Celebration of Learning Spotlight: GoCheck Kids Superuser Training and Global Expansion

Posted by Carly Byer on Wednesday, March 11, 2020 in Commentary.

On February 13, 2020, the Center for Teaching held a Celebration of Learning, an exhibition of students as producers. The event featured students from all over campus sharing what they learned, created, designed, and discovered.

Alexa Levitt led an initiative to bring early vision screening to underserved areas where preventable vision issues are currently the most debilitating using the research, expertise, and technology of a Nashville-based social enterprise, GoCheck Kids. Specifically, she learned the vision screening process and developed training materials in order to conduct vision screening interventions for children in India, as well as identify other underserved areas of need overseas which GCK can target using the same or improved methodology.

Besides becoming an expert in using the photo screener, Alexa learned how to create a successful training platform for ophthalmologists using the device. She also designed and initiated a multi-centric PPV study across eight eye hospitals in India to validate the device in the India population and to bolster the technology through machine-learning.

This experience has provided Alexa with the opportunity to successfully manage her career development (e.g., improve written and verbal communication skills, become a strategic/critical thinker, understand how to leverage the skills she’s learned throughout this experience to optimize her career trajectory).

Alexa added, “I have also gained a unique perspective of the inner workings of the company and an understanding of the technical and logistical components of a successful social enterprise, as I would like to start my own one day. Not to mention, I have built positive relationships with colleagues who have become significant players in my broader network.”