This page will show you how Pressbooks and H5P can be assigned as gradable elements in Blackboard Ultra to create an open learning experience for your students.

We will share a number of different H5P elements using Trent and Open Education as the content matter, and how Pressbooks results enables those to be assigned in Blackboard.

Pressbooks

You’re reading this right now in Pressbooks. It’s an open publishing platform that allows educators, librarians, and institutions to create, adapt, and share openly licensed books and learning resources. It combines the structure of a book with the flexibility of the web, making it possible to integrate multimedia, interactive H5P activities, accessible formatting, and downloadable formats (PDF, EPUB, web) in one place.

At Trent, Pressbooks is more than a publishing tool. It’s an open teaching space. It allows you to revise and remix OER, build custom course texts, create interactive learning modules, and share student work beyond the classroom, all while maintaining control over licensing and accessibility.

H5P

H5P is an open, flexible technology that allows educators to create interactive learning experiences without needing advanced technical skills or expensive software. It supports open educational practices by making it easy to design reusable, adaptable activities that can live inside Pressbooks, Blackboard, or other platforms. We share example activities built around Trent-specific subject matter below, so you can see exactly how interactive learning might look in your own courses and adapt those examples to fit your discipline. You can create H5P items in Pressbooks or at the eCampusOntario’s H5P Studio.

Pressbooks + H5P + Blackboard = pressbooks results

When a Pressbooks chapter includes H5P activities and is connected to Blackboard, it becomes more than assigned reading. It becomes an interactive, gradable learning experience. Students can complete quizzes, branching scenarios, image-based activities, and other interactive elements directly within Blackboard, and their results can flow automatically into the Grade Centre. This means instructors can assign open, web-based content while still tracking participation, completion, and performance inside the LMS.

• Open content remains openly accessible on the web.

• Interactive learning is built directly into the resource.

• Assessment data stays connected to your course.

• Students experience a seamless transition between reading and doing.

In short, Pressbooks allows you to combine openness, interactivity, and accountability without sacrificing grading structure or course organization. And when faculty are ready to try it, we support the setup, alignment, and testing so that it works smoothly from day one. Email us at teachingcommons@trentu.ca to ask about setting up Pressbooks Results in your course.

H5P Showcase

Course Presentation

Create slide-based interactive lessons with embedded quizzes, images, and media. Ideal for modular, self-paced learning units.

Question Set

Bundle multiple question types into a single interactive assessment. Useful for formative quizzes or review activities.

Multiple Choice

A flexible, auto-graded question type that supports feedback and explanations. Perfect for quick knowledge checks.

Fill in the Blanks

Interactive text where learners complete missing words or phrases. Excellent for terminology, definitions, or concept reinforcement.

Drag and Drop

Learners match, sort, or categorize items visually. Supports active learning and pattern recognition.

Drag the Words

Students drag key terms into the correct places within a text. Great for vocabulary building and applied concept work.

Mark the Words

Learners highlight specific words or phrases within a block of text. Useful for close reading and textual analysis.

Mark the Image

Students identify specific areas of an image by clicking on them. Ideal for diagrams, maps, labelling exercises, or visual literacy.

Image Hotspots

Create clickable hotspots that reveal layered information. Great for exploratory learning and interactive diagrams.

Timeline

Present events or concepts along a chronological or thematic timeline. Supports historical context and developmental narratives.

Accordion

Organize content into expandable sections. Helps reduce cognitive overload and keeps pages clean and skimmable.

Interactive Book

Combine multiple H5P activities into a structured, chapter-based experience. Perfect for building complete open learning modules.

Flashcards

Simple flip-style cards for self-testing and review. Useful for terminology, formulas, or quick concept recall.

Branching Scenario

Create choose-your-own-path learning experiences. Excellent for case studies, simulations, and decision-based learning.

Documentation Tool

Structured templates for reflection, portfolios, or project documentation. Supports metacognition and process-based learning.

Image Sequencing

Learners arrange images in the correct order to show a process or progression. Ideal for lab procedures, historical timelines, workflows, or step-by-step methods.

Collage

Combine multiple images into a single interactive display with optional text. Useful for visual comparisons, thematic collections, or showcasing student work.

Image Slider

Present a sequence of images that learners can scroll through horizontally. Great for visual storytelling, case documentation, or showcasing stages of a project.

Game Map

Create a visual map with clickable locations that unlock content or activities. Perfect for scenario-based learning, virtual field trips, or module-based course navigation.

Image Juxtaposition

Place two images side-by-side with a draggable slider to compare them. Excellent for before/after analysis, environmental change, design critique, or data visualization comparisons.

Dialog Cards

Interactive flashcard-style prompts where learners flip between question and answer or term and definition. Supports vocabulary building, concept review, and self-testing.

Crossword

Generate interactive crossword puzzles based on key terms or concepts. A low-stakes, engaging way to reinforce terminology and foundational knowledge.