Using H5P to Prepare Students for Exams
How Arlington Independent School District used H5P to help students practise new interactive exam formats and saw usage numbers grow from day one.
Kenny Pinkerton, Technology Integration Specialist, is the lead for H5P at Arlington Independent School District (AISD) in Texas, USA. In this case study, we explore how AISD implemented H5P to help prepare students for new question types in the Texas state exams.
H5P was able to find an additional purpose: helping students prepare for new types of exams.
Changing needs for H5P
Initially, H5P was introduced to AISD in 2018 to make the learning management system, Canvas, more interactive. However, when new state exams were introduced in 2022, H5P was able to find an additional purpose: helping students prepare for new types of exams. The new state exams moved from Multiple choice questions on paper to a range of different interactive questions online. This change has the potential to impact students' grades and confidence in a big way.
How H5P was implemented
The AISD team created a variety of examples for the curriculum staff from the four core study areas (reading, maths, science, and social studies) to demonstrate how H5P content lined up with the new question types that had been added by the state of Texas. This was possible because of this wide variety of content types on offer from H5P. This side-by-side comparison made it easy for the staff to prepare students for the new types of questions and was the perfect practice for students.
Benefits of H5P
While grades can be recorded for assignments in Canvas, Kenny sees the real benefit of using H5P as a page or discussion prompt.
By embedding H5P activities like Drag and Drop on a page, students can check their own understanding in a low stakes environment. This allows them to practise and gain a better understanding of the subject matter in a friendly way.
Success with H5P
AISD measures success with H5P by using data. Kenny can see at any time how many students and learners are using H5P in his school district.
After only the first year, he was pleasantly surprised at the high usage numbers and this continues to grow.
Students can check their own understanding and practice in a low stakes environment, making it easier to gain a better understanding of the subject matter.
Conclusion
In conclusion, AISD implemented H5P to help prepare students for the new question types added to the Texas state exams. By using H5P, students can check their own understanding and practice in a low stakes environment, making it easier to gain a better understanding of the subject matter.
Overall, H5P has become a valuable resource for AISD in preparing students for the state exams.
