Why Peer-to-Peer Learning Sticks

In a typical lecture class, only 40% of learners are actively paying attention.¹70% of learners retain what they hear in the first 10 minutes of a lecture, and only 20% of learners retain what they hear during the last 10 minutes.²For educators, this can be disheartening. For nursing programs, this poses a serious problem. Learners who need to graduate with life-saving skills and knowledge may not recall a large portion of the material.

“While we teach, we learn,” said the Roman philosopher Seneca. For thousands of years, education has continued to come back to this axiom. The success that educators have had by assigning learners to teach others is known as the Protégé Effect. And, in the context of using simulation to become competent in performing clinical tasks, it presents an ideal opportunity to take an old-school learning method and make it new-school today.

During peer-to-peer learning, the assigned teacher, the protégé, experiences a far greater motivation to learn, meaning that students generally make a greater effort to learn for those that they will teach than they do for themselves.³And, there are benefits for the non-protégé as well. Learning becomes a social endeavor, as all students involved will engage with one another to collaboratively construct their understanding of material.⁴

在护理学校中，几乎一致的负担要少做更多的事情，而对等学习一直是一种新兴的趋势。Peer-to-peer learning，有时被称为同伴教学或同伴指导，涉及学习者在类似情况下通过互动互相学习。在本文中，我们强调了这种教育方法如何帮助您更有效地培训新护士。

In the United States, the average student to faculty member ratio in colleges and universities is 16:1.⁵Within nursing programs, the number of students is often higher. The limited number of one-on-one or small group interactions to develop skills can negatively impact learners. And, acknowledging the significant time commitment and cognitive overload, nursing students are less likely to volunteer their free time for extra skills practice.

Peer-to-peer learning can help to satisfy the needs of learners for simulated skills training. One study showed that students who used peer-led deliberate practice saw increased confidence and support in performing psychomotor skills.⁶Another study suggested that performance scores for those who learned through peer teaching will be significantly better than those trained by assistant teaching staff in traditional clinical sessions.⁷Both findings point to peer-to-peer learning as a method of improving learner outcomes.

如果您的组织正在与低教职人员和员工人数作斗争，那么点对点学习可能是可以提供帮助的替代方法。作为这种方法的一部分，讲师和仿真专家扮演着促进者的角色，设定期望，分配团队并监督学习者的互动。但是，领导技能发展会议，观察其他学习者并在整个场景中提供详细的反馈和指导的是学习者（特别是门生）。

经常说，千禧一代被粘在手机上 - 最近的一项调查发现，这是真的！39％的千禧一代（出生于1981年至1996年之间）承认，他们与智能手机的互动要比与重要的其他人，父母，朋友或同事的互动更多。⁸在屏幕时间增加的时代，学习者可能与其他学习者及其教练的面对面时间更少。讨论和小组练习的时间可能受到限制，学习者可以开始在学习中感到孤立。

Peer-to-peer learningcan provide the personal engagement that millennials want. Research findings show benefits of peer partnerships that support the transition from university to nursing practice, including preparing students to be mentors in the clinical setting and reducing student anxieties.⁹专家还认为，对等学习提供了一种归属感，可以帮助学习者应对学术压力。学习者通常会向同龄人寻求建议和指导，尤其是当他们接触新概念时。并且，这种社会化已被证明可以加强学习过程。¹⁰

In addition to the psychological benefits, learners see cognitive improvement with peer-to-peer learning. One study found that peer learning among nursing students led to an increase in clinical accuracy and a decrease in practical mistakes.¹¹Because peer-to-peer learning holds learners accountable for their own performance as well as another learner’s, their engagement is high. Learners feel an increased level of commitment to the subject matter at hand.

With peer-to-peer learning, there is no question whether your learner is dedicated to clinical excellence。他或她可以一次又一次地重复一次技能或场景，在训练中返回弱势区域，直到他们完美地执行任务为止。

Today, many universities are seeking supplemental approaches to the traditional classroom. The reasons vary from budget cuts, high student populations, and increasing demands on staff.¹²A primary benefit of simulation boasted by experts is a high return on investment (ROI). As a reminder, it’s not just high-fidelity simulation that can buildROI- 技能培训也提供了机会。

Peer-to-peer learningcan result in a time-savings. By enabling learners to assess each other’s skills performance – rather than relying on one sole instructor – multiple trainings can occur simultaneously without sacrificing quality. In fact, nursing students who have practiced using peer learning techniques agreed that thefeedback they received from their peers is more helpful than feedback from their clinical instructor。¹³

In addition, peer-to-peer learning can offer a cost-savings in resources. The cost of high-fidelity simulators and the staffing to run them can be quite high, which is why it’s often more beneficial to separately introduce skills training first.Using peer-to-peer learning, learners can acquire their foundational skills and knowledge. This can help you better time an investment in full-scale simulation until it's truly necessary.

也有ROIinvolved for learners. One study demonstrated that peer learning helped to develop professional skills, such as feedback techniques, leadership qualities, and autonomy in learning.¹⁴Learners invest greatly in their education, and it can reflect very positively on an organization if they believe their experience was positive and gave them ROI.

预算限制是当今许多护理计划的现实，但幸运的是，ROI可以以多种形式出现。在模拟领域，对等学习可以为ROI提供足够的机会，而风险很小。

The U.S. Bureau of Labor projects a demand for 1.1 million new nurses by 2022, when the aging population will require 575,000 newly created positions in addition to replacements for the 550,000 nurses expected to retire.¹⁵由于这种严重的护理短缺方法，护理学校由于缺乏资源而无法接受合格的申请人。¹⁶As they struggle to expand their faculty and class sizes, there are simply not enough new graduates to replenish the workforce.

点对点学习是您组织应对未来挑战的一种方式。尽管它并不是要取代传统的课堂学习或高保真模拟，但它提供了补充且高度可观的培训机会。您的教职员工可以最大限度地利用他们的稀缺时间，而学习者（及其未来患者）将获得重复和安全的技能练习的好处。