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ICO Leader Letter

August 2009, Volume 6, Number 8

1. From Face-to-Face Teaching to Electronic Learning

The future of ophthalmic education is E-Learning.

While some of us who consider ourselves traditional (now starting to be called "face-to-face") educators may resist that statement or even dispute its validity, there is a lot of evidence to support it, including a recent study that showed that online education is more effective for some areas of knowledge. You can download that study from: www.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/evidence-based-practices/finalreport.pdf.

This month's ICO Leader Letter focuses on E-Learning and resources that are now available, including the work of a new task force on Emerging Technologies for Teaching and Learning, a course on E-learning, and many resources on ICO's WORD and other sites. I hope you will find these initiatives and resources for E-learning stimulating and inspiring.

Please let us know if you have any resources of your own to share. We will continue "learning about E-Learning" and will share new developments with you as they emerge.

- Bruce Spivey, MD, ICO President

2. Emerging Technologies for Teaching and Learning

The new ICO Task Force on Emerging Technologies for Teaching and Learning has been making dramatic progress under the leadership of Dr. Eduardo Mayorga of Argentina, the Task Force Chair. The Task Force is taking steps toward the goal of exploring new emerging technologies for ophthalmic education and providing technical guidance for online CME courses and other learning experiences.

The task force is also working on the development of four web-based courses for residents:

• Ophthalmic Pathology led by Dr. Deepak Edward
• Low Vision led by Dr. Vanessa Bosch
• Community Eye Care led by Dr. Daksha Patel and Dr. Van Lansingh
• Ophthalmic Ultrasound led by Dr. Eduardo Mayorga

The World Ophthalmology Residency Development (WORD) online resource center and forum will now move to be a major program of the ICO Task Force on Emerging Technologies for Teaching and Learning. WORD was created in 2008 by Dr. Mayorga and Dr. Gabriela Palis to help residency program directors share resources on what to teach, how to teach, and what to teach with. To find resources and tools for each of these categories, visit WORD at www.icoword.org.

- Mark O. M. Tso, MD, ICO Education Director

3. E-Learning in Ophthalmology Course Now Online

I am happy to share with you the full online presentations with audio from a course on E-Learning organized by the ICO Technology Task Force at the European Society of Ophthalmology (SOE) Congress in Amsterdam in June.

We created this course to share new teaching tools and techniques with educators to help them incorporate technology into their teaching. These presentations were designed to help the teaching and learning process (not to create more work).

Below you will find the links to the online PowerPoint presentations with audio. Click on the links to take a self-paced tour through the presentations. You can control the slides to navigate to the various subjects that might interest you.

• E-Learning: Why Bother? Dr. Paul Rosen, Oxford, United Kingdom


• Classroom vs. Web-based Teaching Dr. Gabriela Palis, Buenos Aires, Argentina


• Synchronous vs. Asynchronous E-learning Dr. Karl Golnik, Cincinnati, United States


• Instructional Design Dr. Tero Kivelä, Helsinki, Finland


• Friendly Software for E-teachers Dr. Helena Prior Filipe, Lisbon, Portugal


• Learning Management Systems Dr. Eduardo Mayorga, Buenos Aires, Argentina


• Starting E-learning Projects Dr. Florindo Esperancinha, Lisbon, Portugal


• E-learning in Europe Dr. Marie-José Tassignon, Antwerp, Belgium

This course is meant to be a short introduction to E-Learning. We are working on developing a Web-based, tutor assisted course to help face-to-face teachers move to the Web-based classroom.

- Eduardo Mayorga, MD, Chair, ICO Task Force on Emerging Technologies for Teaching and Learning

4. Technology Resources for Teaching and Learning

Below are a few resources that may be helpful for anyone who is interested in starting to use technology for teaching.

Technology for Teaching and Learning - a Blog on How to Teach:
icotechnology.blogspot.com/
Practical tips and information for educators on subjects like conceptual maps, adding narration to PowerPoint presentations, synchronous e-learning, Wikis, and teaching evidence based medicine.

