Peer Tutoring in Preclinical Medical Education: A Review of the Literature
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Peer Tutoring in Preclinical Medical Education: A Review of the Literature Adele Shenoy 1
&
Kristina H. Petersen 2
# International Association of Medical Science Educators 2019
Abstract Peer-assisted learning (PAL) is an educational method where students teach their peers. PAL has been increasingly integrated into medical education in various formats including near-peer tutoring (NPT), reciprocal-peer tutoring (RPT), and peer-to-peer tutoring. This review adds to current literature by focusing exclusively on outcomes from PAL peer tutoring programs implemented in conjunction with basic science courses in medical education. Although the programs differ in size, duration, course, resource availability, and method of evaluation and thus can be difficult to compare, PAL programs overall demonstrate benefits for both tutors and tutees and merit further investigation into optimal methods of implementation. Keywords Peer-assisted learning . Near-peer tutoring . Reciprocal-peer tutoring . Peer-to-peer tutoring
Introduction Peer-assisted learning (PAL) is an educational method where students learn from other students [1]. PAL is used in many medical schools for both preclinical and clinical studies, but the program design, reason for implementation, and method of evaluation often differ. In near-peer tutoring (NPT), the tutor is more advanced in training (often by at least 1 year) compared to the tutee [2]; in reciprocal-peer tutoring (RPT), students within the same year of training and course of study alternate between serving as the tutor and tutee [2]; in peer-to-peer tutoring, stronger students are designated tutors, and those in need of support are designated tutees as they simultaneously take a course [3]. Within each of these categories, some peer tutoring programs are designed for one-on-one sessions, while others implement small groups or larger lecture formats. The goals of these programs often differ; some are implemented to help struggling students in a course [4], and some supplement
the limited number of faculty available [5, 6], while others are created to train students how to teach prior to residency [6, 7]. Many methods have been used to qualitatively and quantitatively evaluate PAL programs. Some studies focus on subjective feedback, while others evaluate examination scores to provide quantitative results, and some integrate both methods. Such differences make it difficult to directly compare outcomes from studies of medical school PAL programs, but prior reviews have shown some similarities in how peer teaching programs can benefit tutors, tutees, and medical educators [2, 6, 8, 9]. This literature review exclusively focuses on PAL peer tutoring programs implemented in conjunction with medical school basic science courses. We aim to provide insight into the implementation, strengths, weaknesses, and evaluative methods of peer tutoring programs used in these preclinical courses and distinguish between subjective and objective outcomes to better elucidate commonalities in qualitative and q
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