2015 RTL Conference

The course SCIENCE 1A03 “Investigating Science: Opportunities and Experiences” was offered inaugurally in Fall 2014 to ~150 Level 1 students in the Faculty of Science, and it has been offered again during the Fall 2015 term. The goals of SCIENCE 1A03 include the following:

1. engaging students with different fields of scientific research at the university;
2. introducing students to scientific methodologies, reasoning and thought processes; and
3. developing skills applicable to their undergraduate degrees and beyond.

To help achieve these goals, Level 1 students are peer-mentored by upper-level students in a parallel course, SCIENCE 3A03 (see also abstract titled “The Impact of Peer Mentoring on Mentors in a Novel Course at McMaster University” by Haqqee, Huang, Goff and Knorr).

The aim of our pedagogical research study is to understand the SCIENCE 1A03’s impact on students and their perception of this course. Through pre- and post-surveys, and follow-up interviews, we are analysing how SCIENCE 1A03 has changed students’ attitudes and approaches towards science - and how these may be different from discipline to discipline.

In a peer mentoring relationship, mentors can offer strong peer support and can help foster academic networks and a sense of community for their mentees. Mentors act as a guide, transferring valuable advice for overall success in academia. In return, mentors should also expect to benefit through self-reflection, leading to a sense of personal growth (Colvin & Ashman, 2010). The aim of this study is to analyze the impact of a new third year McMaster undergraduate course, Peer Mentoring in Science (SCIENCE 3A03), on student mentors and their perceptions and experiences of mentorship. During December 2014, we collected survey data from peer mentors on their experiences mentoring first-year students that were registered in a new foundational science course. Surveys consisted of Likert scales and open-ended responses on impressions of how the SCIENCE 3A03 course assisted their development as mentors. More specifically, we explored the challenges, usefulness, and enjoyability of mentorship, as well as mentors’ perspectives of impact. Results from this study will improve the current peer mentoring course design, provide a model of a peer mentoring program that can be adopted by other faculties and institutions, and contribute to the development of a stronger student community. Participants will be asked to consider how a mentoring program might help cultivate a sense of community and bring benefits to students' learning experiences within their own department or faculty.

Objective:

To investigate the effectiveness and utility of the peer-to-peer model of student-led tutorial (SLT) as a learning strategy to build knowledge and skills for pharmacy students across various years.

Methods:

Year 4 pharmacy students delivered SLTs on infectious diseases, patient self-care and cardiovascular diseases online and live to both third- and fourth-year students in preparation for their experiential placements and the licensing exam. Retrospective self-assessment surveys were administered after each session. Five knowledge domains were assessed. A paired t-test was utilized to evaluate the survey data. Thematic analysis was applied to the qualitative comments on the survey.

Results:

A total of 81 students comprised of third and fourth year students responded to the survey. Prior to the SLTs, 46.8% of students rated their knowledge ‘Average’ (3 of 5) while 33.1% rated their knowledge ‘Above Average’ (4 of 5) in all knowledge domains. After the SLTs, 53.6% of students rated their knowledge to be ‘Above Average’ (4 of 5), while 27.5% rated ‘Excellent’ (5 of 5) in all knowledge domains. There was a statistically significant increase (p≤0.01) in all five knowledge domains post-SLTs for both third- and fourth-year students. Useful components of the SLTs were drug charts and case discussions.

Conclusions:

The SLT was an effective learning strategy for students across third and fourth year.  Students perceived an increased level of therapeutic knowledge after attending the SLTs. Student presenters developed public speaking skills while consolidating knowledge.  The peer-to-peer mentoring model is beneficial for student life-long learning and professional practice.

Can undergraduates complete student intitiated research projects?  While many students are inclinded, often adminstrative and research ethics requirments can hamper the completion of the project within the framework of an academic semester.  This presentation will describe a student-led research ethics practicum that fosters an awareness of ethics and research ethics requirement for a community of undergraduate learners in the Bachelor of Health Sciences program at McMaster University.  We will also explore strategies that focus on research ethics as academic learning goal and less of an administrative requirement.