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Background Peer tutorials are widely used in medical and health professions education. Some evidence suggests that peer tutorials can have positive effects for student peer tutors and tutees alike. To promote these positive effects, peer tutors are often prepared for their tasks. However, detailed information about this preparation is missing in the literature. The present study thus examines from the tutors’ perspective how peer tutor preparation is conducted, both in interprofessional and uniprofessional contexts, and how this preparation affects peer relations. Methods A qualitative design was used for the study. For data gathering, three online focus group discussions were conducted with student peer tutors from uniprofessional and interprofessional settings who had a background in health professions. Data were analysed inductively via thematic analysis. Results A total of 19 individuals participated in three focus group discussions ( n  = 6/ n  = 6/ n  = 7). From the participants’ perspective, preparation measures were heterogenous. Of a wide range of different measures, some were perceived as more helpful, others as less helpful. In analysing the data, three relevant themes came up which were dereived from the peer tutors’ perspective: roles , eye level , and (self-)trust . All three themes were found to be closely related and appeared to have a direct influence on peer relations. This influence on the learning/teaching process was either positive or negative depending on the respondents’ experiences. Conclusion From the peer tutors’ perspective, the preparation they received affected their relationships with their peers in a variety of ways, influenced by the context and the peer tutors’ needs. This finding should be taken into account when planning and implementing future preparatory activities. In addition, further pedagogical considerations and discussions about preparatory activities for peer tutors and their potential impact on social and cognitive congruence are needed.

Background The Coronavirus Disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic brought significant disruption to in-hospital medical training. Virtual reality simulating the clinical environment has the potential to overcome this issue and can be particularly useful to supplement the traditional in-hospital medical training during the COVID-19 pandemic, when hospital access is banned for medical students. The aim of this study was to assess medical students’ perception on fully online training including simulated clinical scenarios during COVID-19 pandemic. Methods From May to July 2020 when in-hospital training was not possible, 122 students attending the sixth year of the course of Medicine and Surgery underwent online training sessions including an online platform with simulated clinical scenarios (Body Interact™) of 21 patient-based cases. Each session focused on one case, lasted 2 h and was divided into three different parts: introduction, virtual patient-based training, and debriefing. In the same period, adjunctive online training with formal presentation and discussion of clinical cases was also given. At the completion of training, a survey was performed, and students filled in a 12-item anonymous questionnaire on a voluntary basis to rate the training quality. Results were reported as percentages or with numeric ratings from 1 to 4. Due to the study design, no sample size was calculated. Results One hundred and fifteen students (94%) completed the questionnaire: 104 (90%) gave positive evaluation to virtual reality training and 107 (93%) appreciated the format in which online training was structured. The majority of participants considered the platform of virtual reality training realistic for the initial clinical assessment (77%), diagnostic activity (94%), and treatment options (81%). Furthermore, 97 (84%) considered the future use of this virtual reality training useful in addition to the apprenticeship at patient’s bedside. Finally, 32 (28%) participants found the online access difficult due to technical issues. Conclusions During the COVID-19 pandemic, online medical training including simulated clinical scenarios avoided training interruption and the majority of participant students gave a positive response on the perceived quality of this training modality. During this time frame, a non-negligible proportion of students experienced difficulties in online access to this virtual reality platform.

Prior research has established that peer tutors can benefit academically from their tutoring experiences. However, although tutor learning has been observed across diverse settings, the magnitude of these gains is often underwhelming. In this review, the authors consider how analyses of tutors' actual behaviors may help to account for variation in learning outcomes and how typical tutoring behaviors may create or undermine opportunities for learning. The authors examine two tutoring activities that are commonly hypothesized to support tutor learning: explaining and questioning. These activities are hypothesized to support peer tutors' learning via reflective knowledge-building, which includes self-monitoring of comprehension, integration of new and prior knowledge, and elaboration and construction of knowledge. The review supports these hypotheses but also finds that peer tutors tend to exhibit a pervasive knowledge-telling bias. Peer tutors, even when trained, focus more on delivering knowledge rather than developing it. As a result, the true potential for tutor learning may rarely be achieved. The review concludes by offering recommendations for how future research can utilize tutoring process data to understand how tutors learn and perhaps develop new training methods.

