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Reviews
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Mr. Bivek Singh 
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Mr. Abhi K Singh
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Dr. Balman S Karki
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Dr. Trilok P Thapa
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Other Comments:
Peer assisted learning; a concept of student teaching the other student helps both the groups to develop teaching and learning skills in an effective way. The collaborative group discussion that is involved in this method fosters better learning removing all the hindrance that are otherwise encountered in regular class room teaching. This also brings out leaders among the student groups.
This is a good initiation taken up the author and his team to study the concept of PAL in medical training in developing nation. This work highlights the need of such learning modules as suggested by the student community.
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Competing interests:
No
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Invited by the author to review this article? :
No -
Have you previously published on this or a similar topic?:
No
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References:
None -
Experience and credentials in the specific area of science:
We are involved in a medical education project to study the attitudes, pre existing knowledge about the medical course, learning modes, safety awareness, medical ethics in newly joined first year medical students.
Article has been sent for publication.
- How to cite: Dutt. R A .A Review on "Student Perception About Peer-Assisted Learning Sessions in a Medical School in Nepal". [Review of the article 'Student Perception About Peer-Assisted Learning Sessions in a Medical School in Nepal ' by Thapa T].WebmedCentral 2011;2(11):WMCRW001115
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Other Comments:
It is a good paper specialy for the developing countries.
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Competing interests:
No
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Invited by the author to review this article? :
No -
Have you previously published on this or a similar topic?:
No
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References:
None -
Experience and credentials in the specific area of science:
I have been a professor of medicine for the last 20 years.
- How to cite: Bedin V .Student Perception About Peer-Assited Sessions in a Medical School in Nepal[Review of the article 'Student Perception About Peer-Assisted Learning Sessions in a Medical School in Nepal ' by Thapa T].WebmedCentral 2011;2(10):WMCRW001075
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Other Comments:
This is a very important piece of work especially for the medical educators in developing country.The use of peer assisted learning is still at infancy stage in many medical schools in Asia due to the lack of published studies on it's effectiveness and feedback from the students themselves. This paper manage to highlight the needs from the students persectives which can help the educators to tailor made the requirement for encouraging peer assisted learning process.I will recommend the paper to publish as it is.
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Competing interests:
None
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Invited by the author to review this article? :
Yes -
Have you previously published on this or a similar topic?:
No
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References:
None -
Experience and credentials in the specific area of science:
I had been a medical educator for the last 11 years and had interest in the use of peer assisted learning process in health education.
- How to cite: Hassali A .Student Perception About Peer-Assisted Learning Sessions in a Medical School in Nepal [Review of the article 'Student Perception About Peer-Assisted Learning Sessions in a Medical School in Nepal ' by Thapa T].WebmedCentral 2011;2(10):WMCRW001048
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The article titled Student Perception about Peer-Assisted Learning Sessions in a Medical School in Nepal by Shankar et al (2001) [1], is a research article rather a than a case report. However, the format of the abstract and the article itself do not follow the format of a research article, due to the lack of methods, results and discussion section (IMRAD), while there are parts of the article that can be considered as Methods, Results and Discussion. Moreover, there is a part that can be regarded as the conclusion, but it is not explicitly written [1].
The authors stated that they did not “come across descriptions of PAL in Nepal in the literature on doing a Pubmed and Google scholar search” [1]. However, Pubmed Central (PMC) search using peer, assisted, learning, and Nepal as keywords showed an article titled Musculoskeletal Training for Orthopaedists and Nonorthopaedists, where the objectives of the training are realized by some approaches, one of which is “Peer example: a 1:1 student/preceptor ratio per year is the set standard so the student has the advantage of close guidance through the course of his training” [2]. Therefore, the article is not the first article concerning peer assisted learning in Nepal. Moreover, peer instructor was previously shown by others to be as effective as approved clinical instructor, and had an advantage in the presence of less pressure, embarrassment, and anxiety in performing psychomotor skills, though peer instructors was not suggested to replace approved clinical instructors in initial instruction. Peer instructors may be used in practice to reinforce and review the initial instruction to get a psychomotor skill in orthopedic assessment [3].
Table 1 and 2 shows total and overall median scores according to the gender and method of financing of medical education, and there were no significant differences in the scores according to gender or method of financing [1]. These data does not support the conclusion that states “The feedback suggests that peer teaching can be an effective method of learning” [1]. Moreover, there are no data concerning the scores obtained from students with peer teacher compared to those with approved teacher assisted session, or the scores obtained from students enrolled in peer assisted learning compared to those who did not as was done in a study [4].
In conclusion, this article needs revisions especially in the conclusion section and needs formatting to a research article format.
References
1.
Shankar P , Singh B , Singh A K, Karki BS, Thapa TP. Student perception about Peer-Assisted Learning sessions in a Medical School in Nepal . WebmedCentral: Education in Medicine Journal 2011;2(10):WMC002370.
2.
Banskota AK. Musculoskeletal training for orthopaedists and nonorthopaedists: Experiences in Nepal. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2008; 466:2369–76.
3.
Weidner TG, Popp JK. Peer-Assisted Learning and orthopaedic evaluation psychomotor skills. J Athl Train. 2007; 42(1): 113–9.
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Facilitating learning in large lecture classes: Testing the “Teaching Team” approach to peer learning. Stanger-Hall KF, Lang S, Maas M. CBE Life Sci Educ. 2010; 9(4): 489–503.
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1. Pawitan JA. Pembelajaran berdasarkan masalah (problem based learning): haruskah bersamaan dengan integrasi vertical?[Problem based learning: should it be applied with vertical integration?] (Article in Indonesian). J Indones Med Assoc. 2006; 56: 609-13. 2. Pawitan JA, Sukmawati D. Association between presence in lectures and student knowledge gain in problem based learning: experience in Neuropsychiatry module, FMUI,International program. Med J Indones 2009;18(2):131-4. 3. Pawitan JA, Pattiata R. The role of assignments in lab activity test results in Histology. South East Asian Journal of Medical Education 2010;4(2):41-3. 4. Adiwinata Pawitan J. The relevance of problem based process assessment scoring. (comment and review of the article: Initial Experiences of Developing an Assessment Scheme for Problem Based Learning Module in an Undergraduate Preclinical Curriculum)[Review of the article 'Initial Experiences Of Developing An Assessment Scheme For Problem Based Learning Module In An Undergraduate Preclinical Curriculum ' by Shobha KL, Pallath V ].WebmedCentral 2011;2(1):WMCRW00391. 5. Adiwinata Pawitan J. Student motivation is very important in medical education: review and comment[Review of the article ‘Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Residents Teaching Clinical Anatomy In The Gross Anatomy Lab: Enhanced Student Performance ‘ by Foye P M, Vasan N S, Holland B K].WebmedCentral 2011;2(1):WMCRW00422. 6. Adiwinata Pawitan J. Student motivation and seriousness are important prerequisites for in Just in Time Teaching (JiTT): comment and review[Review of the article ‘Learning Via Just – In- Time (JiTT) Education: A Must For All Medical Schools In The Global Information Age. ‘ by Kanagasabai S , Najimudeen M , De S].WebmedCentral 2011;2(2):WMCRW00477. 7. Adiwinata Pawitan J .Teaching versus unethical marketing in rational antibiotic use implementation: review and comment[Review of the article 'Teaching Medical Students to use Antibiotics Rationally in a Medical School in Nepal ' by Shankar PR et al].WebmedCentral 2011;2(10):WMCRW001031
I am involved in developing of modules for problem based learning, resource person, lecturer and facilitator in PBL in the Fac. of Medicine Univ. of Indonesia, and also doing research in Medical education.