Insights on Career Paths for 2021 Graduating Optometry Students

by Magaly Gassoub

The COVID-19 has made everyone to adapt the new era of information and communication technology by adopting the online- teaching-learning methodology to serve the dual purposes of continuation of education while discontinuing the chain of transmission of the virus.

The optometry field is one of the sectors that is affected by this sudden change in the learning techniques but this is nothing new to this challenging major where discoveries and advancements take place now and then, leading to rapid innovations in healthcare information and technology. These are clear indications for optometry schools to reconsider the conventional teaching and training methods for optometry students to adopt a dynamic instead of a static format for medical education to prepare and keep the students abreast with all the updated information on time. Thus, students are at a disadvantage when it comes to acquiring practical and clinical skills that are required to become a competent clinician when acquiring the creative online learning methods.

The Optometry program is taught primarily through traditional face-to-face activities such as lectures, laboratories, and tutorials with additional online study material available to students using the Learning Management System. All Optometry degree programs teach the fundamental optometric sciences including ophthalmic labs in the 1st year which includes (learning to differentiate between a spherical and cylindrical lens, glazing spectacles, adjusting and repairing frames, taking PD correctly, using the lensmeter, …) and clinical labs in the 2nd and 3rd year which includes ( method of refraction, using the slit lamp, binocular vision, …) as a foundation for later learning of diseases of the eye and ocular therapeutics require hands-on and real-life experience that cannot be simulated or substituted by the virtual method. Online classes cannot compete with the conventional or offline medical classrooms because during offline classes there is more direct communication, social interaction, and teamwork, which build up a strong student-teacher relationship, and the student is under the continuous scrutiny of the teacher tends to behave more sincerely and pays more attention.

More to add, Volunteering in a mobile clinic can be so beneficial for optometry students from learning about new communities and their needs, how to deal with difficult cases, and how to examine eyesight with the available capabilities and low resources. However, with the onset of the pandemic, The University has stopped completely the volunteering programs for safety reasons and the number of volunteers has decreased because of the pandemic.

Furthermore, this isolated learning can affect the overall growth of introverted students because they would have fewer chances of interaction and can easily hide behind their cameras. Thus, the optometry major requires urging to learn how to communicate properly with all groups of ages and to impose trust between the patient and the optometrist.

Due to the lack of proper surveillance, honest, immediate reviews, and feedback from students, maintaining a high-quality standard in education is an impossible mission. Students have misbehaved and tried to access online resources during assessments.
The new method of evaluation must be adapted to identify the strengths and weaknesses of every student and to determine the kinds of information they need to correct their learning deficiencies and misconceptions otherwise, we are coming to a disaster in education and the optometry field.

Magaly GASSOUB
Interior Architect |Optician-Optometrist

About the Author:

Passionately devoted to Interior Design, Architecture, and Graphic Design, Magaly Gassoub received her Master’s degree in Interior Architecture in 2015 from the Holy Spirit University Of kaslik (USEK). She carried out the decoration of several residences, villas, restaurants in Lebanon and participated in several exhibitions and competitions. In 2016, Magaly decided to pursue a second major besides interior architecture in which she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in optics and optometry in 2020 from the American University Of Science and Technology (AUST)