How to create interactive learning materials on the Udoba platform

Contents:

• How to register and create your library
• How to create interactive materials
• How to share materials with students
• How to see student results

The designer of interactive educational resources "Udoba" was launched in 2020, during the period of pandemic restrictions, when teachers and lecturers were in dire need Effective tools for organizing online classes were needed. This domestic product responded to the challenges of the time, giving educators the opportunity to create engaging and accessible educational materials. "Udoba" helps improve the quality of distance learning and supports the educational process in the new reality.

The platform, created by programmer Arsen Borovinsky in collaboration with Perm State National Research University, provides numerous templates for developing interactive digital content. It also includes basic analytics tools for tracking student progress. This solution is ideal for educational institutions seeking to improve the quality of instruction and increase student engagement.

"Udoba" is based on the open-source H5P builder created by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and also utilizes the ELiS electronic library system, registered in the registry of domestic software. The platform is free to use, making it an ideal tool for educational institutions and individuals looking to create interactive content.

Let's explore the capabilities of the Udoba platform and look at how to get started.

How to register and create your library

The platform's main page contains two main buttons: "Log in" and "Create a user." Clicking the button to create a user will take you to the standard registration page. Here, you will need to enter a username, email address, and create a secure password. After successful registration, you will be prompted to click the "Create a library" button. Your library will become a storage place for all the materials you create, providing convenient access to them at any time.

Content created in "Udoba" It becomes publicly available. It is not possible to restrict access to just your students via the link. All materials are listed in the publications list, sorted from newest to oldest. By clicking on the link to the resource you created, you can access your library and view all its contents.

After creating a library, the platform will prompt the user to fill it with content. Three main buttons are available for this process: "Homework," "Interactive Content," and "Folder." The "Folder" button is designed for convenient organization of materials, allowing them to be sorted by subject, topic, or grade. This simplifies navigation and finding the resources they need, ensuring more efficient use of the library.

The homework format requires the teacher to create the assignment and send students a link to it. After completing the assignment, students can upload photos of their work or screenshots via the same link. Registration on the platform is not required; simply provide your name so the teacher can assign grades. This approach simplifies the process of completing and checking homework, allowing you to focus on the learning process without unnecessary obstacles.

Let's consider the process of creating interactive resources using a variety of templates, Available on the Udoba platform. These templates make it easy and quick to develop unique solutions tailored to your needs. Use the tools provided to create engaging and functional content that will grab users' attention and increase their engagement.

How to Create Interactive Materials

Clicking the "Interactive Content" section will open a page with a link to the H5P platform catalog, which forms the basis of the Udoba service. This catalog features materials created by educators from all over the world. Users can filter resources by subject, format, student level, and language, and copy them to their library for editing and subsequent use with students. This approach allows you not only to use ready-made materials but also to use them as a source of inspiration for creating your own interactive activities, which helps improve the learning process.

Alternatively, use the "Upload" link to add an H5P file that you saved earlier to the library. This could be a resource created by a colleague or downloaded from the official H5P website, which features all available formats. Using H5P allows you to create interactive learning materials, which increases user engagement and enhances the learning process.

In this guide, we will detail the process of creating your own learning material from scratch. When you click the "Create Content" button, you will be presented with an extensive list of templates. To make it easier to select the most appropriate option for the educational task, we will divide the templates into five main categories: information formats, questions and tasks, game elements, multimedia templates (including interactive presentations that combine elements of training, games, and testing), and auxiliary formats. This will help users quickly navigate in choosing the right tool for effective learning.

Learning material templates provide an opportunity to convey information in an accessible and interesting form, but their level of interactivity remains limited. For example, a chronological feed, or timeline, allows the student to independently browse the material, but its main purpose is to familiarize themselves with the content. These templates do not require students to complete tasks or answer questions, which can reduce student engagement.

• Interactive areas on the image - an image with clickable dots that, when clicked, open additional materials (for example, text explanations or videos).

• Accordion is a format for the structured presentation of voluminous text materials. By default, the main content is hidden behind subheadings and opens when clicked.

• Information wall — a similar format, only keywords are added to the text blocks, allowing the student to quickly find the necessary information in the document.

• Dialogue cards — cards for repeating and consolidating material. They can contain, for example, foreign words and their meanings, dates and events, physical phenomena and corresponding formulas.

• Collage — this tool allows you to create a composition from individual images.

• Timeline — a feed presenting events in chronological order, also called a timeline. It can include not only text, but also images, audio, video, and locations from Google Maps. We talked about other services for creating timelines in this collection.

• Audio is just an audio file added via a link or uploaded from the user's computer (MP3, WAV, and OGG formats are supported). Autoplay can be enabled.

• Image slider — a gallery of images without captions.

