Evidence-based peer-tutoring program to improve students’ performance at the university

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the impact of a peertutoring program on academic performance among first-year students. The sample consisted of 102 first-year students from four-degree programs at a Spanish University. The academic performance was measured through the official student Academic reports. The assignment of the students to the experimental group (N = 51) and control group (N = 51) was done randomly. The intervention consisted of 20 highly structured individual weekly tutoring sessions delivered by senior and doctoral students, previously trained in three training sessions. The results show moderate effects' size and statistically significant differences in favor of the experimental group in the total academic course, as well as in the fall and spring semesters.

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“…With an intervention of 20 highly structured individual weekly tutorials given by students, previously trained in three training sessions. The results showed moderate effect sizes and statistically significant differences in favor of the experimental group in the total academic year, as well as in the fall and spring semesters [29]. In fact, since tutoring programs are successful for students, many institutions have allocated significant resources to new student adjustment programs [30].…”

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“…The intervention plan was composed of the contents, procedures, and activities extracted from the specialized bibliography [4,12,17,[29][30][31][32][33][34][35]37,[43][44][45]. In this vein, the NtN tutors' training course (i.e., the first activity of the intervention plan) was aimed at enhancing the university students' skills to efficiently perform the role and functions initially assigned.…”

“…In this vein, the NtN tutors' training course (i.e., the first activity of the intervention plan) was aimed at enhancing the university students' skills to efficiently perform the role and functions initially assigned. Thus, four three-hour sessions were delivered in two weeks (2 to 11 November 2016) using an active and participatory methodology to cover the following contents [31,33]: (a) session 1: introduction of the program staff, participants, and training plan, justification of the program, and description and use of the workbooks (i.e., study protocol: a set of materials in which each of the tutoring sessions was presented in a structured manner), (b) session 2: performance of the NtN tutees' needs assessment (i.e., instructions on how to analyze and to review the agenda and school material to establish and prioritize homework, doubts, problems, or difficulties on the instrumental curricular areas), and the design, planning, and execution of school supplemental activities, (c) session 3: the design, planning and execution of scientific-technological activities (i.e., presentation and curricular justification of the activities, and training in the IBSE teaching method: the procedure to be followed by NtN tutors when implementing the activities), and (d) session 4: evaluation and registration of the tutoring sessions, and analysis of potential difficulties or unpredicted situations during the tutoring sessions.…”

“…The scientific-technological activities were held weekly in the order established in the workbook, although three of them were implemented in two sessions. Nevertheless, the NtN tutors and the university staff had to introduce some variations in the activities planned to maintain the interest and learning of the NtN tutees of the experimental group, as the specialized literature recommends [30,31,34,35]. Additionally, in order to maximize the impact of the scientific-technological activities delivered, a digital copy of the material with the curricular justification of that activity and the material resources necessary for its implementation and development was prepared (i.e., presentation and initial instructions, concepts to be addressed, and sequence of action) (https://ntngranada.wordpress.com/programa-de-actividades).…”

“…Both methodological approaches were blended into the NtN-Granada intervention design in the following way: (a) S-L, which integrates knowledge and the curriculum's subjects with learning and doing useful and supportive work in the community [29]; and (b) peer tutoring, in which students of different ages and/or with more knowledge and/or skills, after a process of training and practice, through a framework of asymmetrical relationship externally planned by professionals, help and support other students with less knowledge and/or skills for preventive and/or instructional purposes [30]. Amongst the multiple benefits of both ways of understanding and practicing education, the following are frequently cited [29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36]: an improvement in the school performance of participants, their skills and social relationships, an increase in health indicators and professional skills, and improvements in professional skills and the satisfaction of the educators involved. There is also evidence of the benefits that this type of program exerts on the social climate of institutions and communities by increasing the organizational structure and social participation of their members (e.g., increasing the number and quality of interactions between its members and its immediate environment, improving members' well-being and commitment to their work or duties, decreasing leave days and reducing disciplinary issues) [29,34,35,37].…”