Background Peer-led tutorials are widely used in medical education to promote practical skills acquisition and support faculty staff. Typically, student tutors are custom trained for this specific task. We investigated whether opening up an existing medical tutor qualification program to other degree programs is successful in terms of acceptance among students, acquisition of tutor-specific and interprofessional competencies, and which factors contribute to success or failure. Methods We developed a two-day tutor qualification program and conducted it annually from 2016 to 2020 with medical and other healthcare students. At the end of each course, we administered a written survey in which the participants rated the following items: their attitudes towards interprofessional learning (using the UWE-IP-D Interprofessional Learning Scale), the interprofessional learning setting, the teaching approach, and their competency acquisition (each on a five-point Likert scale; 1 = strongly agree, 5 = strongly disagree). Furthermore, we assessed participants’ qualitative feedback in free-text fields and performed inductive content analyses. Results The study participation rate was high (response rate 97%; medical students: n  = 75; healthcare students: n  = 22). Participants stated high levels of competency acquisition (total M  = 1.59, individual items’ M’s ranging from 1.20 to 2.05) and even higher satisfaction with the teaching approach (total M  = 1.28, individual items’ M’s ranging from 1.43 to 1.05). Overall satisfaction with the training was M  = 1.22; SD  = 0.58. No significant differences in ratings were found between the student groups. The qualitative results showed that students appreciated the interprofessional setting and experienced it as enriching. The most positive feedback was found in didactics/teaching methods on role-plays and group work; most suggestions for improvement were found in the area of structure and organisation on breaks and time management. Conclusions Opening up an existing medical tutor qualification program to other student groups can be seen as fruitful to teach not only tutor-related aspects but also interprofessional competencies. The results demonstrate the importance of detailed planning that considers group composition and contextual conditions and provides interactive teaching methods to promote interprofessional experiences. This study offers important information about prerequisites and methodological implementation that could be important for the interprofessional redesign of existing training programs.

The COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States in 2020 resulting in a public health caseload surge precipitating deployment of military and federal medical units, states issuing emergency orders to engage retired medical professionals, and novice or inadequately trained healthcare workers thrust into service to meet the pressing need. The novelty and scope of the pandemic exposed a gap in the competency and the surge capacity of the public health workforce to address the societal needs during the pandemic. This research investigated the capability of an agent-based, online personalized (AOP) intelligent tutoring system (ITS) that adaptively uses aptitude treatment interaction (ATI) to deliver public health workforce training in a prescribed health regime and assure their competency. This research also considers the ability of such an AOP ITS to support rapidly surging capacity of the public workforce to scale to meet healthcare demands while remaining accessible and flexible enough to adapt to changing healthcare guidance. Findings indicate such a system increases participant performance while providing a high level of acceptance, ease of use by users, and competency assurance. However, discussion of our findings indicates limited potential for an AOP ITS using the current ATI paradigm to make a major contribution to adding public health workforce surge capacity unless workforce members are directed to utilize it and technology barriers in the current public health IT infrastructure are overcome.

Despite the prevalence of undergraduate drop-in mathematics tutoring, little is known about the behaviors of this specific group of tutors. This study serves as a starting place for identifying their behaviors by addressing the research question: what observable behaviors do undergraduate drop-in mathematics tutors exhibit as they interact with students? We analyzed 31 transcripts of tutoring sessions using inductive coding, finding 83 observable behaviors. We discovered that tutors used behaviors aimed at engaging students, while primarily retaining control of the decision making and problem-solving process. Although tutors asked students to contribute to the mathematics, they often asked a less demanding question before the student had a chance to respond to the initial question. Our findings reveal the existence of opportunities for student learning in tutoring sessions as well as potential areas of growth for tutors. We present questions for future research that arose from analysis of the data and discuss how our results may be used in tutor training.

