Review Article
Peer teaching as an educational tool in Pharmacy schools; fruitful or futile

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cptl.2017.07.026Get rights and content

Abstract

Background

In the past decade, various health care programs have implemented diverse types of peer-assisted learning (PAL) programs, in particularly peer teaching (PT), due to their reported benefits for students (both those undertaking teaching and those being taught), teachers, and educational institutes. Unfortunately, peer teaching is still under-recognized in pharmacy programs worldwide when compared to other health care programs. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of the published literature centered on formal PT programs that are implemented in pharmacy schools. In addition, this review focuses on the methodologies adopted for peer teacher recruitment and training as well as the benefits gained by students (both those undertaking teaching and those being taught). The rationales behind PT implementation are recapitulated as well. Finally, a simple scheme for successful implementation of PT activity is provided to serve as a groundwork for educators.

Methods

Pre-defined key terms were used to search for experimental peer teaching activities in pharmacy schools between January 2000 and June 2016. Titles were selected based on pre-set eligibility criteria. Only complete research articles with clear design and evaluation sections were included in this review. Studies about inter-professional peer teaching activities between pharmacy students and other healthcare professions were also included.

Results

Six relevant educational research articles containing peer teaching activities were included. A lot of variety exists between different pharmacy courses implementing PT, the format/setting of PT, how peer teachers are selected, and how training and evaluation are implemented. The studies reviewed confirmed that PT was well received by most of the students and had a positive impact on their learning outcome. These findings cannot be generalized due to the insufficient number of studies published beside their methodological limitations and inadequate descriptions of the PT format.

Implications

Though PT may be regarded as a feasible teaching strategy, care must be taken during implementation to ensure the fulfillment of the educational objectives. Proper validation of any PT initiative is required before incorporation into the pharmacy curriculum. More research using proper design and suitable sample sizes are recommended to determine the effect of PT activity on students’ learning, skills development and confidence.

Section snippets

Background

Recently, peer-assisted learning (PAL) has become an increasingly important part of different health care undergraduate educational programs, and it is being globally used in a variety of contexts and disciplines due to its reported cognitive, pedagogical, attitudinal, social, and economic benefits.1., 2., 3., 4., 5.

Peer assisted learning is not a single, undifferentiated educational strategy; it is an umbrella term incorporating various cooperative and collaborative educational approaches with

Methods

Review objectives were established along with the selection criteria and search method. An Electronic search was conducted to locate research articles related to this topic in academic peer reviewed journals between January 2000 and June 2016. Several databases were utilized in the search: PubMed, ScienceDirect, Web of Knowledge, and ERIC. Web search engines were also utilized, including Google and Bing.

Results

The study selection process is depicted in Fig. 1. Title and abstract screening identified 14 possibly eligible articles. After full-text reading of the retrieved articles, eight articles were excluded13., 25., 26., 27., 28., 29., 30., 31. because they did not meet our set criteria. The remaining six papers14., 15., 16., 17., 18., 19. that satisfied the choice criteria were included irrespective of their quality. To simplify comparisons, the collected data categories for each PT program were

Implications

Pharmacy practitioners are expected to be lifelong learners.15 They are expected to supervise, teach, assess, and offer feedback to colleagues and in some cases, contribute to the teaching of pharmacy students. PT is considered as a collaborative learning method that may contribute positively to students learning.32 Involvement of students in PT activities helps them develop their competency skills and knowledge.9 In addition, it enhances students’ confidence and intrinsic motivation and

Disclosure statement

The author declares that there are no relevant material financial interests that relate to the submitted review paper. This research did not receive any funding from agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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