University of Auckland optometry studies now online

Auckland University’s School of Optometry and Vision Science (SOVS) will deliver courses online for the remainder of semester one (2 March to 22 June 2020). This is the best way to ensure the health and safety of students and continuity of teaching, said SOVS head, Professor Steven Dakin.

While Alert Level 3 allows for some small group teaching, requirements for physical distancing and the use of personal protective equipment means face-to-face teaching is unlikely to resume in the interim, he said. “The university will review its position regarding online teaching as the stability of alert levels becomes more apparent over time.”

As the ongoing restrictions will make clinic teaching particular challenging this year, once the alert levels reduce, SOVS will be relying on the experiential learning students gain from their practice externships more than ever this year, he added.

The Faculty of Medical and Health Science’s student centre is providing students pastoral care, ensuring they have access to suitable IT services and directing them to financial support where appropriate. “Within the school, we are increasing the frequency we meet and talk to student representatives, using online platforms to ensure the student voice is better heard at a time when we are aware students are under a great deal of stress,” said Prof Dakin, adding SOVS staff have really stepped up to the challenge of online teaching. “We have adapted some existing teaching content to suit online delivery and are creating new content with tools such as Canvas, Zoom and, potentially, KuraCloud. The clinical teaching staff have adapted quickly to this new teaching environment and, in fact, are embracing it as a stimulus to re-think the way we interact with students.”

Clinical case examples and virtual cases are being used wherever possible, with video platforms allowing for group discussions and annotation of images, he said. “The general feedback from students has so far been positive, although everyone is keen to getting back to seeing patients.”