The H5P Moodle plugin vs H5P.com vs the new Moodle core integration

Submitted by edumas on Mon, 07/25/2022 - 11:36
Forums: 
General discussion

Hello,

We use H5P with Moodle and since last versions of Moodle our users do not know which H5P plugin to use : moodle core (blue icon) or H5P plugin from https://moodle.org/plugins/mod_hvp (black icon)

I read carefully following article

https://h5p.org/moodle-plugin-vs-moodle-core-vs-h5p-com#comment-form

Conclusion seems to be "The Moodle core integration (not recommended)"

Well what should I do ? 

Why Moodle created a core plugin against H5P plugin ?

Thanks 

Enrique

BV52's picture

BV52

Mon, 07/25/2022 - 18:55

Hi Enrique,

H5P is open sourced so anyone can make their changes to the software. Having said this we cannot say why Moodle core created their own integration. It being not recommended does not mean it does not work properly, it only means that we have not tested the integration. The Moodle integration do have its merits such as utilizes Moodle's question bank which the plugin cannot do. On the other hand we do not know if the Moodle core integration will include the OER Hub once it is fully launched.

-BV

otacke's picture

otacke

Mon, 07/25/2022 - 19:15

Hi!

You'll find a discussion on that topic at https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=408251. The thing I'd like to add is this quote by Martin Dougiamas (from a recent Moodle User Association Event):

"To the question of whether Moodle has a roadmap for continued inclusion or development of H5P within Moodle Core, he answers: “No, not really, sadly no'' to the reason why, he explained, “The way it’s designed, is counter to how Moodle is designed, Moodle quizzes are server based, their security is a very big concern”. H5P is browser-based which allows answers to be discovered when looking through the code, because the information is right there, ready to be looked at. In addition, H5P “wants to have their own sustainability”, quite reasonably, so “everything is oriented towards their hub and that fights against the concept of having them floating around in Moodle”, and he also added that at this point “our roadmaps are not aligned”.

Absolutely correct. But it feels a little strange to say this now, because he should have known this already when deciding to create moodle's custom H5P integration. Anyway, maybe this is important information. If the H5P core team develops H5P further, it may not be the number one priority for moodle to integrate the changes required to let H5P continue to work in moodle's custom integration.

Best,
Oliver

mandersj

Thu, 10/20/2022 - 21:02

With the recent looming upgrade of Moodle 4, I am revisiting what to do about our H5P users. We never migrated content from H5P community plugin to the MoodleCore Native because of a host reasons (see post on OpenLMS). Two years later, our users and H5P adoption continue to suffer. I'm informed by our moodle host (OpenLMS) that some of the performance issues (library cache, loading/compiling activity) may be unique to their infastructure and that H5P native potentially could solve that.

However, as others have pointed out in that moodle discussion topic, I'm not at all interested in migrating our users to a plugin which requires a different workflow, is missing features (including future ones), and may be "abandoned" or sidelined given Martin's recent "anti-hub" stance. This is so frustrating and the lack of documentation or communication about it speaks volumes. So many people who use Moodle see H5P as a FANTASTIC tool — including the team at OpenLMS.

  1. How can we best advocate a fix for this?!
  2. Stupid question: If CORE decided to embrace newer versions of the H5P code that included the HUB, would they continue using their current plugin workflow (i.e. new content created/used from content bank, add activity instance or via embed/atto plugin) given that in I'm seeing the door opened to other content bank types?
otacke's picture

otacke

Fri, 10/21/2022 - 10:00

Hi mandersj!

I agree that this is not a satisfying situation. In my opinion (highlighting that this is an opinion), as mentioned before on the post that you linked to, moodle's custom integration has quite some advantages compared to the plugin that are valuable. Some happily migrate to that solution, some don't and stick with the plugin for the very reason you gave above. The H5P Hub and its announced tighter integration into H5P contents and overall importance are a key issue here.

I don't think anyone outside of the respective development teams will be able to "fix" this. Would it help if both, H5P Group and moodle HQ updated their roadmap to more clearly highlight what the plans for the H5P Hub are?

As for you 2nd question: I don't think the workflow would need to be changed (dramatically), even though I don't know the plans for moodle's content bank. As far as I know, it was intended to not use it for H5P content only. Instead of picking H5P content from the custom chooser you'd, say, choose H5P first (in case other types of content will be supporter) and then use the H5P Hub to create your content. But then again, I don't know the plans for the H5P Hub or for the content bank, so this is mere speculation.

Best,
Oliver