Near-Peer Teaching in Human Anatomy from a Tutors’ Perspective: An Eighteen-Year-Old Experience at the University of Bologna (original) (raw)
Related papers
Students as anatomy near-peer teachers: a double-edged sword for an ancient skill
BMC Medical Education
Background: A near-peer instructors (NPI) program was designed for 1st year medical students who successfully finished the Anatomy course, in order to develop their didactic ability and teaching skills, mostly for cadaver dissection. Methods: Graduates of the training program were administered a voluntary survey at the end of the program, annually. Best graduates of the training program were offered a NPI position in the next academic year. They were evaluated by the first-year students, at the end of the Anatomy block. Results: In a debriefing questionnaire at the end of the NPI training, on the five-point Likert scale (1 = lowest to 5 = highest), the overall rating ranged from 3.63 in 2013 to 3.71 in 2015. Learning prosection and anatomy demonstration skills scored on average from 4.30 to 4.36, respectively. The NPIs were then evaluated by first-year students at the end of the next year's Anatomy block. On the Likert scale, the average score of NPIs ranged from 4.10 in 2014 to 4.75 in 2016, on the par with the general satisfaction score for the professional preclinical teachers during the same period (which ranged from 3.80 to 4.26). Conclusions: It is suggested that students as near-peer instructors can make a valuable contribution to the teaching faculty, especially in a new medical school.
Anatomical Sciences Education, 2018
There are many benefits to peer and near-peer tutoring. The current literature suggests that near-peer teaching within the domain of gross anatomy may lead to the development of numerous competencies for burgeoning medical professionals. The aim of this study was a quantitative and qualitative approach to explore which professional and personal competencies anatomy tutors developed as a result of their teaching activities in a gross anatomy course at a medical school in Germany. For a period of 18 months, 24 peer tutors were followed and queried multiple times via questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. It was found that most of the skills tutors developed or strengthened over one semester matched most of the core competencies described in various official competency frameworks used for physician education. In particular, tutors thought that tutoring gross anatomy had improved their knowledge of professional behavior as well as their communication skills. They also felt that they had learned to take on more responsibility and to use available resources more effectively. Overall, tutoring gross anatomy was perceived as very challenging, but also very rewarding, mainly because it provided the opportunity to develop and strengthen important skills such as self-confidence, selfawareness, positive thinking, self-insight, and stress management. Ultimately, these are all factors that contribute to resilience, an important attribute for physicians. Anat Sci
Education Sciences
Near peer teaching (NPT) is becoming recognized as a valuable instrument with advantages for both students and teachers. Despite the recognized benefits, NPT programmes are not usually embedded within university healthcare curricula and, to our knowledge, there have been few studies assessing medical students’ attitudes towards NPT for histology courses. Our study is the first that assess medical students’ perceptions concerning the value of NPT for a course in the human organ histology component of anatomy. A NPT programme was provided for second-year medical students and delivered during laboratory sessions for microscopic anatomy. The NPT tutors were recruited from third-, fourth- or fifth-year medical students. The medical tutees completed a questionnaire to assess their attitudes towards NPT. The initial hypothesis tested was that students preferred to be taught by their professional teachers and not by NPT tutors. A total of 113 students completed the questionnaire (46% respon...
Development of a didactical training concept for peer tutors in gross anatomy
Anatomical Sciences Education, 2017
Even though peer tutors are often used in gross anatomy courses, research in the field is rather a subject of the last two decades. This is especially true about the didactical challenges these types of peer tutors experience during their tutorials and about how they are prepared for the task. The aim of the presented study was to learn about the training needs of the tutors, and to subsequently design, implement, and evaluate a didactical training concept. A qualitative design was chosen to examine how tutors can best be prepared for tutorials of gross anatomy. To do so, focus group interviews were conducted. The data were analyzed and grouped into various concepts, using semi-structured interview questions as guidance. It was found that peer tutors are in need of training in the following aspects: Dealing with students who are experiencing difficulties during or as a result of dissection, dealing with group dynamics, that is, at the dissection table, keeping students motivated, time management, and staying confident as a tutor. In order to be regarded as useful and relevant in the eyes of tutors, a preparatory training course should include all these aspects in addition to general didactical training elements. Training needs of peer tutors of gross anatomy go beyond the content of standardized didactical curricula; therefore, tutors should be prepared with a curriculum that is specifically geared toward the many challenges associated with teaching gross anatomy to first year medical students which are already so well documented in the research literature. Anat Sci
2013
Background: Teaching is an important skill for future residency training and practice; Teaching and learning of a subject becomes effective when the teacher and student know the purpose of teaching and learning. Active learning is based on self-directed and autonomous teaching methods, whereas passive learning is grounded in instructor taught lectures. In the present study we have trained the students to teach their colleagues on the dissection table simultaneously while doing dissection. A debriefing questionnaire was administered at the end of the peer teaching program. Aims And Objectives: 1. To enhance the preparation of students for the future challenges of our dynamic medical communities by Peer teaching in medical curriculums. 2. To prepare medical students for their role as a teacher by implementing peer teaching programs, 3. To achieve the essential styles of teaching, particularly how to speak to your audience, maintain their attention, provide guided facilitation of discussions, assess your audience's understanding and trouble shoot basic student/teacher incompatibilities would benefit the dynamics of the peer teacher-learner interaction, and 4. To assess the effectiveness of Peer-teaching on medical students (Peer-teachers) at G.
