News from the AOA's Blog

More than 200 optometrists logged onto EyeLearn,™ the AOA’s new optometric education Web portal, during its first two weeks online.

Hundreds more personally visited the AOA Central display at Optometry’s Meeting® for a personal demonstration of the new online education site, after it was officially launched on June 1.

“The early response clearly suggests that EyeLearn™ is well on its way to becoming the first truly comprehensive education Web portal for optometry,” said AOA Trustee Christopher J. Quinn, O.D.

An overwhelming 82 percent of early users rated EyeLearn™ good or excellent, according to an online poll. Only 11 percent found the site to need improvement.

A review course on glaucoma and the optic nerve, developed by Murray Fingeret, O.D., of the State University of New York (SUNY) State College of Optometry, quickly emerged as the most popular of the four interactive, online courses offered as the site was launched last month, according to Dr. Quinn.

The first four courses offered on the site were developed to help AOA member optometrists prepare for the American Board of Optometry (ABO) certification examination. 

In addition to the glaucoma course, initial course offerings covered vision rehabilitation, systemic health, and pediatrics/ binocular vision/vision therapy. Additional certification review courses covering ametropia/ ophthalmic optics, contact lenses, the anterior segment, pre- and post-operative care, the posterior segment, and neuro-ophthalmic disorders will be added to the site in September.

Additional courses on clinical, as well as practice management topics, are scheduled to be added in the coming weeks.

For each topic, EyeLearn™ offers access to a variety of supplemental print, audio, video, and interactive learning programs, Dr. Quinn said (see “AOA EyeLearn™ to offer centralized learning resource” in the May edition of AOA News).

“Our objective in developing EyeLearn™ is to provide a very practical, usable resource that really meets the needs of member optometrists in terms of both educational content that is relevant to the practitioner’s needs and providing access to learning resources that optometrists can use where and when they need them. The AOA is committed to helping our members thrive and succeed in practice,” Dr. Quinn said.

EyeLearn™ offers:

• New custom-developed online learning modules on clinical and practice management topics
• Videos of continuing education lectures presented at Optometry’s Meeting®, and
• Optometry: Journal of the American Optometric Association articles published over the past two years.

In addition, EyeLearn™ features a Continuing Education (CE) Finder that lists continuing education courses offered by state optometric associations, regional optometric organizations, and the AOA.

Some 80 classroom courses were listed in the site’s CE Finder last month.

“EyeLearn™ is not only proving popular with optometrists who desire continuing professional education, but education providers who are seeking to market their course,” Dr. Quinn said.

AOA members can access EyeLearn™ on the AOA Web site at www.aoa.org/eyelearn.