MedEdPORTAL (Jul 2010)
Medical School Peer-Tutoring Training Curricula
Abstract
Abstract Introduction This module presents two training curricula developed for the Mount Sinai School of Medicine volunteer peer-tutoring program. We initially created this training program for our senior tutors since they tutor students at risk of failing courses and/or board exams and we wanted to ensure the tutors were adequately prepared. At present there are no published curricula for a medical school peer tutoring program. Methods The program uses a two-tiered approach to assisting students. One tier consists of “junior tutors” working with students who request help via the program's anonymous email account; the students requesting help are generally in good academic standing and need help with specific topics. Junior tutors are volunteers from the second-year class and higher. The second-tier consists of “senior tutors” working with students who have been referred to the program by the school's administration for having failed an exam or course and who have studying or learning difficulties that pervade several subject areas. Senior tutors are fourth-year medical students who have been specifically selected for their teaching abilities. Results Surveys of junior tutors before and after training demonstrated statistically significant improvement in awareness of common learning problems (p = .00018), comfort identifying learning difficulties (p = .00747), comfort teaching strategies for retaining facts (p = .02) and comfort teaching students strategies for learning conceptual material (p = .00172). Postsurveys of senior tutors, revealed that 100% of the participants utilized techniques from the training in their sessions with their students; 63% of the tutors reported using concept mapping, 50% reported utilizing practice questions, 38% used the student assessment techniques taught in the session, and 12% utilized the feedback techniques. Discussion Both curricula aim to increase our tutors' awareness of the common issues impeding students' learning, ways to diagnose these learning issues, and different teaching strategies that can be utilized depending on the specific issues facing the student. The senior tutor curriculum, in addition, discusses ways of giving feedback, and fleshes out the three aforementioned aims to a greater extent than the junior tutor curriculum. The strategies highlighted in both curricula are strategies that the students can use on their own, thereby increasing the students' repertoire of study techniques and facilitating independent study.
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