Innovation in Language Learning

The article is an introduction to the Palliative Care MOOC, which is the main output of the Med&Lang project (2014-1-RO01-KA203-002940, an Erasmus+ programme co-financed by the European Union. The open digital educational resources created in several European languages (Dutch, English, French, Italian, Romanian and Spanish) in the field of palliative care meet the requirements of international students and doctors who live in a mobile world.  Simulations of twenty standardized fundamental medical palliatice care procedures have been captured in videos, which highlight the basic clinical language and communication skills communication necessary to perform these procedures. The linguistic units based on the videos support the learning/teaching processes through a wide range of online activities. Students’ medical and language learning experience are challenged by encouraging social networking, collaborative learning, peer assistance, communication and student knowledge construction, student empowerment, intercultural knowledge and medical practice. The linguistic units and their online material have focused on and exploited similarities among languages by developing language activities and tasks that support the learning of several languages within similar medical contexts.