Learning app “One day German – in nursing”

Starting position/challenge

Language training courses help immigrant health professionals to gain recognition for their professional qualifications in Germany and to prepare themselves for everyday working life. Communication skills play just as an important role in nursing as intercultural knowledge does in everyday hospital life. Digital formats such as learning apps, offer nursing professionals a highly flexible possibility for individual and interactive learning, which is independent of time and place. This is where the language learning app “One day German – in nursing” comes in, which was developed in the interdisciplinary interaction of nursing, language and Serious Gaming experts under the project management of the IQ Competence Centre for Work-Related German Language.

Implementation of the learning app

The starting point were the scenarios developed by Network IQ Niedersachsen in cooperation with the nursing school Klinikum Braunschweig, as well as a comprehensive language assessment among foreign nursing staff, German and specialist teachers, lecturers and speakers in recruitment agencies and ward management. Scenarios for typical communication skills in nursing were determined, prepared into a dialogue and set to music with professional speakers. Learners can read and listen to the dialogues repeatedly and have the option to choose different languages and paths each time. They learn how this affects their counterparts through the feedback they receive, among other things, directly from the reaction of the patient or colleague. According to the individual answer of the learners, the scene unfolds differently. After each dialogue, there are different exercises covering communication, grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation, including various exercise and review formats such as gap fill or multiple choice.

An evaluation system at the end of each sequence gives the leaner an acknowledgement or critical constructive feedback for his or her results. In addition to linguistic and technical knowledge transfer, intercultural learning is an important component of the language learning app. The so-called info box serves this purpose. It gives learners feedback on their behavior according to their answers and thereby conveys interesting facts about communication in the world of nursing and care in Germany.

Conclusion

The app enables learners to experience authentic care giving and empathic nursing communication directly and makes it accessible for language and specialist learning. It has been available for download since the end of October 2017 and has been used over 8,000 times in both Germany as well as in southeastern Europe and countries outside of Europe, such as the Philippines (as of April 2018).