The Counterintuitive Science of Learning; Dr. Veronica X. Yan.
Students’ time and attention is ever more limited. As instructors, we therefore need to design our courses that maximizes the time our students put in. Rooted in cognitive processes that underlie human learning, Dr. Yan’s covered “desirably difficult” strategies that can be implemented into course structures and instruction. These strategies engage learners more effortfully and elaborately in the learning process but require appropriate structuring and motivational messaging by the instructor.
Teaching with Instructional Video; Dr. Richard E. Mayer
This talk by Dr. Richard E. Mayer presented 14 evidence-based principles for how to design effective instructional videos. These instructional design principles for teaching with instructional video are grounded in learning theory and based on more than 200 experiments carried out by the keynote speaker and colleagues. The work represents an example of the progress made in applying the science of learning to education. The session included an understanding of how meaningful learning works and evidence-based principles for designing effective instructional videos.
2026 H5P Symposium Practitioner Panel
This practitioner–expert panel focused on designing the future of interactive learning with H5P, OER, and generative AI. Each panelist shared best practices drawn from their own experience creating interactive learning materials. Together, these practices highlighted how sound learning design can be effectively implemented in H5P. The discussion also covered practical workflows for developing and implementing such practices in H5P, including how generative AI can help and when it is best to avoid using AI. Panelists included:
- Parm Gill, Instructional Designer, Centre for Educational Excellence; SFU
- Theresa Huff, Educator, Instructional Designer, and Writer
- Kayli Johnson, Associate Professor of Teaching, Chemistry, UBCV
- Jack Koskie, Engineering Student and student project co-leader for the Campus Wellness & Education Harm Reduction Team (HaRT).; UBCO
- Simon Lolliot, Assistant Professor of Teaching, Psychology, UBCV
- Amanda Unsworth, Lecturer in Cardiovascular Science and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy at the School of Medicine, University of Leeds.
2026 H5P Platform Updates
H5P is an open-source, community-driven project, with the H5P Group, a company owned by D2L, currently leading its development and direction. This discussion provided an update from the H5P Group on the project’s goals and roadmap, along with a closer look at the H5P OER Hub.