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Mixed-method tutoring support improves learning outcomes of veterinary students in basic subjects

BACKGROUND: Tutoring is a useful tool in the university teaching-learning binomial, although its development is impaired in large classes. Recent improvements in information and communication technologies have made tutoring possible via the Internet. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficac...

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Autores principales: García-Iglesias, María J., Pérez-Martínez, Claudia, Gutiérrez-Martín, César B., Díez-Laiz, Raquel, Sahagún-Prieto, Ana M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5796493/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29390998
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12917-018-1330-6
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author García-Iglesias, María J.
Pérez-Martínez, Claudia
Gutiérrez-Martín, César B.
Díez-Laiz, Raquel
Sahagún-Prieto, Ana M.
author_facet García-Iglesias, María J.
Pérez-Martínez, Claudia
Gutiérrez-Martín, César B.
Díez-Laiz, Raquel
Sahagún-Prieto, Ana M.
author_sort García-Iglesias, María J.
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Tutoring is a useful tool in the university teaching-learning binomial, although its development is impaired in large classes. Recent improvements in information and communication technologies have made tutoring possible via the Internet. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of mixed-method academic tutoring in two basic subjects in Veterinary Science studies at the University of León (Spain) to optimize the usefulness of tutoring support in the college environment. This quasi-experimental study was firstly carried out as a pilot study in a small group of tutored students of “Cytology and Histology” (CH) (47/186; 25.3%) and “Veterinary Pharmacology” (VP) (33/141; 23.4%) subjects, and was implemented in a large class of CH the next academic year (150 students) while comparing the results with those obtained in a previous tutorless course (162 students). Tutored students were given access to online questionnaires with electronic feedback on each subject. In addition to traditional tutoring carried out in both tutored and tutorless students, the pilot study included three sessions of face-to-face tutoring in order to monitor the progress of students. Its efficacy was assessed by monitoring students’ examination scores and attendance as well as a satisfaction survey. RESULTS: Although the examination attendance rate in the pilot study was not significantly different between tutored and tutorless groups in both subjects, an increase for numerical scores in tutored groups was observed, with a significant higher final score in VP (p = 0.001) and in the CH practice exams (first term, p = 0.009; final, p = 0.023). Good and merit scores were also better in tutored students with significant differences in VP (p = 0.005). Students felt comfortable with the tutoring service (100% in CH; 91.7% in VP). Implementation of this additional support in CH also resulted in a significant increase of attendance at the final exam in tutored courses (87.3% versus 77.2%; p = 0.026), scaled (p = 0.001) and numerical scores (final score, p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Online tutoring support, together with conventional teaching methods, may be a useful method to incorporate student-centered learning in basic subjects in Veterinary Science. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi: 10.1186/s12917-018-1330-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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spelling pubmed-57964932018-02-12 Mixed-method tutoring support improves learning outcomes of veterinary students in basic subjects García-Iglesias, María J. Pérez-Martínez, Claudia Gutiérrez-Martín, César B. Díez-Laiz, Raquel Sahagún-Prieto, Ana M. BMC Vet Res Research Article BACKGROUND: Tutoring is a useful tool in the university teaching-learning binomial, although its development is impaired in large classes. Recent improvements in information and communication technologies have made tutoring possible via the Internet. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of mixed-method academic tutoring in two basic subjects in Veterinary Science studies at the University of León (Spain) to optimize the usefulness of tutoring support in the college environment. This quasi-experimental study was firstly carried out as a pilot study in a small group of tutored students of “Cytology and Histology” (CH) (47/186; 25.3%) and “Veterinary Pharmacology” (VP) (33/141; 23.4%) subjects, and was implemented in a large class of CH the next academic year (150 students) while comparing the results with those obtained in a previous tutorless course (162 students). Tutored students were given access to online questionnaires with electronic feedback on each subject. In addition to traditional tutoring carried out in both tutored and tutorless students, the pilot study included three sessions of face-to-face tutoring in order to monitor the progress of students. Its efficacy was assessed by monitoring students’ examination scores and attendance as well as a satisfaction survey. RESULTS: Although the examination attendance rate in the pilot study was not significantly different between tutored and tutorless groups in both subjects, an increase for numerical scores in tutored groups was observed, with a significant higher final score in VP (p = 0.001) and in the CH practice exams (first term, p = 0.009; final, p = 0.023). Good and merit scores were also better in tutored students with significant differences in VP (p = 0.005). Students felt comfortable with the tutoring service (100% in CH; 91.7% in VP). Implementation of this additional support in CH also resulted in a significant increase of attendance at the final exam in tutored courses (87.3% versus 77.2%; p = 0.026), scaled (p = 0.001) and numerical scores (final score, p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Online tutoring support, together with conventional teaching methods, may be a useful method to incorporate student-centered learning in basic subjects in Veterinary Science. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi: 10.1186/s12917-018-1330-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. BioMed Central 2018-02-01 /pmc/articles/PMC5796493/ /pubmed/29390998 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12917-018-1330-6 Text en © The Author(s). 2018 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research Article
García-Iglesias, María J.
Pérez-Martínez, Claudia
Gutiérrez-Martín, César B.
Díez-Laiz, Raquel
Sahagún-Prieto, Ana M.
Mixed-method tutoring support improves learning outcomes of veterinary students in basic subjects
title Mixed-method tutoring support improves learning outcomes of veterinary students in basic subjects
title_full Mixed-method tutoring support improves learning outcomes of veterinary students in basic subjects
title_fullStr Mixed-method tutoring support improves learning outcomes of veterinary students in basic subjects
title_full_unstemmed Mixed-method tutoring support improves learning outcomes of veterinary students in basic subjects
title_short Mixed-method tutoring support improves learning outcomes of veterinary students in basic subjects
title_sort mixed-method tutoring support improves learning outcomes of veterinary students in basic subjects
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5796493/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29390998
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12917-018-1330-6
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