On September 19-20, 2024, the SIMBA Project held its second live meeting at Istanbul Medipol University in Türkiye. This gathering marked a significant milestone in the project by bringing together all project partners to assess the progress of the project and plan the next phases of SIMBA’s implementation.
The meeting opened with a presentation by Annick Van Gils, who introduced the study protocol for the Simulation-Based Assessment. The pilot study, which will be conducted from September to March, will evaluate the psychometric properties of the newly developed Simulation-Based Assessment. The pilot study for the assessment will include all learners participating in the simulations across partner institutions.
Next, Kuni Vergauwen led a session on the development and rollout of the learning scenarios, providing an update on their current status and the implementation schedule. This was followed by a joint presentation from Katrien Maes and Ahmet Emir, who introduced the newly developed teacher manual. This manual is designed to support occupational therapy instructors in utilizing the scenario template to integrate simulation-based learning into their curriculum.
Another key point of discussion was the evaluation of learning scenarios using the Kirkpatrick Model. Led by Kuni Vergauwen, this session focused on gathering feedback from both learners and other simulation participants to enhance and refine the scenarios as the project progresses.
Overall, the meeting proved to be highly productive, with clear decisions made for the next steps in the project. It was also an inspiring moment for the team as they approach a pivotal stage in SIMBA’s implementation.