H5P: A Simple Solution for More Engaging Interactive Learning

H5P, a Highly Capable Open-Source Platform

Every company inevitably has to spend a significant budget on employee training. According to data from Training Magazine, training expenditure in the United States alone reached USD 102.8 billion for the 2024-2025 period. Yet in reality, research from Harvard Business Review shows that only 10 percent of the USD 200 billion spent on training each year produces any real impact.

With that in mind, there's a simple platform that can weave interactivity into video without relying on deep coding skills or a large budget. That platform is called H5P. According to data from the H5P Group, more than 200,000 websites worldwide were already using H5P as of January 2020, including universities, government institutions, military organizations, and more. The platform integrates directly with popular Learning Management Systems (LMS) such as Moodle, WordPress, Canvas, Brightspace, and Blackboard. Content built in H5P also displays well whether you're on desktop, tablet, or smartphone.

H5P is an open-source platform that lets users create, share, and use interactive content online. What makes H5P so compelling is its remarkably complete collection of content formats. There are more than 50 types of interactive content you can build without any coding at all — from Interactive Video and Course Presentation to Branching Scenario and a 360-degree Virtual Tour. In 2025, H5P even rolled out a Smart Import feature that uses generative AI to produce an 80-90 percent complete content draft within minutes.

Of course, H5P does have its limitations. According to an analysis by Lindsay O'Neill Consulting, H5P sits at interactivity Level 2 (drill-and-practice with feedback), while Storyline sits at Level 3 (complex branching with variables and logic), and Captivate at Level 4 (VR, 360-degree, complex simulations). So for advanced simulation needs, H5P may not be the best fit. But for the vast majority of corporate training needs — onboarding, compliance, product knowledge, and soft skills — H5P is more than enough.

Three Content Types for Storytelling

Among the many types of interactive content H5P offers, three stand out as particularly well-suited to story-based content, or story-based learning: Interactive Book, Timeline, and Branching Scenario.

Why does storytelling matter so much? According to research from Princeton University published in the journal PNAS in 2010, when someone listens to a story, their brain activity actually synchronizes with the storyteller's brain — a phenomenon known as neural coupling. FMRI studies add to this picture, showing that storytelling activates multiple brain regions (sensory, motor, and frontal cortex), while plain factual information only lights up two language-processing areas.

Research by Dr. Paul Zak, published in the NIH journal Cerebrum in 2015, found that stories with characters and emotional tension trigger the release of neurochemicals such as cortisol (focus and attention), oxytocin (empathy and connection), dopamine (motivation), and endorphins (positive feelings). Most strikingly, a rise in oxytocin correlates directly with a person's willingness to take action — which maps neatly onto behavior change in the workplace.

Let's take a closer look at these three H5P content types.

Interactive Book organizes content into chapters with sub-sections. You can embed more than 30 content types inside it — video, quizzes, image galleries, audio, and more — all packaged together and navigable like a digital book. Every page gets its own URL for direct linking, and there's a summary page at the end that shows the learner's score and progress.

For corporate L&D, Interactive Book is an excellent fit for a comprehensive onboarding journey that brings company policy and culture videos together in one place. It's also efficient from a time standpoint, since it can be reopened whenever needed.

Timeline lays events out on a navigable chronological display, enriched with images, video (YouTube, Vimeo, MP4), audio, embedded Google Maps, and descriptive text. A given era or period can be expanded to cover several events, and a customizable introduction slide is available to set broader context.

The human brain remembers information more effectively when it's anchored to a specific place and time. For corporate training, this format works well for things like a company-history module for onboarding, a product-development timeline, a timeline of regulatory changes for compliance training, or a narrative of industry evolution that provides strategic context.

Branching Scenario lets you build a decision tree using a simple visual editor, embedding presentations, video, images, hotspots, and text along each branch. Learners make choices at key points, and each choice leads to a different outcome. This format supports training where employees work through ethical dilemmas as practice for handling real workplace situations.

According to Eric Young, Manager of Education at Good Roads, H5P helps learners apply knowledge to realistic scenarios in a safe, judgment-free environment, which in turn builds their confidence.

Having worked on more than 1,000 learning multimedia projects, Monkey Melody understands that every company faces different challenges and goals. That's why we offer a tailored approach to ensure every video we create achieves its intended training objective. By combining the latest technology with a creative approach, we're ready to help your company meet the training challenges of the future.