• Image sequence comparison — essentially the same gallery, but text can be added to each image. The platform developers suggest using this format to show changes in an object over time, or to detail diagrams or maps.

• Image comparison — a pair of images for visual comparison. By dragging the slider, the student can examine, for example, the same urban landscape in the present day and in the last century, or a natural landscape at different times of the year.

• Audio Recorder — a voice recording that can be played via a link or downloaded to your device in WAV format.
• Chart — a template representing entered data in the form of a pie or bar chart.
• KewAr Code — this is the platform's name for the QR code creation tool that can be used to encode a link, location, contact information, and much more.

Interactive templates in this category offer users a variety of questions and tasks, including multiple-choice answers, text entry, and audio recording. These templates use various mechanics, such as drag-and-drop and fill-in-the-blank, to make learning more engaging and effective. The interactive format significantly increases user engagement, making the learning process more dynamic and interesting.

• Single-Answer Quiz — a standard test question with a choice of one correct option.
• Multiple Choice — a quiz format with a choice of several correct answer options. The question can be accompanied by a picture, audio, or video, but the answers must be text only.
• True/False is a statement that the student must evaluate for accuracy.

• A personality quiz is a template for creating entertaining quizzes in the spirit of "What Kind of Cat Are You?", in which each answer option is compared with a specific result.
• A questionnaire is a survey option that does not display the final result, but only stores the user's selected or typed answers.
• A question set is essentially a quiz that combines different test questions and tasks. If desired, the passing threshold can be configured, as well as feedback for different results.
• Filling in the blanks is a text in which the student needs to enter the missing words.

• Drag and Drop Words — a similar mechanic, except the user doesn't type words, but selects from the suggested ones and drags them to the desired location.
• Mark Words — the student reads the text and marks words in it, according to the task instructions.
• Flash Cards — each card contains an image with a question, and the student needs to type the correct answer.
• Sort Paragraphs — the student needs to arrange text blocks in the correct order, such as lines of a poem or program code, or stages of a process.

• Guess the Answer — a template for self-checking or synchronous questioning during the lesson. The card contains a picture with a question, and the correct answer opens by clicking a button.
• Essay — the student needs to write an essay on a given topic, using keywords. The task configures automatic feedback depending on whether these words are found in the work or not.
• Drag and Drop is a task to move an object to the correct area on the page.

• Arithmetic Quiz — the teacher selects the type of tasks (arithmetic calculations or solving linear equations of varying complexity) and their number, and the platform will automatically generate examples.
• Say Words — a question or series of questions to which the student answers verbally using their device's microphone.
• Summary — a type of comprehension test, such as a textbook chapter or video lecture. The student is presented with a series of statements from which they must select the correct ones. By answering, they receive points, and at the end, all correct theses are summarized in a summary of the topic covered.
• Find Areas in an Image — a type of test where the student must click on the correct area of ​​the image, according to the conditions of the task. There is a similar template with multiple choice.

• Image selection is a similar test format, only the student does not choose areas on image, and the correct pictures as a whole.
• Image pairs - a task to match images based on the features named in the instructions.
• Dictation - the student listens to an audio recording and enters in text what he heard. The teacher should add the correct answers in advance.
• An image sequence is a set of pictures that need to be arranged in the correct order.

Entertainment formats are effective tools for increasing student engagement and creating a comfortable atmosphere during classes. They help make the educational process more dynamic and interesting, promoting better learning. Using these formats not only encourages active student participation but also improves their mood, which in turn has a positive impact on learning.

• Find the Pair of Images — a memory training game with images that open on click, and the student needs to remember where they are located to find pairs of identical pictures.
• Find the Words — an attentiveness game in which the student searches for given words in a grid of letters.

• Crossword — this template allows you to create crosswords with flexible customization, including customizable result calculations and feedback for students. You can create a large word bank with definitions and then generate new crosswords with a specified number of words.

These formats combine multiple templates into a single solution. They are highly interactive, allowing students not only to consume content but also to actively engage with it, for example, by answering questions. This approach promotes deeper learning and increases engagement.

• Interactive video – the student watches a video with interaction points at time markers, such as a quiz about the video's content.
• Course presentation – this is a template with slides that can contain text, images, audio, and video (including interactive ones), as well as various questions and tasks – for example, multiple-choice, drag-and-drop, and fill-in-the-blank. Slides can be configured with triggers – clickable sections that take the user to a specific slide. They are used in developing non-linear quests or tests, where the next question depends on the answer to the previous one.
• Branching scenario – this format is specifically designed for developing non-linear stories. By combining media content, games, and tasks with questions whose answers lead to one or another “branch,” you can create a story that develops depending on the user’s decisions.

