ClearPath Showcase: OB3

ClearPath Showcase

Beautiful study for lifelong learning

www.ob3.io

OB3 is the app for online academic study. Within 60 minutes users can author and share meaningful independent and collaborative study documents, without the support of an educational designer or technologist.

Documents can take the form of curriculum content, essays, reflections, practice experience, and professional portfolios. Activities in OB3 promote the development of active learning communities, in study programmes using blended, flipped classroom, problem-based, or deeper learning approaches.

“The beauty of OB3 is students can create discussions in content, reducing isolation and giving lecturers a sense of how students are responding to teaching materials.” – Rea Daellenbach, ARA

Author content

OB3 is designed for time-starved staff and students. It lowers the barrier to adoption and use, and reduces digital anxiety. If you know how to browse the web, copy and paste, use email and edit a Word doc you have all the skills needed. OB3 cleverly recognises the styling and formatting so your content will appear correctly after import.

Embedded discussions

In OB3, discussions happen in context inside curriculum content, and can be created by students to ask questions or contribute ideas, while maintaining study flow. This approach is proven to enhance engagement, reduce isolation, and give teachers a clearer picture of student understanding and how they are interacting with teaching materials.

Asynchronous collaboration

OB3 supports individual, group and class asynchronous activities around co-authoring content, for example, enabling team-based curriculum development. Embedded discussions contextualise posts within curriculum content, and participants can also contribute by replying through email.

Simplifying video and audio

OB3 removes the complexity from incorporating video and audio into a document – simply drag and drop media files in OB3. Don’t worry about the format or size – they will be automatically converted for correct playback on all platforms. Record audio narrations directly into a page or discussion without need for flash. OB3 supports uploads up to 1Gb.

Embed online content simply

Add online media from over 300 online sites including YouTube, SlideShare and many others. Identify a resource, copy its URL, and paste into OB3: they will be displayed automatically.

Student engagement and support

OB3 tracks study activity for each student creating learner profiles. These are used to provide just-in-time, automated and personalised learning support: Students posting a discussion message for the first time, or with flagged support needs (e.g. trouble logging in) receive automatic support – either in app, or via email.