H5P Accordion - more than a space saver
The effective presentation of material is an important consideration when designing or redesigning any QMplus site. While updating a self directed course in Moodle I have explored a number of inbuilt features of QMplus to make the content as engaging as possible. I have really benefited from using Accordion which is part of the H5P plugin. H5P is a powerful tool which enables staff to create interactive content, it is designed to be straightforward to use and share. It offers staff the ability to make a wide range of interactive resources within QMplus ranging from crosswords to collages of images and interactive books.
I have explored several H5P content types but the one which I have found most useful for displaying information is Accordion. Accordion is a dynamic and interactive tool which presents information in a structured and visually appealing manner as vertically stacked expandable items.
In Accordion:
- Content such as text or links can be added into separate sections called panels,
- Each panel has its own unique title which enables you to divide information into topics,
- The panels stack on top of each other with the titles on display - users click on each title to expand it revealing the content within,
- Only one section at a time can be selected which encourages users to focus on a particular part.
Below is a real-life example of an Accordion that I have built.
- I took this text from within a section of a QMplus site, and added it to an Accordion
QMplus section before Accordion
- In the screen recording below, you can see how the content above appears in the Accordion. I demonstrate opening and closing each of the panels to reveal the content.
- I was very pleased with the outcome. It has saved space and the sections are well organised.
- The topics format in QMplus similarly includes collapsible sections which can have individual titles. However, sections are designed to contain a range of resources and activities, as well as a description. This is different to the Accordion which provides structure to text and helps prevent QMplus sites being too cluttered.
Benefits
There are specific benefits of using the Accordion:
- It improves the appearance of QMplus modules,
- It saves space when there is a large amount of text,
- Content can be divided into smaller sections enabling learners to navigate through effortlessly.
Further benefits of H5P content types
- They can be used across multiple QMplus modules
- You can create resources by the content bank or activity picker
- The content bank offers a central place to find all your H5P creations
- They can be embedded directly within a 'text and media area' or section on QMplus
- They can be downloaded and saved on a device for future use or shared with colleagues. Users could consider saving a copy in a shared location, such as a hidden folder in QMplus.
- They can be used for a range of different purposes such as, summarising key concepts, providing additional resources, or structuring step-by-step instructions.
Points to consider when working with Accordion in QMplus
- If you create an Accordion using the activity picker, it is not automatically stored in the content bank. You would need to download it and re-upload it to the content bank.
- In previous versions of QMplus, there seemed to be a limit to the amount of information you could put into a panel. In the example below, I had added too much content to the first two panels, which meant the third was not visible. I resolved the issue by creating additional panels with less content.
H5P Accordion panel not visible
I recommend that you explore all content types in H5P, and especially the Accordion.
Thank you for reading.