Have course ideas, will travel? Answer the AOA’s call for courses

This article was updated on July 21 to reflect a deadline extension for the 2024 Call for Courses. The deadline is now Wednesday, July 26.

Calling all optometric professionals: Your expertise is needed in helping the AOA continue delivering an innovative, wholly relevant educational program that evolves with our profession.

To provide an education system that offers year-round, integrated learning and professional development opportunities for doctors, paraoptometric assistants and future doctors, the AOA seeks immediate input for lecture courses and workshops to be offered during Optometry’s Meeting® in Nashville, Tennessee, June 19-22, 2024, as well as the AOA EyeLearn Professional Development Hub. Help support the AOA’s goal of delivering impactful, cutting-edge education by answering the AOA’s 2024 call for courses. But do so soon, as all course applications must be submitted online by July 26, 2023.

• Submit your course
• Course criteria and requirements

Mohammed Rafieetary, O.D., AOA Education Center Committee member, encourages colleagues to submit their educational course ideas to keep the AOA’s continuing education (CE) and professional development opportunities relevant, impactful and forward-looking for the benefit of the profession.

“Emphasizing the crucial role of quality continuing education, Optometry’s Meeting is an event that aims to propel the profession of optometry forward and foster excellence in the education of our fellow optometrists and paraoptometric staff,” Dr. Rafieetary says. “Join us in shaping the future of optometry through these impactful learning opportunities.”

As Dr. Rafieetary mentions, paraoptometric education also remains a priority for the AOA's education programming. In addition to the already-extensive library of staff training and education available in AOA EyeLearn, Optometry's Meeting continues to deliver paraoptometric CE ranging in topics from billing and coding to patient intake, clinical skill-building, optometric surgical assisting and more, says Linda Rodriguez, CPO, AOA Education Center Committee member.

"As AOA continues to provide the most advanced and innovative education to all paraoptometrics, the call for courses opens this opportunity for speakers to fulfill this goal," Rodriguez says. "The AOA recognizes that a well trained and educated paraoptometric staff effectively contributes to the success of an optometric practice. It is essential that speakers, when submitting paraoptometric courses, include education that elevates the knowledge and training, as well as enhances teamwork of optometric physicians and paraoptometrics in their unique role, as optometry continues to expand its scope."

Presenters of selected courses will receive an honorarium of up to $350, complimentary full registration to Optometry’s Meeting and may be eligible to receive complimentary housing and/or travel.

Interested in learning more about Optometry’s Meeting in Nashville? Sign up to receive updates and advanced registration notifications for Optometry’s Meeting.

What kind of educational content?

The AOA will consider all education topics, including and not limited to emerging technologies, optometry patient care innovations and practice management. However, the AOA does request special attention to key topics and conversations pertinent to and outlined by the learning categories below. 

• Doctor of optometry education topics
• Doctor of optometry/paraoptometric assistant joint education topics
• Paraoptometric assistant education topics

In 2021, the AOA committed to an education initiative that ensures a year-round content curriculum through a combination of in-person and online events. While Optometry’s Meeting remains the centerpiece of the AOA’s educational initiative, the association’s online learning platform, AOA EyeLearn, is a constant fixture with on-demand courses, staff training modules and live webinar opportunities. These formats offer the ability for doctors and staff to earn AOA CE Hours, Commission on Paraoptometric Certification and COPE credits (where applicable).

“Right now is a prime opportunity to have year-long education and really start to view education as something that isn’t confined to a lecture hall,” noted George Veliky, O.D., AOA Education Center co-chair, in a 2021 AOA Focus article concerning the educational initiative. “That’s almost an outdated way of thinking about it since there are so many ways to learn now, and we want to offer those alternate avenues of learning and education to our members beyond simply sitting in a classroom.”

Learn more about the course criteria and requirements, as well as information about speaker honorarium, and contact AOA Education Center staff with further questions.