Professional Development

Audio Visual Services

 ::  What is the AV Service

The Victorian College of Optometry’s Audio Visual Service allows members to obtain continuing education by remote access. Members have the option of subscribing to a postal service or subscribing to a self-collection service. Members also have the option of obtaining additional continuing education points by correctly completing a questionnaire relevant to the material loaned.

You can subscribe as

• an Audio Subscriber (entitling you to audio cassette tapes and CDs only), or
• an Audio Visual Subscriber (entitling you to audio cassette tapes, CDs, DVDs and videos)

Subscriptions may be taken out for a single fee paid annually with your VCO membership (or for a pro-rata fee if subscribing throughout the year). Alternatively any member may be an occasional subscriber in which case a fee is paid each time an item is loaned.

When you subscribe to the postal service we send you a full list of audio cassette-tapes, CDs, DVDs and videos. You tick your preferences and return the list to the College. Your preferences are then placed on reserve and are forwarded to you one at a time via post. When you return a tape another is despatched within a few days. Each loan has a maximum period of three weeks and how many tapes you receive depends on how quickly you return it.

Audio Subscribers may receive one audio cassette-tape or CD on loan at any given time while audio-visual subscriber’s can simultaneously receive an audio cassette-tape or CD and a DVD or video in the one posting.

If there are additional members at the same address as the principal subscriber (eg: spouses or practice partner’s) those additional members may subscribe to the audio-visual service as secondary subscribers for a reduced cost. Secondary subscribers are not eligible to have material posted directly to them however they can claim continuing education points for any material that is sent to the principal subscriber that they view or listen to. To be eligible to claim continuing education points for viewing or listening to the audio-visual material you must be either a primary or secondary subscriber to the service.

If you subscribe to the self-collection service you can access the full list of audio cassette-tapes, CDs, DVDs and videos through the Nathan Library. You can collect an item at any time during the library’s opening hours however some of the more popular items may need to be reserved in advance. Loans are again for a maximum period of three weeks.

Audio subscribers may have one audio cassette-tape or CD on loan at any given time while audio-visual subscriber’s can simultaneously loan an audio cassette-tape or CD and a DVD or video at the same time.

Please note that only members who subscribe to the Audio Visual Service or pay the applicable occasional loan fee may access audio-visual material through the Nathan Library.

Multiple-Choice Questionnaires

A set of 10 multiple-choice questions accompanies all audio cassette-tapes and CDs from the American Audio Digest Foundation, as well as videos and DVDs beyond the year 2000. Although optional for the subscriber to complete the multiple-choice questionnaire, an extra CE (CPD) point is gained if the questionnaire is completed correctly and returned to the College. Subscriber’s may pay for individual questionnaires or may purchase questionnaires in groups of 10 for a reduced price (10% discount). When a group of 10 questionnaires is purchased a new questionnaire is sent out individually with each of 10 loans.

CE (CPD) Points
Each item loaned gains you one CE (CPD) point. An extra one point is earned through the completion of the multiple-choice questions, whereby a minimum of 5 questions are answered correctly. Subscribers failing questionnaires will be notified via telephone. Points earned are passed on to the Optometrists Association Australia (OAA) on a monthly basis. The maximum CE (CPD) points earned by any one Audio Visual item loan is two (2).

Where Does The Material Come From?

All audio cassette-tapes and CDs are issued to the College through our annual subscription to the American Audio Digest Foundation (http://www.audio-digest.org), receiving two new items per month. We also produce a number of new DVDs and videos per year, recording every Seminar Series Meeting held at the College. In addition, we occasionally purchase new material from other various educational health sources. We currently have over 250 CE audio-visual items for loan.

Further Information

If you need any further information, please contact Administrative Officer in the Professional Development Office via telephone on 03 9349 7477 or email profdev@ vco.org.au