2026 Program – UBC H5P Symposium

The 2026 UBC H5P Symposium will take place on February 18-19. 2026 via Zoom.

Tentative Program:

February 18:

9:00am to 9:50am: Keynote: The Counterintuitive Science of Learning
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 talk will cover “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.
- Speaker:
  - Veronica X. Yan, University of Texas, Austin
    
    Dr. Veronica X. Yan (PhD, University of California, Los Angeles) is an associate professor of educational psychology at The University of Texas at Austin. Bridging social, cognitive, and educational psychology fields, Dr. Yan’s research explores the mechanisms underlying long-term learning and the motivational processes involved in empowering people to be effectively self-regulated learners—to want to not just study harder, but to study smarter. Read more…
9:50am to 10:10am: Welcome and H5P Overview
- Kayli Johnson, Associate Professor of Teaching, Chemistry, UBCV
- Simon Lolliot, Assistant Professor of Teaching, Psychology, UBCV
10:10am to 10:30am: Break
Hang out in the Zoom session during the break to chat with UBC learning design about practical tips and tricks for using H5P to effectively support your learning outcomes and goals.
- John Cheng, Learning Design Consultant, UBCV
- Manuel Dias, Learning Design Consultant, UBCV
- Bosung Kim, Learning Design Consultant, UBCV
10:30am to 11:30pm: Lightning Pedagogy Talks
Join us for a set of brief, focused presentations highlighting pedagogical projects powered by H5P. Presenters will share concrete examples of how H5P supported meaningful teaching and learning enhancements and impacts. See the roster of presentations here.
- Presenters:
  - Fong Chan, Associate Professor of Teaching, Pharmaceutical Sciences, UBCV
  - Jamie Drozda, Coordinator, Educational Technologies, TRU
  - Erin Fields, UBC Library, UBCV
  - Nick Hall, Lecturer, Arts, UBCV
  - Misuzu Kazama, Lecturer, Arts, UBCV
  - Ihhwa Kim, Lecturer, Arts, UBCV
  - Melanie Latham, Coordinator, Educational Technologies, TRU
  - Leila Malkin, UBC Library, UBCV
  - Lillian May, Lecturer, Arts, UBCV
  - Amanda Unsworth, Lecturer, Manchester Metropolitan University
11:30am to 11:45am: Break
11:45pm to 12:45pm – Practical Demos
See how it’s done with this series of rapid, interactive sessions where presenters lead hands-on demonstrations of their H5P creations. Participants will see how each activity was built and have the opportunity to ask questions about practical design choices and implementation. See the roster of presentations here.
- Presenters:
  - Manuel Dias, Learning Design Consultant, UBCV
  - Bosung Kim, Learning Design Consultant, UBCV
  - Irene Luong, Student, Pharmaceutical Sciences, UBCV
  - Ross McKerlich, Instructional Designer for Technology-Mediated Learning, UBCO
  - Aimee Omit, Foundational Skills Coordinator, UNBC
  - P. Victoria Reyes, Student, Pharmaceutical Sciences, UBCV

February 19:

9:30am to 9:40am: Welcome to Day 2
- Kayli Johnson, Associate Professor of Teaching, Chemistry, UBCV
- Simon Lolliot, Assistant Professor of Teaching, Psychology, UBCV
9:40am to 11:00am: Practitioner Panel
Join us for a practitioner–expert panel focused on designing the future of interactive learning with H5P, OER, and generative AI. Each panelist will share one key best practice drawn from their own experience creating interactive learning materials. Together, these practices will highlight how sound learning design can be effectively implemented in H5P. The discussion will highlight 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.
11:00am to 11:15am: Break
Hang out in the Zoom session during the break to chat with UBC educational developers about practical tips and tricks for using H5P to effectively support your learning outcomes and goals
11:15am to 12:15pm: 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. Join this session for an update from the H5P Group on the project’s goals and roadmap, along with a closer look at the H5P OER Hub. The H5P OER Hub, which will soon be openly available, is a shared OER library that will allow educators and students to reuse H5P interactive content from around the world as well as share their own work.
- Kelly Choi, Community Manager, H5P Group
12:15am to 12:30pm Break
12:30p, to 1:30pm – Closing Key Note: Teaching with Instructional Video
This talk will present 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 will include an understanding of how meaningful learning works and evidence-based principles for designing effective instructional videos.
- Speaker:
  - Richard E. Mayer, University of California, Santa Barbara
    
    Richard E. Mayer is Distinguished Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research interests involve applying the science of learning to education. His current research is at the intersection of cognition, instruction, and technology, with a special focus on multimedia learning, game-based learning, learning in virtual reality, and learning with animated pedagogical agents. Read more…

You may also be interested in previous programs and recordings: