Instruction Course Guidelines

Specialities

Instruction courses are accepted in any one of the following specialties

1. Cataract
2. Community / Social Ophthalmology
3. Comprehensive Ophthalmology
4. Cornea
5. External Eye & Ocular Surface Disease
6. Glaucoma
7. Lacrimal
8. Neuro Ophthalmology
9. Ocular Pathology , Ocular Oncology and Tumors
10. Optics / Refraction / Contact Lens
11. Orbit & Oculoplasty
12. Pediatric
13. Refractive Surgery
14. Trauma
15. Uvea
16. Vitreo Retinal Diseases

* The Scientific Committee has started accepting abstracts for “Ocular Oncology & Tumors” for AIOC 2019 (Refer specialty no.9 above)

* Owing to very poor response, the below two sections have been removed

– Inflammation

– Ophthalmic Education, Epidemiology & Prevention of Blindness

Further subject of “Inflammation” is not “Subject-Specific” & Ophthalmic Education, Epidemiology & Prevention of Blindness can be covered under Community / Social Ophthalmology or Comprehensive Ophthalmology.

General Guidelines

1. Instruction courses dealing with clinical sciences should present current, but reasonably established information.

2. Highly controversial or unproven concepts, maybe more appropriately presented as papers or E- Posters.

3. Courses with formats utilizing innovative teaching styles are particularly encouraged. Interactive dialogues and panel discussions are educational methods that stimulate additional interest and promote learning.

4. The duration of ALL the ICs will be 75 minutes with 5 minutes change over time between sessions. Additional 10 minutes is kept for potential Keynote address. The chief instructors must ensure that the session finishes exactly on time & does not spill over to the changeover time.

5. Governing Council, MC & GB of AIOC 2018, opined that although any AIOS member can submit an IC, we should encourage members who haven’t had opportunity for previous 3 years.

6. Abstracts shall be accepted online only. No abstracts shall be accepted as an email, fax, hard copies etc,.

How many instructors an Instruction Course can have?

1. An instruction course shall have one chief instructor and upto a maximum of 6 co-instructors (7 instructors in total)

2. A chief instructor or a co-instructor can speak on more than one topic.

How many ICs an instructor can participate?

1. A chief instructor, can submit ONE INSTRUCTION COURSE ONLY

2. Co-Instructors:

• CAN PROVIDE consent ONLY FOR FIVE ICs
• CAN PARTICIPATE in a maximum of THREE INSTRUCTION COURSES ONLY as a co-instructor.

About Co-Instructor’s consent

Once the Scientific Committee receives an IC Abstract complete in all respects, an auto generated e-mail will be sent to the co-instructors requesting for their consent to participate in the Instruction Course. The co-instructors must respond to them immediately for the course to be further considered for selection.

 What happens if more than 3 courses gets selected?

1. It is the discretion of the co-instructor to choose the courses he/she wants to participate.

2. It is advised that the co-instructor informs the chief instructor with cc to chairmanscientificcommittee@aios.org and to support@aios-online.com, his/her inability to participate in any of the instruction course.

3. If the co-instructor does not choose the courses, then the first 3 submitted courses (in the order of IC number) shall be treated as the chosen courses by the co-instructor and the rest shall be withdrawn.

4. The chief-instructor is responsible to find an alternate co-instructor WITHIN 7 DAYS from the date of announcement of selected instruction course if the chosen co-instructor withdraws from the instruction course & communicate the Name , Mobile No, Email Id of the Alternate Co-instructor to chairmanscientificcommittee@aios.org with copy marked to support@aios-online.com

 What happens if the co-instructor doesn’t consent or if an alternate co-instructor cannot be found?

Scientific committee may find a suitable alternative & if that does not work out for whatever reason, the TOPIC WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY REMOVED FROM THE COURSE.

Withdrawal / Change of instructors

1. Having an IC selected for the Annual Conference is a matter of great prestige.

2. At Least 20 specialty experts evaluate every instruction course submitted.

3. Less than 15% of the instruction courses submitted get selected every year.

4. Hence, it is advised that an instructor should attempt to avoid withdrawal from a course. For any unavoidable reason, the chief instructor or co-instructor can withdraw from his topic on the following conditions: –

• The instructor himself / herself should find an alternate instructor, get the consent from the instructor and send the change along with the Name of Alternate speaker, his email ID, Mobile no. in writing to chairmanscientificcommittee@aios.org with a copy marked to the alternate instructor and also to support@aios-online.com
•  While choosing the alternate instructor, do not choose someone who is already engaged in 3 instruction courses. Check out from the co-instructor you are willing to add if he/she is already engaged in 3 instruction courses.
•  Change in the speaker upto 15th December shall reflect in the printed copy of the abstract book
•  However Change in the speaker from 16 Dec. – 15 Jan. shall get reflected only in the soft copy (PDF version) of the abstract book available on the Scientific Committee website.
•  No Change in the speaker/Instructor shall be accepted after 15th January.
•  As the decision of the Governing Council, Managing Committee and the General body of AIOC 2018, absence from the course without the prior information (atleast 30 days before the conference) shall lead to debarring as a speaker in the subsequent annual conference.

Abstract Structure

Type the details exactly as you would want to be printed in the abstract book programme

Course Title

The title of the course SHOULD NOT exceed 100 characters (including spaces).

Course Outline (Synopsis)

Instruction course synopsis SHOULD NOT exceed 1000 characters (including spaces).

Topics for each speaker and time allotted for the topic

Fill co-instructors names, topics and time allotted for each topic in the separate box given. These details SHOULD NOT to be mentioned in the Synopsis of the course. The topics SHOULD NOT exceed 100 characters (including spaces)

Chief Instructor’s Resume (600 characters only)

Ensure the Chief Instructor’s resume, not exceeding 600 characters (including spaces), is prepared with care and is complete. Ensure that the name of Institution of the Instructors, place of work or positions held in AIOS or state bodies are not revealed. The resume should be so written as to not to reveal the identity of the chief instructor or of the Institution – These, If mentioned, may lead to Non-Consideration / Rejection of the Course.

Level of Course

Indicate the appropriate level: Basic, Intermediate or Advanced.

Certificates

1. The Scientific Committee shall issue a certificate of presentation to all the instructors of the course.

2. This certificate will be in the form of a tamper proof digitally signed PDF file which can be downloaded by logging in using the blue box of the scientific committee website

3. Certificates will be available on the website after 15 days from the date of the conference.

Important Note:

•  If selected, the submitted format of the Instruction Course must be strictly adhered to without any change in topics/timings/speakers.
•  Your session during the conference, along with your presentation shall be videotaped for inclusion in the proceedings of the conference
•  The abstract will appear exactly the way it has been submitted and the Scientific Committee will not be responsible for any spelling and grammatical errors.
• Change of speaker in any of the session should be intimated to the scientific committee at least one month prior to the conference. Any speaker delivering a topic whose name is not in the scientific program of the session shall be debarred from participating in the next annual conference.