IACLE impact in Indonesia (article en anglais)

In a recent course held in Indonesia, education from the International Association of Contact Lens Educators (IACLE) was shown to have a significant impact on educator knowledge.  An IACLE Reverse Educator Fellowship was conducted on 17– 20 April 2006 at ARO Binalita Medan.
 
IACLE Educator Fellowship Programs allow educators to develop and exchange contact lens knowledge, skills, and material resources by visiting another Institution.  In the case of a reverse fellowship, an IACLE staff member visits an institution and provides training to several educators.
 
The ARO Binalita Medan school currently has 69 students, and six educators participated in this Fellowship Program conducted by Cheni Lee, IACLE National Coordinator.  The program included lectures, discussion sessions, videos and hands-on workshops, with materials developed in IACLE headquarters in Sydney Australia, and translated into Bahasa by Cheni. 
 
Knowledge evaluation exercises were conducted both before and after the fellowship program.  The results show that the program was a success, with a positive impact on the knowledge levels of the participants in all categories.
 
Johnson &Johnson Vision Care also visited the school in conjunction with the fellowship program, to present a product information seminar.  All IACLE programs are made possible through the generous sponsorship of industry including CIBA Vision, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Inc, Bausch & Lomb, AMO, CooperVision Inc, Alcon Laboratories, and Menicon Europe.
 
All participants agreed or strongly agreed that the program topics were relevant to their needs and that the information was presented in a way that was relevant and easy to understand.
 
The Fellowship is the latest in IACLE activities at the School.  IACLE has been involved in the School since 1996.  The educators report that there has there been a 16 hour increase in the total number of teaching hours dedicated to contact lenses since IACLE became involved at this institution.  The IACLE Modules been implemented into their contact lens curriculum, and the students use the Modules as their textbook.  They also report that there has been an increase in the student's level of interest in contact lenses as a result of IACLE's efforts, particularly because IACLE resources are available in Bahasa.
 
Fellowship participants commented:
 
“This is a great program and opportunity for us to review what we have learned before, to correct our basic contact lens knowledge if we have been conveying the wrong information to our students all these years, and also to standardize procedures in contact lens practical sessions” .
 
“The IACLE workbook is marvelous, and we hope to use this as our practical workbook since we didn’t have any contact lens workbook before.”
 
"IACLE had contributed so many wonderful things to our school. Besides setting up an IACLE Resource Center and giving us all the resources: Modules (English and Bahasa), CDs, Videos, we are also fortunate to be given the opportunity to enroll and participate in various program like the DLP, STE, and Accreditation exam. And now this specially designed fellowship program for us."
 
For further information about IACLE programs or about becoming an IACLE member, visit www.iacle.org or contact the IACLE Secretariat at iacle@iacle.org
 
Source : communiqué de presse