Academic achievement of students tutored by near-peers

Abstract

Objectives: To compare the academic achievement of medical students tutored by near-peers and medical students tutored by faculty. Methods: A retrospective comparison study was conducted. In a total of 36 courses, 24 medical student groups were tutored by either faculty members or near-peers, from 2005 to 2010. To compare academic achievement students we used the test scores for individual courses and a combined overall standardized score for all courses together. Results: A total of 1201 and 8722 students were tutored by near-peers and faculty members, respectively. Of 36 courses, the mean test scores of five courses were higher for faculty members tutoring and the mean test scores of 29 courses were higher for near-peers tutoring. Additional analysis of standardized test scores showed that students who were tutored by peers outperformed students who were tutored by faculty members (t (9921) =5.345, P<0.05; Cohen's d=0.17). Conclusions: Our data suggest that junior medical students are not put at a disadvantage when being tutored by senior medical students. It appears that near-peer tutoring has at least similar benefits as faculty tutoring.

The Effect of Senior Medical Student Tutors Compared to Faculty Tutors on Examination Scores of First- and Second-Year Medical Students in Two Problem-Based Learning Courses

“…They see more complexities and nuances in the patient's situations, and are in a better position to pass on to their students the key clinical insights that senior medical students do not yet have. This is the advantage of experts that is highlighted by Moust et al (1989), who have explored law students' achievements, and by many others (Das et al, 2002;Moust & Schmidt, 1995;Ten Cate et al, 2012). Explanations for finding no differences in achievement, in light of this expert advantage, have rested on the assumption that the better process skills and a nearpeer tutoring advantage compensate for the lack of content expertise of the student tutors (Moust & Schmidt, 1995).…”

“…Ten Cate, van de Vorst, & van den Broek (2012) recently indicated a slight advantage with near-peer tutors (Cohen's d = 0.17) (Ten Cate et al, 2012). It is important to note that Moust et al (1989), working in a law school, included different types of examinations as a factor, and found that law students in faculty-tutored groups had higher performance on essay questions relevant to practice.…”

Ten considerations for implementing effective and sustainable near-peer teaching in clinical anatomy education

“…In a comprehensive retrospective study Ten Cate et al (2012) concluded that near peer tutoring has similar benefits to faculty teaching in terms of academic achievement. This study, like a few others in the field, compared end of module examination scores, although a common alternative approach is to measure knowledge gain via pre and post testing (Topping, 1996;Wong et al, 2007;Ten Cate et al, 2012;Rees et al, 2016). Surprisingly, only a small number of published studies on NPT in anatomy have investigated the impact of NPT on student learning outcomes.…”

“…(Hendleman et al, 1986;Knobe et al, 2010;Nestal and Kidd, 2003;Tolsgaard et al, 2007;Colaco et al, 2006;Youdas et al, 2008;Rashid et al, 2011;Rodrigues et al, 2009;Evans and Cuffe, 2009;Bulte et al, 2007;Nnodim, 1997;Hall et al, 2012;Ten Cate et al, 2012). However, there are numerous definitions of what constitutes NPT and this can often be confusing.…”

Clinical N-PAL Preferentially Benefits International Students

“…Several medical curricula have incorporated N-PAL with problem based learning and teaching of clinical skills (Barrows & Tamblyn, 1980;Blank et al, 2013;Burke et al, 2007). Although near peer tutors are not experts, there is some evidence that this does not negatively impact students' examination performance (Ten Cate et al, 2012). Nevertheless, near peer tutoring is not intended to replace standard teaching; rather it could be used as an adjunct, to increase students' contribution towards their own medical education and further enhance collaboration between students and the university that prepares them (Furmedge et al, 2014).…”