Effectiveness of a training program based on maker education for baccalaureate nursing students: A quasi-experimental study

OBJECTIVES: Maker education is a dominant force in education reform and is viewed as a revolutionary way to learn. As innovative pedagogy is continuously explored in the field of nursing, the emerging role of maker education must be examined. This research aims to build a nursing bachelor education program based on maker education and to evaluate the effectiveness of this program. METHODS: Forty volunteer junior students majoring in nursing from a college were the subjects for this quasi-experiment. The training program for nursing students based on maker education was developed and implemented as an additional class for a period of 12 weeks. Before and after the experiment, two measures including the “Williams Creative Scale” and “Current Status Questionnaire of Nursing Students’ Learning” were adopted for investigation, and corresponding statistical methods were used for analysis. The degree of satisfaction with this training program was investigated after the experiment. RESULTS: The average scores of creativity, learning interest, cooperative learning skill, scientific research ability, and information attainment of the nursing students after the implementation of maker education all improved. The differences in the above points before and after the experiment were all statistically significant (P < 0.05). Most of the students expressed satisfaction with this training program (72.5% were very satisfied, 15.0% were partially satisfied, and 12.5% were not satisfied). CONCLUSION: Implementing the training program based on maker education enhanced student creativity, learning interest, cooperative learning skill, scientific research ability, and information attainment. Comprehensive nursing talents were also cultivated. Our data suggested the importance of improving this program, adopting the method, and pursuing research in nursing education.