Perception of peer teaching on learning anatomy: a qualitative study
JOURNAL OF PAKISTAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, 2020
The aim of this study was to identify the effectiveness of peer-assisted learning while giving presentation on assigned anatomy topics in class by medical students for enhancement of their learning and communication skills. Sixty top performing students were selected for the study. They were given assigned topics related to anatomy to be presented in the class after taking their consent. The duration of the study was 32 weeks. At the completion of the projects by the students, each of them was interviewed for three to five minutes; the questions were very precise and few in number and were then analysed. Focus group discussions were conducted from the rest of the class who were the audience and enjoyed the activity. The study showed that by conducting such an activity among medical students their knowledge about the subject, communication and teaching skills and confidence are enhanced. It is a fun activity for them and can be added in the routine timetable for its beneficial outcomes.
Reciprocal peer teaching: Students teaching students in the gross anatomy laboratory
Clinical Anatomy, 2005
Three common instructional strategies used to teach gross anatomy are lecture, discovery or inquiry-based learning, and cooperative learning. One form of cooperative learning, called reciprocal peer teaching (RPT), illustrates circumstances where students alternate roles as teacher and student. By assuming the responsibility of teaching their peers, students not only improve their understanding of course content, but also develop communication skills, teamwork, leadership, confidence and respect for peers that are vital to developing professionalism early in their medical careers. Traditionally in our Anatomy department, students dissect the entire body using a standard dissection manual. More nontraditionally, however, we have increased cooperative learning in the dissection laboratory by involving students in a series of supplementary RPT activities. During these exercises, 10% of the class practiced their demonstration with course instructors until the students felt prepared to demonstrate the exercise to their classmates. We designed one peer demonstration emphasizing three to six teaching objectives for most of the 40 dissection units. This resulted in a compendium of peer demonstrations for implementation throughout the course. The multitude of diverse exercises permitted each student many opportunities to teach their peers. A debriefing questionnaire was administered at the end of the course demonstrating that 100% of students agreed the RPT experience increased their understanding of the topics they taught and 97% agreed it increased their retention of information they taught to their peers. In addition, 92% agreed that RPT improved their communication skills, which can be applied beyond anatomy to their careers as future physicians.
Background: Near-peer teaching involves senior students tutoring juniors and is now widely incorporated into medical and dental curriculum. The objective of the study was to assess the effectiveness of near-peer teaching in low performers in Anatomy and also to evaluate the near-peer teacher perceptions towards this programme in their learning process. Materials and Methods: Semester 6 students who pursue Otolaryngology, Ophthalmology and Community Medicine were taken as near-peer teachers. Those students who have not passed the previous Anatomy university examination and students of semester 2 who scored less than 35% in Anatomy internal assessment conducted in the period of August 2014 to March 2015 were considered as low performers in Anatomy. 15 near-peer teachers and 10 tutees took part in the study. Effectiveness of near-peer teaching was assessed through the post-test and feedback from low performers about the near-peer teaching. Perception towards this programme in their lea...
Improving gross anatomy learning using reciprocal peer teaching
BMC Medical Education, 2016
Background: The use of cadavers in human anatomy teaching requires adequate number of anatomy instructors who can provide close supervision of the students. Most medical schools are facing challenges of lack of trained individuals to teach anatomy. Innovative techniques are therefore needed to impart adequate and relevant anatomical knowledge and skills. This study was conducted in order to evaluate the traditional teaching method and reciprocal peer teaching (RPT) method during anatomy dissection.
ISRN Anatomy, 2013
Purpose. To evaluate the impact of an optional thoracic dissection elective upon anatomy subject acquisition and determine whether peer-mediated teaching has a beneficial effect.Methodology. First year medical students’ results on thoracic anatomy laboratory examinations over a five-year period were obtained. All students were taught in the laboratory using prosected specimens as part of a standard curriculum. A subset of students from each class volunteered to participate in an optional thoracic dissection. A comparison of exam performance between the two groups was made, and the results were analyzed to see if incorporating peer teaching into the elective had an impact on the students’ performance on anatomy examinations.Results. With the exception of one year’s results, no significant statistical difference was found in student performance on anatomy examinations between the two groups. The addition of peer teaching did not result in superior performance.Conclusion. It is believe...