2-minute read time.
Today I’m working remotely from home. After spending some time at the beach yesterday, I ended up a bit sunburned, which meant starting the morning in a swimsuit top: not exactly office‑appropriate. Thankfully, my role gives me the flexibility to work from wherever I’m comfortable, and most of my tasks translate easily to a remote setup.
This morning, I’ve been building a course in Moodle, which has me reflecting on how different it feels compared to D2L, the platform I usually work with. Both systems aim to support learning, but they approach things in very different ways. I’ll admit I prefer D2L, especially when it comes to design flexibility. In this Moodle instance, I can’t upload CSS or JavaScript, so any styling changes have to be done with inline code, page by page. It’s slow and a bit tedious compared to adjusting a template in D2L. That said, this Moodle environment does have one feature I’m genuinely excited about.
The institute recently added H5P, which is a great tool for course authors and digital media specialists. It makes creating interactive elements like videos, click‑to‑reveal activities, and drag‑and‑drop interactions much faster and far less dependent on backend coding. Given the limitations I’m working with in Moodle, H5P has been a real help. There are also plenty of tutorials available for anyone looking to enhance their courses, and I’d recommend it to any institution that hasn’t adopted it yet.
Too often, online courses end up feeling like digital textbooks, where a PDF is uploaded and called a day. As an instructional multimedia designer, I think that it underserves both the learners and the medium. Online environments provide the opportunity to create experiences that feel engaging and immersive; something more than a series of readings and a multiple‑choice quiz.
If Moodle is your main platform, H5P is worth exploring. It can add depth, creativity, and interactivity to a course without requiring extensive technical work.
Kristy
