%0 Journal Article
%T Helping each other to learn ¨C a process evaluation of peer assisted learning
%A Liam G Glynn
%A Anne MacFarlane
%A Maureen Kelly
%A Peter Cantillon
%A Andrew W Murphy
%J BMC Medical Education
%D 2006
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1472-6920-6-18
%X Fifth-year medical undergraduates, who had completed their communication skills modular training and attended a preparatory workshop, facilitated a role-play session for their second-year colleagues within an Early Patient Contact programme. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups were used to collect data at different time points in order to establish the views of peer learners and tutors towards this new method of teaching. The data was analysed according to the principles framework analysis using N-vivo software. Themes were shared and debated with the multidisciplinary team of authors and a concordance of views on common themes was reached after discussion and debate.Analysis of the data resulted in the emergence of three thematic categories: Learning Environment, Educational Exchange and Communication and Modelling. The data demonstrated a concordance of the views between peer tutors and learners on barriers and levers of this approach as well as a heightened awareness of the learning environment and the educational exchange occurring therein.The data is significant as it not only demonstrates a high level of acceptability among tutors and learners for PAL but also indicates the reciprocity of educational exchange that appears to occur within the PAL setting. This study highlights some of the unique characteristics of PAL and we recommend the development of further qualitative studies around peer learners and tutors views of this process.Peer assisted learning (PAL) has been defined as "the development of knowledge and skill through active help and support among status equals or matched companions" [1]. The same author has described the process of PAL as a situation in which "people from similar social groupings who are not professional teachers help each other to learn and learn themselves by teaching" [2]. It is this reciprocity of learning among other things that makes PAL such an attractive idea to educationalists. This is particularly true in medical e
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6920/6/18