1. Proceedings
  2. I3M
  3. 2020
  4. IWISH
  5. 10.46354/i3m.2020.iwish.010

Peer collaboration in Italy during COVID-19 pandemic: the experience of an online bottom-up backed platform designed for medical students

  • a Andrea Calandrino , 
  • b Alessio Riitano , 
  • c Serena Ricci , 
  • d Giancarlo Torre , 
  • e Marco Chirico 
  • a,b,c,d,e University of Genova, Via Pastore 3, 16132, Genova, Italy
  • a IRCCS Giannina Gaslini Children’s Hospital, Via Gerolamo Gaslini 5, 16147, Genova, Italy
  • c University of Genova, Via all’Opera Pia 13, 16145, Genova, Italy
Cite as
Calandrino A., Riitano A., Ricci S., Torre G., Chirico M. (2020). Peer collaboration in italy during COVID-19 pandemic: the experience of an online bottom-up backed platform designed for medical students. Proceedings of the 9th International Workshop on Innovative Simulation for Healthcare (IWISH 2020), pp. 52-58. DOI: https://doi.org/10.46354/i3m.2020.iwish.010

Abstract

During the actual COVID-19 pandemic universities and institutions have transferred all their educational activities to mass distributed e-learning platforms, badly affecting students’ interactions, limiting peer-tutoring and collaboration activities. Authors believe into the importance of these interactions in building an efficient educational pathway, valorizing what they call “horizontal communication” to be sided to the canonical “vertical” one, usually conveyed by those platforms. In this paper we report the experience of an online bottom-up peer collaboration platform named “Sciumegu”, made and run by medical students themselves, active in the University of Genoa Medical School since 2007, aimed to ease students’ collaborative interactions and peer-tutoring, study materials sharing and academic information transmission. Users’ behavior during lockdown period has been analyzed in order to underline any difference from normality, finding that students referred much more to the platform to simulate exams (+84,98% than in 2019) and to download lectures, notes and slides (+34,20% than in 2019). This enforces the assumption that students need peer interaction to advance their academic careers and to prepare their exams in the best way, taking advantage of a digital targeted educational instrument like “Sciumegu” when those interactions are precluded. We assert this platform has filled the gap left by the educational digital step forward operated by schools and universities. In particular, “Sciumegu” responded to pandemic lockdown impositions, enforcing and promoting peer collaboration through a shared environment where to peer interact, far from traditional social media harmful distractions.

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