Innovative Digital Language Learning for the Healthcare Sector

<< Background >>The basic idea of IDEAL was the perceived need in the professional networks of the project partners in AT, SK, DE and HU for a higher level of German professional language for specialists working in the healthcare sector. Working with patients and medical situations requires excellent understanding of medical terms and issues and also a high level of communication skills and awareness.Language training available for current or future healthcare workers was not specialised and not tailored to realistic everyday scenarios for e.g. nurses and nursing assistants, and therefore of little help to alleviate the problem. Also, the growing rate of healthcare workers in AT, DE with non-German background and with a professional connection to German patients in case of HU and SK showed us that a development of innovative and accessible language training elements for those target groups was timely and needed, and also feasible for the scope of a KA2 VET project.Additionally, IDEAL wanted to contribute to a modernisation of language teaching, by introducing innovative training approaches into the project partnership and associated stakeholders, thereby improving the quality and relevance of sector-specific and applied language trainings.<< Objectives >>The main objective of the IDEAL project consortium from AT, HU, DE, SK was to use modern technologies (such as audiovisual training material and interactive learning tasks and subtitles) to provide tailor-made and practically relevant training materials for healthcare professionals who want to (or are already working in) the healthcare sector in German-speaking countries, or with German-speaking patients.Also, the consortium wanted to raise awareness for the need for constant language proficiency improvement for staff in a growing and critical personal service sector, and contribute to the quality and efficiency development.Naturally, we also wanted to practically test our approach and content with real professionals working in the field of healthcare and collect their feedback in order to improve quality and relevance of our project outputs.In the long term, the IDEAL project was also intended as a test case and pilot activity to use innovative technologies for foreign language study and make language learning more accessible, and use our findings and experiences also for follow-up foreign language trainings in different contexts/settings with various target groups.<< Implementation >>The IDEAL project focused on the following operational activities during its implementation in 2022-2024.First of all, a review of existing language training material (written and audiovisual) was carried out by the project partners, with a focus on German courses aimed at persons (aspiring to) work in the healthcare sector.Secondly, the information needs and relevant professional contexts of healthcare workers were assessed, and a cluster of 10 workplace situations/contexts was established.Focused on the 10 learning situations, our language and healthcare experts developed the speaking scripts for the produced learning videos, each of which was accompanied by interactive subtitles in 17 languages, online and offline learning tasks, and user manuals (handbooks) for effective and easy use.In order to further support uptake of relevant German language terms for healthcare workers, the project team developed an interactive glossary with 1.500 entries, where users can review words, definitions, grammar and pronunciation, and also some example sentences.Project results were also practically tested and reviewed by target groups (trainers, students) and also presented/disseminated to the general and sectoral public.<< Results >>The IDEAL project developed the following main results:Project learning content – 10 learning scripts and learning materials (PDF form) for self-study;Professional guidance manual for trainers and teachers, with methodological background and insight on using audiovisual training material for language training;Student handbook with description and explanations how to use project content and functions to improve German proficiency in healthcare context;Interactive online glossary with 1,500 professional terms, where teachers and students can review spelling, grammar, pronunciation, and definitions, and also find sample sentences and related words. It also contains an export function to download words for self-study;Online project portal, which contains all interactive learning elements of IDEAL project, such as handbooks, videos, learning material and glossary;Two practical training events were held during the project, in a hybrid format, aimed at trainers and students, in order to collect their feedback;Also, the project implemented continuous dissemination activities, such as social media presence, participation in live & online promo events, and four multiplier events to inform stakeholders.