ICO's WORD:
www.icoword.org
E-learning lectures and resources for residency training and more.

American Academy of Ophthalmology's (O.N.E.) Network:
one.aao.org
An educational online resource that combines clinical content, news and tools from a variety of sources.

Orbis Cyber-Sight Question of the week:
telemedicine.orbis.org/bins/content_page.asp?cid=1-178
Test your residents' knowledge (and yours).

European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery Web page:
conference2web.com/escrs/DefAnon.aspx
Symposia, videos, free papers and posters presented at the ESCRS congresses. Access additional free content when you register on the site.

If you are aware of any other technology resources for teaching and learning that you would like to suggest, please send them to word@icoph.org.

- Gabriela Palis, MD, World Ophthalmology Residency Development Co-Chair

5. New ICO Board Members

Traditionally, the bulk of the ICO Board changes every eight years. To create more continuity and bring new ideas into the organization, we have decided to stagger the terms of Board members and recently held an election by mail ballot.

We are happy to announce new Board Members (listed below) and look forward to their immediate contributions to the ICO, including participation in the ICO Board Meeting in October in San Francisco.

Serge Resnikoff, MD was elected to fill the role of Director of Advocacy, replacing recently elected ICO Treasurer Hugh Taylor, AC, MD. Serge has very extensive experience in advocacy, having worked in the WHO, for an NGO and due to his many contacts throughout the ophthalmic world.

Rubens Belfort, MD was elected as Director for Communications. Rubens has broad experience in international ophthalmology, particularly as President of the 2006 WOC in Brazil (Bruce Spivey was the acting Director for Communications).

Robert Ritch, MD was elected as the new Advisory Committee Chair to replace Dunbar Hoskins, who resigned as Chair on March 31. Bob has served on the Advisory Committee since 2002, and is prominent in eye research and several international glaucoma societies.

Suzanne Binder, MD and David Parke, MD were elected as two new "ordinary members." Suzanne is a recent president of the Austrian Ophthalmological Society, and a person with great energy and ability. David Parke is the new Executive Vice President of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and continues a long tradition of close cooperation between the AAO and the ICO.

Please join me in congratulating and welcoming these new ICO Board members.

- Jean-Jacques DeLaey, MD, ICO Secretary General

6. AAO/PAAO Joint Meeting in San Francisco in October

The Joint Meeting of the Pan-American Association of Ophthalmology (PAAO)/American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), will take place October 24 - 27, 2009 in San Francisco, California. Registration is now open and details are listed atwww.aao.org/meetings/annual_meeting/registration.

For a preview of meeting highlights, see the "virtual highlights brochure" atdigital.virtualmarketingpartners.com/vmp/AAO/2009-joint-meeting/index.php.

There is also a video overview of the joint meeting including views of the city of San Francisco herewww.aao.org/meetings/annual_meeting/sanfrancisco.cfm.

The Joint Commission on Allied Health Personnel in Ophthalmology (JCAHPO) and the Association of Technical Personnel in Ophthalmology (ATPO) will hold their Annual Continuing Education (ACE) program October 24-27 at the San Francisco Hilton in conjunction with the AAO/PAAO joint meeting. ACE offers access to the latest courses, wet labs, and workshops. For more information on ACE seewww.jcahpo.org/ace09.

- Jean-Jacques DeLaey, MD, ICO Secretary General

7. Next ICO Meetings and World Ophthalmology Congress (WOC)

• ICO Board of Trustees: October 23, 2009, San Francisco
• ICO General Assembly: June 5, 2010, Berlin  
• World Ophthalmology Congress®: June 5-9, 2010, Berlin (www.woc2010.de)  
• Other future ICO Meetings: archive.icoph.org/lead/icomeet.html

More News

For more news of the ICO and international ophthalmology and resources for ophthalmologic leaders, see the ICO’s Web site at www.icoph.org.

Request for Other News and Resources

Do you have other news of international ophthalmology or know resources (particularly on the Web) that would be valuable to ophthalmologic leaders? Please let us know at leader@icoph.org.

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