What does this research mean for the field?

Blended and hybrid pedagogical approaches, supported by interinstitutional collaboration, are suitable for teaching procedural skills in postgraduate optometry programs, with virtual methods acting as a supplement to in-person training. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.NOVEL_FINDING. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

What question did this study set out to answer?

This research aims to determine the effectiveness of digital versus traditional pedagogical methods for teaching clinical skills in postgraduate optometry programmes.

June 7, 2026Open Access

CHAPTER 8: Exploring Digital Pedagogies for Procedural Skills Teaching in the Planning of Coursework Postgraduate Programmes in Optometry

Puntos clave

This research aims to determine the effectiveness of digital versus traditional pedagogical methods for teaching clinical skills in postgraduate optometry programmes.
Convergent parallel mixed-method design employed using qualitative focus groups and quantitative questionnaires.
17 optometric educators participated in focus group discussions across 4 higher education institutions.
424 practicing optometrists responded to an electronic questionnaire regarding their perceptions of teaching methods.
45% of survey participants agreed that virtual observations are equivalent to in-person demonstrations.
39.2% of respondents were neutral about the adequacy of specialized skills among optometrists to support educators.
95.4% and 96.4% of participants supported interinstitutional collaboration for effective education delivery.

Resumen

Introduction and Background: In developing new coursework for postgraduate programmes in optometry aimed at upskilling qualified optometrists, a suitable pedagogy as part of curriculum planning needs to be established. It is currently unknown if traditional face-to-face approaches and digital modalities for clinical skills teaching are synergistic or mutually exclusive. Methods: A convergent parallel mixed-method design was employed, in which qualitative data from online (Microsoft Teams) focus group discussions (FGDs) and quantitative data from an electronic questionnaire (EvaSys V8.2) were simultaneously collected. There were 17 optometric educators purposively sampled from four higher education institutions (HEI) that participated in the FGDs, and 424 conveniently sampled practising optometrists responded to the questionnaire. Results: Survey participants agreed (n = 177; 45%) that virtual observations of skills were equivalent to in-person demonstrations. Neutral responses were recorded by 24% (n = 88), and a total of 32.6% (n = 128) disagreed. Optometric educators supported in-person skills development with virtual methods as supplementary only. Survey participants indicated neutrality as the highest recorded selection (n = 154; 39.2%) regarding whether there were adequate optometrists with enhanced specialised skills to support optometric educators in education and training. Interinstitutional collaboration with international and local HEIs yielded 95.4% and 96.4% agreement for the delivery of education and training. Conclusion: Interinstitutional collaboration was supported to mitigate the challenges of resource limitations in both expertise and educational materials to deliver education and training. Considering that postgraduate students are working and who may also be geographically dispersed, both blended and hybrid approaches were deemed suitable for teaching skills that straddle traditional and digital modalities.

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