At our pre-licensure baccalaureate nursing program, faculty members planned and implemented a peer tutoring initiative several years ago with the twin goals of retention and success of our students. Faculty members then conducted a study to evaluate the success of the peer tutoring initiative. Wilson (2017) outlined several recommendations for improvement specific to our program involving peer tutor training, communication processes, and alternative scheduling and structure options.
The current peer tutoring coordinator is now acting on many of these recommendations to close the loop on a quality improvement cycle. Though recommendations for improvement covered several aspects of the program, the current focus is on formalized training for our peer tutors. According to Wilson (2017), peer tutors need initial and ongoing training to be effective. In addition, Wilson (2017) recommended that training should enhance the tutors’ ability to: restructure information in memorable ways, guide progressively independent problem solving, use their role as a student and peer to their advantage and avoid passive learning strategies. So, the coordinator revised both the format and the content of training for our tutors.
The coordinator implemented the revised format for training in August 2017, with a second session in January 2018. The format includes training at the beginning of each semester for new and returning tutors. Beginning in the 2018 spring semester, the coordinator will provide monthly reminders and tips for incorporating active learning strategies when working with students. The format also includes modeling active teaching and learning strategies throughout the training process. Active learning strategies “produce stronger learning and retention…than passive learning strategies” (Brown, Roediger & McDaniel, 2014). The coordinator, education experts and the tutors themselves present various topics during the training. Some active learning strategies used in our training include role play, the snowball activity, and a leader-learner-videographer activity.
The coordinator revised content to include training in classroom technology and NCLEX testing strategies. In addition, our local chapter of Sigma Theta Tau agreed to purchase nine NCLEX review books for use by the tutors in the program to reinforce their ability to guide problem solving. The coordinator included information on peer tutoring ethics (National Tutoring Association, 2016) and strategies for using their status as a peer to connect with students. In addition, a guest speaker and science educator emphasized teaching strategies for learner engagement such as lift-off and think-pair-share (Tanner, 2013). She also demonstrated Foldables (Zike, 2002) with the tutors and each crafted one of their own during the session. Restructuring information in a memorable way is an important skill for teachers and learners who want to make long term connections to content. Foldables, charts and mnemonics are tools that tutors can pass on to their students.
In December 2017, tutors gave written feedback on the helpfulness of the revised training. They will be asked to give additional feedback in May of 2018. The tutors’ feedback provides ideas for improvement. Also, the coordinator can monitor tutoring sessions (which are recorded via Tegrity) to see if training influenced the tutors’ teaching strategies. The cycle of quality improvement will continue as future plans include further changes to the peer tutoring program based on study recommendations. In addition, the initial study (Wilson, 2017) serves as a baseline for comparison to measure the impact of changes to the program.