Comparing the Effects of Regular Lecture and Branching Path Simulation on Nursing Students' Academic Performance Evaluation.

Rababa, Mohammad

BACKGROUND Nursing education in Jordan is predominantly centered on regular lectures (RLs) that fail to empower students to self-assess their academic performance. Branching path simulation (BPS) is an innovative teaching method that consistently guides the student through a logically defensible analytical thought process to make correct decisions. PURPOSE The aim was to determine the effect of BPS on students' academic performance. METHOD An experimental design with control group design was used. RESULTS Students trained by BPS had significant improvement in their academic performance as measured by the mean scores of the Advanced Adult Health Nursing examination compared with RL students. CONCLUSION BPS is an innovative teaching method that requires more attention to be incorporated into the nursing curricula. Given the current learning barriers associated with the high student-educator ratio in Middle Eastern countries, with BPS nursing students have a unique opportunity to self-assess their learning needs.