Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 May 15:9:e40716.
doi: 10.2196/40716.

Observed Interactions, Challenges, and Opportunities in Student-Led, Web-Based Near-Peer Teaching for Medical Students: Interview Study Among Peer Learners and Peer Teachers

Evelyn Hui Yi Chan #  1 , Vernice Hui Yan Chan #  1 , Jannie Roed  2 , Julie Yun Chen  3
Affiliations

Observed Interactions, Challenges, and Opportunities in Student-Led, Web-Based Near-Peer Teaching for Medical Students: Interview Study Among Peer Learners and Peer Teachers

Evelyn Hui Yi Chan et al. JMIR Med Educ. .

Abstract

Background: Near-peer teaching (NPT) is becoming an increasingly popular pedagogical tool in health professions education. Despite the shift in formal medical education from face-to-face teaching toward encompassing web-based learning activities, NPT has not experienced a similar transition. Apart from the few reports on NPT programs hastily converted to web-based learning in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, no studies to date have explored web-based learning in the specific context of NPT.

Objective: This qualitative study examined the nature of interactions among peer learners (PLs), peer teachers (PTs), and the learning content in a student-led, web-based NPT program for medical students.

Methods: A 5-month-long voluntary NPT program to support first- and second-year medical students' biomedical science learning in the undergraduate medical curriculum was designed by 2 senior-year medical students and delivered by 25 PTs with 84 PLs participating. In total, 9 PLs and 3 PTs underwent individual semistructured interviews at the end of the program to explore general NPT experience, reasons for joining NPT, the effectiveness of NPT, the demand and importance of NPT, and the feasibility of incorporating NPT in the formal curriculum. Interview transcripts were analyzed using a thematic analysis approach.

Results: The first general theme focused on the nature of student-student, student-teacher, and student-content interactions. Although PLs were engaged in web-based NPT, there was minimal interaction between students, as most PLs preferred to learn passively and remain anonymous. PLs believed the web-based NPT learning process to be a unidirectional transmission of knowledge from teacher to learner, with the teacher responsible for driving the interactions. This was in sharp contrast to PTs' expectation that both parties shared responsibility for learning in a collaborative effort. The second general theme identified the advantages and disadvantages of delivering NPT on a web platform, which were mainly convenience and teaching skills development and poor interactivity, respectively.

Conclusions: Student-led, web-based NPT offers a flexible and comfortable means of delivering academic and nonacademic guidance to medical students. However, the web-based mode of delivery presents unique challenges in facilitating meaningful interactions among PLs, PTs, and subject content. A blended learning approach may be best suited for this form of student-led NPT program to optimize its efficacy.

Keywords: distance learning; medical education; medical student; peer teaching; peer-assisted learning; web-based education.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None declared.

References

    1. Choules AP. The use of elearning in medical education: a review of the current situation. Postgrad Med J. 2007 Apr;83(978):212–6. doi: 10.1136/pgmj.2006.054189. https://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/17403945 83/978/212 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Foo CC, Cheung B, Chu KM. A comparative study regarding distance learning and the conventional face-to-face approach conducted problem-based learning tutorial during the COVID-19 pandemic. BMC Med Educ. 2021 Mar 03;21(1):141. doi: 10.1186/s12909-021-02575-1. https://bmcmededuc.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12909-021-02575-1 10.1186/s12909-021-02575-1 - DOI - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bulte C, Betts A, Garner K, Durning S. Student teaching: views of student near-peer teachers and learners. Med Teach. 2007 Sep;29(6):583–90. doi: 10.1080/01421590701583824.782873646 - DOI - PubMed
    1. George PP, Papachristou N, Belisario JM, Wang W, Wark PA, Cotic Z, Rasmussen K, Sluiter R, Riboli-Sasco E, Tudor Car L, Musulanov EM, Molina JA, Heng BH, Zhang Y, Wheeler EL, Al Shorbaji N, Majeed A, Car J. Online eLearning for undergraduates in health professions: a systematic review of the impact on knowledge, skills, attitudes and satisfaction. J Glob Health. 2014 Jun;4(1):010406. doi: 10.7189/jogh.04.010406. https://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/24976965 jogh-04-010406 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Roberts V, Malone K, Moore P, Russell-Webster T, Caulfield R. Peer teaching medical students during a pandemic. Med Educ Online. 2020 Jan 01;25(1):1772014. doi: 10.1080/10872981.2020.1772014. https://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/32493174 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources