Blending community service and teaching to open vision care and eye health awareness to university students

Abstract

A vision care-based community service subject is offered to general university students for fulfillment of a service-learning compulsory credit requirement. Here, a professional health subject is taught in a way that caters to generalist learners. Students gain basic skills they can apply to provide vision screenings for the needy population. All enrolled undergraduates had no background in eye health-related subjects. The teaching was not content-driven, requiring students’ direct recall of facts. Rather, the teaching focused on Socratic teaching of logical theories and applications. The objective was to increase aware-ness of current eye care problems using case examples. Students learned to appreciate ways to promote active outreach services. Through activities and project work, students learned and practiced strong teamwork and direct application of knowledge in community-based eye care services. This learning experience demonstrates emergence of authentic practice from theory.