An essential part of learning is engaging the learner to acquire knowledge, skills, and attitudes (Choi et al., 2017). Student engagement is critical to the simulation experience (Leigh et al., 2017). Observing is a passive activity, and keeping observers engaged during simulation is challenging. With many nursing students and limited resources, nursing faculty must allocate some students to the observer role during simulation.

Simulation design refers to the actual physical learning environment in which the scenarios take place and vary among schools of nursing depending on available space, funding, and other resources (Farina, 2021). Participants are the students/learners engaged in the simulation (INASCL, 2021). Observers are students/learners who view the simulation without actively participating in the scenario (Rogers et al., 2020). Designs can be a typical teaching unit with participants at the bedside or a pod formation (participants are separated from observers and instructors). With bedside observation, instructors and observers are nearby in the same room as participants. In a pod arrangement, participants are alone at the bedside during the simulation and separate from both the instructor and observers, with instructors usually in a control or support room. Student observers are separate from participants and instructors and view the simulation remotely through an audiovisual (AV) system or a two-way mirror. The AV system is frequently used to record the participants during the simulation (Rogers et al., 2020). There is little to no research on the best simulation design for observers. The purpose of this study was to determine which simulation design is more engaging to observers.