AimsThe RCPCH has published the Trainee Charter1 and the Training Toolkit2 outlining the standards of training, trainees can expect of their training units. The aim of this audit was to conduct a quality improvement project by surveying adherence of regional units with training guidance as perceived by trainees and college tutors and to sample examples of good practice in the School of Paediatrics in Yorkshire and the Humber.MethodsA survey questionnaire was designed using recommendations from the above guidance. Additional questions in relation to training and requesting examples of good practice were added. There were 47 questions, which were distributed to college tutors in three separate phases (college tutor group). The questions (apart from those relating to trainers only) were also circulated in a single phase to volunteer trainees at each hospital in the region (trainee group). The questions mapped across 7 domains: educational supervision (only for college tutors), staffing issues, teaching, rotas, patient safety, fatigue, rest facilities and breaks as well as training environment. Data was collected in the period between January and October 2021.ResultsA total of 45 responses were collected across the trainee group and the three phases of the college tutor surveys. Figure 1 details the percentage of the trusts in the region from which responses were received. More than one trainee responded in some trusts with at least one response (a trainee or a college tutor) collected from each trust. Fourteen of fifteen trusts had at least one college tutor response.Main findings with highest response rate:Educational supervisionLess than 40% of college tutors said that their job plan included 0.25 PAs per trainee for educational and clinical supervision. Examples of good practice focused on trainee feedback and quality of supervision.StaffingMore than 70% of both groups stated that their trust had a plan for dealing with emergency gaps with over 55% of both groups also having a plan for long term gaps as shown in figure 2. Examples of good practice in addressing gaps were ensuring good communication and flexibility, particularly in consultant working patterns.Abstract 825 Figure 1Percentage of Trust Responses of all trustsAbstract 825 Figure 2Main Audit FindingsConclusionResponse rates varied between college tutors and trainees and demonstrated a difference in perception between the two groups but the audit gave a good overall picture of compliance in local units with trainee charter guidance. We have collected many examples of excellent practice and our next step will be to publish these more widely to all stakeholders to drive further improvement in our training units.Thank you to everyone that helped.ReferencesTrainee Charter, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child HealthTrainee Toolkit, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health

As hypothesized by the unified competition model (MacWhinney, 2007, 2017, 2021), optimizing training schemes can enhance second language (L2) learning by fostering various protective factors. Under such a framework, the current study focuses on how the familiarity of stimuli will affect learning Chinese phonetic skills in a computer-assisted language learning (CALL) environment. Two training conditions, i.e., training with familiar stimuli from the textbook and unfamiliar stimuli from novelty design, were administered for two groups of learners at American universities, where the classroom instructions were integrated with the Pinyin Tutor—an online spoken Chinese learning platform hosted under TalkBank. The results show that training with novelty stimuli leads to a greater pretest–posttest improvement for intermediate learners, whereas more significant improvement has been observed in training with familiar stimuli among beginning learners. The learning-enhancing power of the Pinyin Tutor is evidenced by the overall significance of the pretest–posttest improvement when consolidating the results of the two conditions. Furthermore, high retention has been demonstrated in all six aspects of the Pinyin knowledge as tested by a three-month-after delayed posttest. These findings tend to endorse a differentiated design of instructional materials with increasing novelty components as the level of L2 learning advances. The overall significant learning-boosting results accredit the design of the Pinyin Tutor, where the technological architecture and algorithms were integrated with psycholinguistic and pedagogical theories. Suggestions and implications for smart learning in general are presented.

This study was intended to explore and confirm the factorial structure and to analyze the psychometric properties of an instrument for university guidance and tutoring, apply it, and detect differences between sociodemographic variables. A total of 1,048 students from five universities in the province of Manabi (Ecuador) participated. The study was divided into two phases with differentiated samples. An exploratory phase, made up of 200 subjects (19.1%), and another confirmatory phase, made up of 848 (80.9%), where the questionnaire was also applied. The results supported the three-factor structure of the instrument called “Questionnaire for the Assessment of Guidance and Tutoring in Higher Education” (Q-AGT), with of a total of 21 items. The indices of goodness of fit, reliability and internal consistency of the model were considered satisfactory. The application of the questionnaire did not show statistically significant differences in the assessment of university guidance and tutoring between men and women, with a high value given by both sexes to the importance of tutoring, the demands and the competences of the teaching staff in the university. The differences were mainly found between universities and branches of knowledge. Among the main conclusions, what stands out is the achievement of a valid and reliable instrument to measure the development of guidance and tutoring in Latin American universities. This contributes to the assessment of university guidance and tutoring as a strategy for the integral development of the student- personally, academically and professionally- and as a possible protective factor against academic dropout.