OB3 use case: The Ophthalmic Science Collaborative Programme between the University of Sydney and the University of Otago

The University of Sydney’s “SSI , in collaboration with the University of Otago and OB3, have developed a sophisticated blended learning model for teaching and learning in ophthalmology. This has been built on current educational research, regular student feedback and experienced academic staff to innovate and evolve. (Petsoglou & Stoop, 2020, p.39)

A/Prof Constantine Petsoglou

Coordinates postgraduate education,
Specialty of Ophthalmology, Save Sight Institute
University of Sydney

Why? OB3 was chosen due to several important advantages over other educational technologies:

  • Straightforward intuitive design allowing ease of use by lecturers and staff often not familiar with technology, and students when using shared documents and asynchronous learning
  • Collaborative development model to shape the platform to support innovation in teaching
  • Allowed for international faculties to coordinate teaching on the same platform rather than trying to use the individual differing university software.
  • Allowed for a single educational platform for content delivery and foster interactions between students themselves and students and with the academic staff.
  • Integration with institutional LMS to simplify student login and reduce course administration


(Gomez & Petsoglou, 2021, see p. 41)

The OB3 application helps carry out the Save Sight Insitute's Collaborative Development Model

"[OB3] reflects SSI’s use of multiple subject experts to deliver each unit of study, as well as the collegial nature of the education team at SSI. Unlike many education apps, OB3 does not differentiate users based on whether they are students or staff – any user can create and share documents in OB3. Users can then choose the level of access to give to others. This reflects SSI’s non-hierarchal learning approach and enables teachers to provide students with the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to the evolution and improvement of their course." (Petsoglou & Stoop, 2020, p.39)

Students as co-developers of curriculum. The Otago-Sydney programme was selected as exemplar for Co-design in Higher Education

“… Creation of content in OB3 is designed so that users do not need to learn new software skills or have educational design support. Documents are ‘live’ so users can update a section of their lecture without having to re-record the entire thing which saves academic staff time and effort. Documents can be shared to allow multiple users, including students, to collaborate and create content.” (Petsoglou & Stoop, 2020, pp. 38-39)

The Optik-i Project: An Example of Students Co-designing or Co-developing Curriculum Elements

The University of Sydney and the University of Otago students and academics co-design portions of the Ophthalmic Science programme. Early-career medicine students study ophthalmology in an asynchronous learning environment that seamlessly blends content and discussions. Students and academics co-design assessments, and students often control the decision making over wikis, journal clubs, and student-delivered lecture content. (See Huber & Jacka, 2022, p. 31)

Students as co-developers of curriculum. Otago- Sydney is as exemplar of Co-design in Higher Education in ASCILITE's 2021-2022 Contextualising Horizon Report

Video presentation for INTED 2022: 16th annual Technology, Education and Development Conference. It describes how OB3 helps the Otago-Sydney Ophthalmic Science programme to develop student-led activities in which they can be co-creators of curriculum elements.

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