Team Based Learning Approach, Peer Tutoring and Innovations in Medical Undergraduates during Covid 19 Pandemic

A BSTRACT Background: Covid 19 has had a huge impact on teaching across the world. Due to online teaching right from beginning of the curriculum, students faced difficulties in understanding the subjects. The current study aimed to inculcate team-based learning approach, peer tutoring and to unfold the hidden talent in first-year MBBS students. Materials and Methods: An interventional study was carried out amongst first-year MBBS students. All 252 students were divided into 25 small teams. A total of 25 different topics were distributed randomly amongst all 25 teams. Each team was instructed to come together daily for 1 hour for 7 days as per their convenience for peer tutoring and team-based learning. On the 8 th day, each team was asked to submit innovations (charts/models/simplified diagrams/flow charts) as per the topic given. Pre-test and post-test were conducted separately for each team before and after peer tutoring and team-based learning. Students were asked to write the reflections about the activity given and were assessed using rubrics. Results: Post-test score was significantly higher than the pre-test score (median value: 8 vs. 10, P = < 0.001) using the Wilcoxon test. Conclusion: Team-based learning and peer tutoring activities help induce an adult type of learning leading to self-directed independent learning.