work directly in code (Wikipedia 2023). You’ve very likely seen H5P learning objects used before, as it is very easy to embed them within a Learning Management System (LMS) such as Canvas, D2L Brightspace, or Moodle, among others. If you have access to store an H5P file in your own repository (such as the one offered through a subscription to H5P.com), you can also make revisions to the learning object to meet the specific needs of your course. For additional information about creating and using H5P, go to H5P.org.

Here are some ways you can use the H5P learning objects provided within this course:

• Download and store an H5P file in your own H5P repository. This would be the appropriate choice for those wishing to revise the content in any way. You can do this by clicking on the “Reuse” option in the lower left-hand corner of any object.
  • If you have a Pressbooks account, you can then upload the .h5p file directly into your desired textbook.
  • If you have an H5P.com account or another repository that is compatible with .h5p files, you can upload the file there and use the embed code that points back to your repository.
• Copy the embed code and place the learning object within a content page in an LMS course shell. You can do this by clicking on the “Embed” option in the lower-left-hand corner of any object. Please note that this will mean your students are using the original H5P contained within this Pressbook, the implications being
  • You can’t make any revisions
  • You can’t track student usage in any way
  • If we make revisions to the H5P resource, your embed link may break (so be sure to check it before launching your course each session)
• Get creative, but don’t hesitate to use the material! If none of the above options are viable for you, you might choose to use the same information in another format. While the content won’t be interactive, you can at least provide the material for your students.
  • Screenshot an image (be sure to provide descriptive text if you do this)
  • Transfer the material into an LMS-based quiz tool, a Word or Google document, or another location that allows you and your students to use the materials.
  • Be sure to provide attribution for any materials you use, according to our CC-BY license.

Additional External Resources

External resources are tools, readings, or other ancillary materials that we didn’t include directly within our course for a variety of reasons. For example, there may be copyrighted materials that are foundational to the field and are often available via an institution’s library subscriptions at no cost to students. Consult with your librarian(s) to determine whether you can provide students no-cost access to these resources. Other resources may be potentially excellent for instructors, but are proprietary in some way. Your institution may have a contract with a particular software or organization that owns these resources, or you may opt to link out to proprietary resources online as we have here.

References

Wikipedia contributors. (2023, September 27). H5P. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved December 8, 2023.