World Council of Optometry

22 - 24 September 2010

Location: Durban, South Africa

Meeting Society’s needs; Challenges and Trends in Optometric Education

The World Conference on Optometric Education (WCOE) is the international forum for optometric educators from around the world to come together to discuss and debate challenges and trends in optometric education. This unique international conference is held every four years and plays a strategically important role in strengthening new optometric educational programs, by creating a unique opportunity for colleagues to interact, network, and share knowledge and resources.

           

The conference will feature multi-disciplinary panels that address three sub-themes

Theme 1:  Developing appropriate human resources

• Topic A1 Linking current and planned national and regional optometry education models to national and regional health service delivery models  
• Topic B1 Responding to external influences on optometry education models such as legislative changes and national, regional and global initiatives
• Topic C1 Developing optometry faculty and student research experience
• Topic D1 Short curricular courses are being implement to have an immediate impact on the visual needs in a country.  How does this impact the long term development for the profession of optometry?
• Topic E1 How to develop faculty to do research and develop PhD programs?

Theme 2: Strategies in providing quality education and curricular development

• Topic A2 Models of improving the effectiveness of optometric educators in clinical settings.
  • How can an optometric educator be more effective as a clinical educator in a clinical setting?
  • How should educators be prepared to approach teaching and learning for the “millennium generation”?
  • How do we get students to be independent learners and be responsible as health care professionals?  How do we impart life long learning skills?
  • Cultural competency and awareness and implication in teaching
• Topic  B2 Planning curricular changes for the next decade – how are optometric institutions looking ahead and training students to meet future population demands?
• Topic C2 Evaluating student clinical and educator performance
  • How are we evaluating/grading students at their different stages of clinical patient care?
  • How can we implement a quality assurance on the standards of faculty teaching?
• Topic  D2  Implementation of standards in research and or case studies within the Bachelor and Master degree optometric programs

Theme 3: Trends and developments in optometric education programmes

• Topic A3 New and innovative programmes in optometric education that are being development or implemented in the last 3 years
• Topic B3 Post-graduate degree programmes beyond the Bachelor’s degree within the last 3 yeas. Developments and challenges
• Topic C3 Evaluating quality and effectiveness of optometry programmes 

Poster only themes

• Examples of current optometry programmes and curricula
• New publications/papers or collaborative research published since the World Conference on Optometric Education 5 meeting in May 2006.

In 2006, WCOE in Italy attracted 250 attendees from over 40 countries. The conference has also previously been held in Atlanta, USA, Cologne, Germany, Hong Kong, SAR China and Houston, USA and attracted a wide range of educators and decision makers in optometry.  

There are many exciting issues facing optometric education - from the impact of internet-based education to the development of new ophthalmic products and technologies. Significant challenges include addressing shortages in human resources, strengthening the eye care infrastructure and seizing the opportunities that technology offers.

Countries across the world are united in their determination to prevent avoidable blindness and visual impairment . The improvement in the quality and availability of vision and eye care globally is directly related to the continued growth of optometric educational programs. The WCOE responds to those needs by uniting educators from around the world to share recent advancements and address future needs in optometric education.

The WCOE Steering Commitee is chaired by Dr Bina Patel from the USA and includes experts from the 6 regions of the WCO (North America, Africa, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East).

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