• A column is an interactive longread that can include any format available on the platform. Unlike a slide presentation, materials are arranged vertically and adapt to the user's screen, making them convenient for learning on a smartphone.
• An interactive book is a multi-page interactive longread with all the capabilities of a smartphone.
• A 360-degree environment is a tool for creating virtual tours using panoramic and standard images. Navigation between scenes and interaction points within each scene are customizable—for example, clicking to open additional materials, including audio and video, or test questions. Panoramic images can be found in search engines and photo hosting sites by searching for "360 panorama" or "3D panorama."

• Augmented reality - with this format, the teacher uploads a 3D model in GLB format to the platform, creates a label for it, which works on the principle of a QR code, and prints it. Students click a special link on their smartphone, scan the marker with their camera, and see a 3D model on the screen, viewable from all angles. Tasks and other activities can also be attached to markers. Detailed instructions are available from the Udoba developer.
• The game map is a template for creating quest-based journeys. The game map contains interaction points (media content, questions, and tasks), and students complete them one by one. The settings are very flexible: for example, you can limit the time for completing a specific task or make it so that the activity opens only if the user has scored the required number of points in the previous stages.

Formats that support the learning process include goal setting, planning, note-taking, and structuring written work. These elements help organize the learning process effectively, improving comprehension and retention of material. Setting clear goals allows you to focus on achieving results, and planning creates a structure for learning. Note-taking promotes better assimilation of information, and well-structured written work ensures logical and consistent presentation. Using these formats significantly improves the quality of learning and promotes deeper knowledge acquisition.

• Cornell Notes - Students receive material in the form of text, audio, or video, as well as a template for taking notes using the Cornell method. The notes page is divided into three blocks: one contains the main concepts and points, the second explains them in more detail, and the third summarizes the content as a whole.

• The structure strip is a tool for structuring written work, allowing you to set the required length for each section of the text.
• Documentation is a tool for setting goals and planning. After completing the template, you get a structured document that displays all stages of work on a project or complex task.

If you already have experience working with interactive content builders, mastering the "Udoba" platform will be easy. All fields for filling out and setting up are clearly explained. In addition, you will find detailed instructions for various formats on the official H5P website. Although they are available in English, automatic translation in the browser makes the information easy to understand. Using such resources will significantly simplify the process of creating interactive content and improve its quality.

Once you have completed creating the material, click the "Save" button at the bottom of the page, and your content will be added to the library.

How to share material with students

The finished material is available for viewing, allowing you to evaluate how it will be perceived by students. If necessary, you can make changes and improvements.

In the viewing tab, scrolling down the page, you will find several buttons. The "Reuse" button allows you to save the content in H5P format, which allows you to upload it to other designers. Clicking the SCORM button saves the material as an archive with the course, which simplifies its integration into the LMS. The "Paste" button allows you to copy the HTML code for subsequent embedding on the site.

To access the material on their device, students only need a link in the following format https://udoba.org/node/******. However, using this link may accidentally take them to your library and show all your other materials. To avoid this, we recommend using the link from the pop-up window that appears when you click the "Insert" button. Copy the link in quotation marks, which looks like this: https://udoba.org/h5p/embed/******. This link will open only the content page, without any additional interface elements, which will provide more convenient access to the educational material.

How to see the results

All interactions with content from your Udoba library are collected in the Reports tab. Since students don't need to register to complete assignments, all sessions are anonymous by default. This means you'll be able to see how users answer questions and complete assignments, but they'll appear under the name "guest." This way, you can track activity and results without linking them to specific students.

There are several ways to collect individual assignment statistics, although each has its drawbacks. Streamlining the data collection process can help improve the accuracy and efficiency of results analysis. It's important to consider different methods, such as using specialized software, manual tracking, or automation via an API. Each of these approaches has its advantages and limitations, and choosing the most appropriate method depends on the specific tasks and goals of the analysis.

• Ask students to register with Udoba—then their username will appear in the reports. If you're using the platform for teaching adults, this is the most convenient method. However, schools and secondary vocational education institutions may encounter complications: this option involves the processing of personal data, and for this, according to the requirements of the updated Article 16 of the Law "On Education in the Russian Federation," only state information systems can be used.
• Add a name field to assignments. When creating a quiz or using a template that combines different formats (for example, a column or interactive book), you can add a mandatory "Your name" question. In reports, the user will still be listed as a guest, but you will identify them when you open the results.
• Use unique links with a code. Each time a user interacts with the material, the platform generates a unique link (see https://udoba.org/node/******/sharereport? sharecode=123456) with activity data, including answers to questions. It can be found at the bottom of the page, next to the links for downloading and embedding content. After completing the assignment, the student can copy this link and send it to the teacher in any convenient way. Here it is explained in more detail.

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Also explore:

• A large selection of Russian online services for interactive learning activities
• Free services for creating a timeline
• Free services with online quizzes and tests for learning activities
• 10 free online boards for distance learning and collaboration