New H5P Interactive Content Type: Branching Scenario (Part Two)
From Labyrinth to H5P
First developed within CMVM back in 2004, Labyrinth was a game-based pathway system for creating and playing virtual patients. As the Labyrinth platform is built in Classic ASP, I wanted to see if we could use the H5P Branching Scenario as a possible alternative or successor.
From the thousands published, I selected a single case study I was involved in many years ago – MBcHB Acute Medicine: Enid Langdale. The scenario is, you are an FY1 doctor and you have to make various decisions in an acute medical ward. With only one hour left on your shift, things take a dramatic turn…
Branching
As with all branching it is a good idea to map everything out. In Labyrinth if your map was really simple you could probably get away with just creating the nodes (HTML pages effectively) and linking them manually, otherwise we used VUE (Visual Understanding Environment), a mapping software created by Tufts. This could then be uploaded to Labyrinth where it would create all your nodes and branching for you.
As as I mentioned in Part one H5P has the mapping actually built in to the interface, it is easy to drag-and-drop directly on to the canvas. This means you can see where your branches are and where they go quite quickly, particularly if you want to edit something. If you click on the link it highlights where it links to, there is also a number in the bottom right which lets you know which branches don’t go anywhere. Editing links in Labyrinth is more of a challenge, unless you have a good memory you have to make a note of which nodes link to which.
Left: Labyrinth nodes and links. Right: H5P branching relationship.
Adding media
In Labyrinth the media had to be uploaded to the files area and then you added the media reference (shortcode) created to the appropriate node. In H5P there are many ways to add media, do you create a Course Presentation where you can add lots of information and media as a slideshow, images, text, video, or Branching Questions where you can have feedback and an image? As I discovered a bit more thought is required.
Left: Labyrinth file upload. Top right: H5P Branching question feedback. Bottom right: H5P image editor.
Conclusion
I think the H5P Branching Scenario is really powerful, it works slightly differently to Labyrinth, each have their own strengths and weaknesses. I really enjoyed using the H5P Branching Scenario, it is a great addition to the H5P interactive collection and could certainly be an alternative to Labyrinth.
Playful learning
See way you think and play our H5P Branching Scenario prototype (work-in-progress):
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