The Efficacy of Frontline Near‐Peer Teaching in a Modern Medical Curriculum

Abstract

Within medical education a reduction in curriculum time for subjects, such as anatomy puts pressure on educators to ensure the same learning outcomes are conveyed in less time. This has the potential to impact negatively on student experience. Near‐peer teaching (NPT) is often praised as an effective revision tool, but its use as a frontline teaching resource remains unreported. The study explores the potential for NPT to promote delivery of learning outcomes and maximize student experience within a neuroanatomy module for second year medical students. The study occurred in three educational settings, (1) frontline NPT of cranial nerves, (2) revision session NPT of cranial nerves, and (3) NPT alongside faculty staff in laboratory‐based neuroanatomy practical exercises. For the first and second components, knowledge was measured using a pre‐ and post‐session test and student perception was ascertained with a questionnaire. For the third component, student perception was assessed with an end‐of‐module survey. The results show that overall, NPT was well received by learners. A significant knowledge gain was seen between the pre‐ and post‐session test of the frontline NPT session. The study presents evidence in favor of using NPTs to supplement the delivery of learning outcomes in a time and resource constrained curriculum. In particular, for the effective delivery of frontline material. Anat Sci Educ 0: 1–9. © 2018 American Association of Anatomists.

The National Undergraduate Neuroanatomy Competition: Lessons Learned from Partnering with Students to Innovate Undergraduate Neuroanatomy Education

“…Our findings indicate that not only did the student learners experience knowledge gain, evidenced through studies using pre- and post-testing methods (Parton 2017), but students also trusted the knowledge of the near-peer teachers as much as the knowledge of faculty staff (Harrison and others 2017; Parton 2017). Furthermore, student learners felt strongly that the near-peer teachers would improve their performance in end of module assessments (Harrison and others 2017), and it has been shown that near-peer teachers improve student perceptions of their own knowledge (Hall and others 2014). These data suggest that student teachers are highly valued by student learners and may be seen as role models.…”

Implementing Change in Neuroanatomy Education: Organization, Evolution, and Assessment of a Near‐Peer Teaching Program in an Undergraduate Medical School in Greece

“…As a result of the exponential growth in medical knowledge, and the resultant constraints on medical curricula (Johnson et al, 2012), the amount of time devoted to teaching anatomy has declined significantly (Drake et al, 2009). Considering the difficulty in understanding the structural orientation and function of the brain (Javaid et al, 2018; Tarolli and Jozefowicz, 2018), along with the decreased time offered to core subjects, such as neuroanatomy, peer teaching can provide a means of effectively improving the instructor‐student ratios, and providing quality small team‐based learning experiences that can accommodate large number of students within the new time constraints (Johnson et al, 2012; Freret et al, 2017; Harrison et al, 2019).…”

“…Peer teachers (PTs) who are only slightly more advanced in their educational stage than the learners are referred to as near‐PTs (Whitman and Fife, 1988; Bulte et al, 2007; Harrison et al, 2019). In gross anatomy, near‐peer teaching is used predominantly for laboratory sessions, where students who have recently passed the course (near peers) facilitate laboratory sessions by working with junior students in small team groups on the available material (Johnson et al, 2012; Hall et al, 2013; Dickman et al, 2017).…”

“…The addition of PTs decreases the instructor‐student ratios (less students proportional to each instructor), to the benefit of both faculty and the strained curriculum. PTs also provide high‐quality small team‐based learning experiences that can accommodate large student groups within the limited time courses are offered (Johnson et al, 2012; Freret et al, 2017; Harrison et al, 2019). Teamwork and professionalism are core competencies in modern medical education that programs frequently fail to address.…”

Twelve tips for being an effective clinical skills peer teacher

“…Overwhelmingly, the evidence illustrates that medical students who are taught clinical skills through peer teaching perform just as well, if not better, in comparison to those taught without peer teachers (Yu et al 2011;Harrison et al 2019). Key advantages for peer learners include an improved learning atmosphere (Harrison et al 2019), reporting their peer tutors to be an accommodating addition to the existing teaching (Naeger et al 2013) and disclosing reprieve from exam-related concerns (Lydon et al 2017). Those senior students who teach also advance both academically and professionally (Burgess et al 2016;Khaw and Raw 2016;Wankiiri-Hale et al 2020).…”