Peer Tutoring Process as a Central Instructional Strategy in Dental Education

Author(s):

Karine Florence Joullie(presenting / submitting)Cyrille Nublat(presenting)Jean Valcarcel Bénédicte Gendron

Conference:

ECER 2011

Network:

21. Emerging Researchers' Group (for presentation at Emerging Researchers' Conference)

Format:

Paper

Session Information

ERG SES F 03, Parallel Session F 03

Paper Session

Time:

2011-09-13

09:00-10:30

Room:

J 30/109,G, 27

Chair:

Ludger Deitmer

Contribution

Dentists occupy an important position in society as professional health care workers. The opportunity to participate in dental education is limited to a small percentage of the community. The approximatively 200 schools of Dentistry in Europe have to select the most suitable applicants, both professionally and socially, for the ultimate benefit of the communities.

Due to historic, economic and cultural reasons, the requirements for admission to medical and dental educations and the specific admission procedures used, vary widely across Europe.

In France, students have to choose between medical or dental courses, according to their rank after a competitive examination at the end of their first year of study. A large number of novice dental students had a career in medicine as a first choice. They do not choose the dental programme and are forced to accept the change in their career path. Moreover, they do not have a reliable representation of the profession. They are aware of the importance of manual skills to suceed in the dental program and are afraid to perform poorly during practical works. That’s the reason why the teaching staff (dental clinicians) must, in addition to teaching the technical aspects, explain the profession and bring students to appreciate it.

When novice students interact with professors and fellow classmates, the social influence leads to the development of a group identity. The mechanisms of social influence allow students to build their sef-image both as students and as future dentists based on the models with which they can identify themselves or conform professionally.

Peer tutoring has been successfully implemented in many universities world wide to promote students learning. Students studying for a higher degree provide tutorial assistance to younger students. To find a response to the needs of identity repairs among novice dental students, the University of Montpellier I has developed a peer tutoring program.

Dental education comprises a total of 5 years full-time theoretical and practical study : 2 years in pre-clinical courses and 3 years in clinical ones.

Since 2005, 6^th clinical graders (last year) tutor 2^nd and 3^rd pre-clinical graders. The tutors help small groups of tutees three hours per week during their pre-clinical practical works. Thanks to their clinical experience, the tutors help the pre-clinical learning to be contextually embedded.

Research on peer tutoring indicates that the intervention is relatively effective in improving both tutees’ and tutors’academic and social development. But the literature also shows that the gains for tutors often outdistance those of the students receiving help. Peer tutoring offers tutors the opportunity to review and restructure the knowledge they possess in order to make it understandable to students younger than themselves and without clinical experiences.

This paper provides an evaluative study of the use of this dental tutoring program.

Method

Immediately after a peer tutoring period of sixth months in 2009, we conducted a student opinion survey to ascertain tutees’perceptions. Questionnaire returns were received from 120 students, representing 90% of enrolled students. In the same time, their 16 tutors were asked to write a short report about their experience with tutees. The tutors were dispatched in different dental disciplines : prosthetics, conservative dentistry, radiology … The reports’s analysis is based on co-occurrence calculations of words within the tasting notes using ALCESTE software.

Expected Outcomes

The overall verdict of both tutees and tutors on their tutoring experience has so far been positive. Having a peer as tutor is seen as providing a climate in which students can feel less inhibited about asking questions and seeking help and are able to be more open about what they do not understand. Learning is made more effective in instances where students can receive much more instructional assistance, where individual assistance is more readily available and where answers to questions can be given without delay. There have also been significant benefits for the tutors who developed emotional intelligence, team working and communication skills. Furthermore, tutors developed a more responsible attitude towards Learning. Teaching staff decided to extend the use of peer-tutoring during the clinical courses. The opportunity to be a tutor is now given to all students (the 6th and the 5th graders tutoring the 4th students). The tutoring process is viewed as developmental, where all tutors will have had the experience of being tutees as part of their apprenticeship for becoming tutors. The tutoring process is viewed as a central instructional strategy.

References

Buyse T, Lievens F, Martens L. Admission systems to dental school in Europe : a closer look at Flanders. Eur J Dent Educ. 2010(14) : 215-220. Cowpe J, Plaaschaert A, Harzer W, Vinkka-Puhakka H, Walmsley AD. Profile and competences for the graduating European dentist-update 2009. Eur J Dent Educ. 2010(14) : 193-202. Gallagher J, Clarke W, Wilson N. Understanding the motivation : a qualitative study of dental students’choice of professional career. Eur J Dent Educ. 2008(12) : 89-98. Gaengler P, de Vries J, Akota I, Balciuniene I. Student selection and the influence of their clinical and academic environment on Learning. Eur J Dent Educ. 2002. 6(Suppl. 3) :8-26. Kersten HW, Vervoorn JM, Zijlstra AE, Snyders Blok B, van Eijden TMGJ. Development and implémentation of new educational concepts in a dental curriculum. Eur J Dent Educ. 2007(11) : 2-9. Kristensen BT, Netterstrom I, Kayser L. Dental students’motivation and the context of Learning. 2009. Eur J Dent Educ. 2009(13) : 10-14. Magin DJ, Churches AE. Peer tutoring in engineering design : a case study. Studies in higher Education.1995. 20(1) :73-86. Saunders D. Peer tutoring in higher education. Studies in Higher Education. 1992. 17(2) : 211-219. Scott J. dental éducation in Europe : the challenges of variety. Journal of dental education. 2003. 67(1) :69-78. Simao AMV, Flores MA, Fernandes S, Figueira C. Tutoring in higher éducation : concepts and practices. Educational sciences Journal. 2008(7) : 73-86.

Author Information

Karine Florence Joullie (presenting / submitting)

University of Montpellier III

Sciences of Education

Le Grau du Roi

Cyrille Nublat (presenting)

University of Montpellier I, Odontology, France

Jean Valcarcel

University of Montpellier I, Odontology, France

Bénédicte Gendron

UNIVERSITY MONTPELLIER III

DPT SCIENCES OF EDUCATION

MONTPELLIER

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