Exploring the Role of Peer Advice in Self-Regulated Learning: Metacognitive, Social, and Environmental Factors

ABSTRACT

This Conversation Starters article presents a selected research abstract from the 2016 Association of American Medical Colleges Northeast Region Group on Educational Affairs annual spring meeting. The abstract is paired with the integrative commentary of three experts who shared their thoughts stimulated by the pilot study. These thoughts explore the metacognitive, social, and environmental mechanisms whereby advice plays a role in self-regulated learning.

KEYWORDS:

• Academic support
• help-seeking
• learning environment
• peer advice
• self-regulated learning

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anna T. Cianciolo

Anna T. Cianciolo, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor, Department of Medical Education, at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine and Editor of Teaching and Learning in Medicine. Her interest is focused on exploring the influence of context (interpersonal and environmental) on the nature of learning and instruction. Areas of emphasis include small-group collaborative instruction, diagnostic strategy, and professional self-development.

Anthony R. Artino

Expert commentator biographies

Anthony R. Artino, Jr., Ph.D., is Professor and Deputy Director for Graduate Programs in Health Professions Education at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU). He is responsible for graduate-level teaching, research, faculty and student supervision, and administrative leadership for both the master's and Ph.D. programs, and he holds academic appointments in the Departments of Medicine and Preventive Medicine & Biostatistics. He is Deputy Editor for the Journal of Graduate Medical Education and serves on the editorial review boards of Military Medicine and Military Psychology. His research interests include the study of motivation, emotion, and self-regulated learning across the medical education continuum. A secondary focus of his scholarship is the study of physician outcomes as the co-director of USU's Long-Term Career Outcome Study.

Judy A. Shea

Judy A. Shea, Ph.D., is Professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and Associate Dean of Medical Education Research and Director of the Office of Evaluation and Assessment in the Academic Programs Office, School of Medicine. She serves dual roles, working with faculty and fellows to design and evaluate research projects and directing the evaluation of the medical school curriculum and faculty. Much of her work focuses on evaluating the psychometric properties of curriculum evaluation tools and developing measures to assess components of health such as health literacy, patient satisfaction and health-related quality of life. She has methodological expertise with multiple qualitative methods including focus groups and interviews. In addition she is experienced with chart reviews, validity assessments, meta-analyses, outcome assessment, instrument development, and survey research. She teaches and mentors trainees regularly on methodology, measurement principles, and implementation science. Major themes to her work include assessment of medical education outcomes, program evaluation and assessment tools. She has published more than 250 peer-reviewed articles, many with junior colleagues.

Olle ten Cate

Olle ten Cate, Ph.D., is Professor of Medical Education at University Medical Center Utrecht (UMCU), the Netherlands, and leads its Center for Research and Development of Education. His interests cover all aspects of teaching and learning in medical education. Current areas in work notably include curriculum development for competency-based medical education and the use of entrustable professional activities as a framework. He has published extensively in the medical education literature and mentors many doctoral students, both at UMCU and at the University of California, San Francisco, where he holds a position of Adjunct Professor of Medicine.