Where are the best places to post & search for VRT positions? Melissa -----Original Message----- From: visionrehabtherapist-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:visionrehabtherapist-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Brink-Chaney, Marcie (DELEG) Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2010 7:58 AM To: Maduffy@xxxxxxx; visionrehabtherapist@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [visionrehabtherapist] Re: Current VRT Website Outdated! That's terrible. Ten years is ridiculously outdated. What do we pay membership dues for? Each university program should have a web link to the school on the AER website and the website should be using face book and twitter or other social networks. If you are my age, you may not use the social network websites as extensively as younger people. However, young people are up there all of the time. How can young people consider a career in vision rehab therapy when they don't even know what it is or how to prepare for it? We as a profession have to reach out and meet potential therapists where they are, in high school career days and places where people do career exploration which at the least, includes the internet. Do people think that it is not necessary to explain who we are when ophthalmologists, medical social workers and other professionals don't know what a VRT is? I'm getting off of my soap box. I only heard about our profession because I went to Western Michigan University as an undergrad and the people in special ed wanted to steer me somewhere else to teach. I had even had contact in high school with RT's but really didn't register what they did and realize that it was a unique profession. Someone should have been at career days that were held at the state school for the blind every few years to represent the profession. Marcie Brink-Chaney CVRT Michigan Commission for the Blind Detroit Office E-mail: brink-chaneym@xxxxxxxxxxxx Phone: (313)456-1643 Fax: (313)456-1645 -----Original Message----- From: visionrehabtherapist-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:visionrehabtherapist-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Maduffy@xxxxxxx Sent: Sunday, October 17, 2010 6:28 PM To: visionrehabtherapist@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [visionrehabtherapist] Current VRT University Programs Clarified Thank you, everyone, for your help in clarifying the current universities that offer VRT programs. As of October 1010, here is the current list: Academy for Special Education, Warsaw, Poland Hunter College of the City University of New York, New York, New York Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand Mohawk College, Brantford, Ontario, Canada North Carolina Central University, Durham, North Carolina Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois Salus University, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania The University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, Arkansas (No new students accepted as of 2010) University of Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts University of Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan However, this is the listing of university programs that the VRT web site has listed: Hunter College CUNY Massey University Mohawk College, Brantford Campus Northern Illinois University Salus University (formerly Pennsylvania College of Optometry) University of Arkansas at Little Rock Western Michigan University I don't know about you all, but it disturbs me that AER, the primary membership and advocacy organization, provides a truncated list and outdated information for people who may be seeking new careers and/or looking to become VRTs. Why is that? Actually, I find the VRT web site, in general, to be distressingly outdated. How outdated is it? Well, I can speak with certainty about this, because it was Lisa Mowerson and I who developed the first VRT web site in approximately 2000. Most of the information on the current web site is what I wrote and entered on it in 2000, when I was Chair of the VRT Division. This is not good. How can we hope to recruit new practitioners in this era of social networking and electronic communication if our web site hasn't been substantially updated in 10 years? In addition, the university programs we do list don't even have a web site connected with them. That is not acceptable. There is also information on the VRT web site that mentions this: "Currently, the Academy is seeking and will decide on a new certification pin." That information is quite old, and the new pin has long been designed. Granted, I am biased toward web-based communication, due to my position as Editorial Director of VisionAWARE, but I think we have to look squarely at ourselves when we discuss the current "crisis" in personnel preparation. We have to get our own house in order first, I believe. It's not difficult to do, and many social networking tools are free. You want to find new recruits? You have to be a presence on the web, with current, updated, dynamic information. That's all for now ... Maureen Maureen A. Duffy, CVRT Editorial Director AWARE (Associates for World Action in Rehabilitation & Education) Phone: 914-528-5120 E-mail: maureen.duffy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Are you aware of our web site? www.visionaware.org <http://www.visionaware.org/> "Self-Help for Vision Loss" www.twitter.com/visionaware www.facebook.com/visionaware www.visionaware.blogspot.com <http://www.visionaware.blogspot.com/> *********************************** To view archives, edit list settings, subscribe or unsubscribe from list: www.freelists.org/list/visionrehabtherapist Administrator e-mail: dietz1112@xxxxxxxxx *********************************** To view archives, edit list settings, subscribe or unsubscribe from list: www.freelists.org/list/visionrehabtherapist Administrator e-mail: dietz1112@xxxxxxxxx