MSci in Optometry
Hi! My name is Hazel and I am studying my MSci in Optometry at the University of Central Lancashire.
I currently live and work in Dunfermline, Fife in Scotland and for the past 15 years, I have worked for Specsavers Opticians. My current role is a Dispensing Optician, while I undertake my master's with UCLan. The flexibility of this course with online material has been ideal, as someone who is part of an earning household with dependents, returning to University on a full time basis was something I would have been unable to do.
The course comprises of primarily online material inclusive of weekly multiple-choice questions and monthly one-week block attendance sessions on campus. Our time away from campus is spent in practice, where we are observing, practising and advancing the skills and knowledge we learn from the online materials and we have a log book to record these case files. While on block, we have a few lectures but mostly practical sessions.
One of the best things I have found with the block sessions so far is their fluidity. If there are numerous questions or appears to be a gap in knowledge, it is addressed as it transpires.
We are able, within reason, to practise the skills we feel we are least proficient with and have been known on numerous occasions to have an impromptu brainstorming session in place of a rigid structured lecture.
The lecturers are amongst some of the most gifted and enthusiastic individuals I’ve ever had the privilege to meet. Despite us being primarily distance learning students and spending little time physically on campus, they are fully and fundamentally invested in us as a group and as individuals. It is genuinely such an advantage to be tutored by such outstanding professionals.