<< Background >>The future of Europe depends on how well it will succeed in securing and expanding the skilled labour base, to a large extent. This is especially true for nursing and caretaking professions. The labour situation in this sensitive area is already extremely tight today. In the future, the need for skilled workers will increase even further due to demographic change. At the same time, the number of employable persons will decrease. In Germany alone, depending on the forecast model, there will be a shortage of 150,000 nursing staff by 2035 or even 500,000 by 2030 (2021 - Bertelsmann Stiftung). One of the possibilities to compensate for this deficit is to attract more workforce from the other EU or even non-EU countries, who need to posses or acquire not only the required minimum qualification, but also the professional language skills. One of the emerging opportunities to accelerate the development and improvement of the learning competences has been lately recognized in using the digital reality instruments, including augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) or a combination of both (mixed reality or MR) along with the integrated speech recognition applications supported by Artificial Intelligence (AI). It allows a learner to engage with interactive digital enhancements - individually or in a group - in real or digital worlds simulating a typical working environment and standard situations of the nursing profession. Virtual highly valuable didactic environments comprehend an important number of learning-related strategies and realities, provides freedom in the development process and several valuable and applicable features for foreign language education (Peixoto et al 2021).The use of gamification along with MR technology in foreign language education has already emerged in recent years, but needs yet to be included in the teaching and learning practice of foreign language education (FLE) for professional use across Europe. The aim of the project is to support digital transformation in FLE in the EU, whilst focusing on filling the existing gaps and raising efficacy of foreign language education by nursing and caretaking students, as well as already qualified professionals, through Immersive learning environments that can address the challenges of digitization in educational systems (Hein et al 2021).First of all, new digital skills are required for the new technologies - the more efficient integration of MR applications in the teaching and training practice is slowed down by a lack of technological knowledge, experience and convenient testing and demonstration environments. Secondly, mechanisms of the cross-discipline collaboration of foreign language teachers, media didactics specialists, software developers etc. in the process of MR applications design and production is needed. Thirdly, in order to achieve the main goal which is a successful integration of MR applications into FLE for healthcare professions, the partners want to collect, analyze and systemize the current knowledge and experience gathered at the partner organizations, other HEIs and VET institutions across Europe and around the globe, defining and adopting best practices and finding new solutions of MR applications development and integration into teaching and learning. MR-supported FL instruction facilitates language learning and significantly improves student learning outcomes.Previous evidence-based research (Scrivner et al., 2019) has shown that immersive technologies such as VR are “an ideal instrument for language instruction”Thanks to the complexity of the set objectives, the project responds to both priorities of the Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027): “Fostering the development of a high-performing digital education ecosystem” and “Enhancing digital skills and competences for the digital transformation”.<< Objectives >>The increased use of the AR/VR /MR technology in FLE has already been a trend for a number of years. Previous studies have reported that the application of MR in education, immersion, presence, and affordance must be considered (Turchet et al., 2015). These are essential factors that facilitate learners' engagement (Shin et al.,2019). It is crucial to understand that both effective and efficient MR learning can only be achieved through proper integration between pedagogy, technology and organization’s culture and needs. The consortium aims to create a relevant, innovative and handy set of tools to provide the most crucial elements, to consider and implement the technological advantages of MR in FLE for healthcare more actively, following the principles based on the simplified form of the Bloom’s classical taxonomy: inspire, inform, activate and then support by implementation and multiplication. Once the acquaintance phase is completed and the new technology begins being implemented on a mass scale, the software and hardware investment, as well as an overall cost of organizational effort will inevitably sink per student. In this way the profound integration of MR used in combination with other technologies of digital learning and teaching, such as open educational resources, mobile learning etc. will provide a sustainable improvement of the education systems on the European level.The main goal of the project is the adoption of immersive MR, combined with speech recognition and artificial intelligence in FLE for med. professionals in Europe. This should be achieved through the development of a standardized procedure, including technology, organizational structure, operation mechanisms and a digital tool set for efficient multidisciplinary collaboration throughout the development and implementation of the modern MR simulations into language education for healthcare professions. Based on the experiences and findings of the project a demonstration and learning courseware on MR application opportunities in FLE will be developed. This shall enhance an effective collaboration between the education providers and software developers and close the current gap between the needs of FLE for healthcare professionals and the great potential of the mixed-reality technology.The added value of MR is its three-dimensional representation, construction, and visualization of the learner’s concept. Therefore the goals of this project are to bring the MRtechnology closer to the main target group(those involved in FLE for nursing and caretaking) by developing an efficient way to understand the potential and main advantages of MR, adopt this advanced digital technology in educational practice and teach to conceptualise, design and develop customized MR-based training applicationsIn the above mentioned context the following main objectives shall be reached within the project:1.Identification of the appropriate contents of medical language courses suitable for transfer into MR applications2.Development of the customized collaboration procedure for design and implementation of immersive MR simulations in FL training3.Bringing the technology closer through a developed demonstration toolkit for its experiencing and understanding4.Pilot development of mixed technology LE modules, for practical application of training scenarios in professional language skills improvement for nursing and caretaking, their implementation into the training curricula of partner institutions and evaluation of its efficacy5.Online training course for FL teaching staff and management helping those interested to create the required tools together with software developers and implement MR into the teaching and learning practice By the end of the project, the participating institutions should have significantly improved their know-how and will be in a position to use and design MR-based teaching and learning materials for the purpose of FLE for med.professions.<< Implementation >>DR FLEMP is a complex project that includes different types of activities throughout corresponding stages of the project development. These include among others:- Desk research- Data collection & analysis- Dissemination- Survey with focus group interviews- Curriculum development- Learning course development- Software Design- Software Prototyping - Software development- Empirical study- Evaluation - Exploitation, etc.To successfully conduct these and achieve the overall project objectives, the work scope will be divided as following: - all actions were split up in smaller manageable tasks, sequenced and prioritized (refer to work plan)- for each project result (PR), the lead partner and support partners who are responsible for the result quality and timely implementation have been assigned based on expertise and in accordance with the project goals (refer to work plan). - the project management strategy, monitoring tools and communication infrastructure have been prepared and successfully implemented in the previous Erasmus+ projects that were delivered in the planned quality, amount and time (refer to project timeplan)All project activities are developed based on the Successive Approximation Model (SAM), a cyclical model with three iterations on the familiar instructional design steps of evaluation/analysis, design, and development. The activities are distributed within the project life cycle to achieve the set goals.Starting from M1 the following activities will form the solid base for a successful project implementation: development of partnership agreement, project’s management handbook (MH), communication plan (CP), dissemination plan and infrastructure, evaluation and monitoring schedule. The MH and CP should be ready in an early phase of the project and therefore these tasks will be finished in M2. The overall project management, dissemination and exploitation plan and activities and the evaluation and monitoring activities will last until the end of the project. During the project the internal audits will be conducted in months 7, 13 and 22, based on progress reports that will be submitted by partners to the coordinator in months 6, 12, 19 and 26. Financial Reports – every 6 months, action list review and update will be done on a monthly basis.Development of the results will be performed in an SAM iterative approach combined with prototyping, frequent evaluations and, if necessary, reconceptualization steps. Using this basic, iterative approach, everyone’s ideas and assumptions can be discussed, prototyped, and tested early on bringing all partners closer to a usable product more quickly. Evaluation will be based on usability and technology acceptance, with test persons from the partner institutions. Furthermore, the developed MR scenarios and collaboration framework will also be examined for their effectiveness and efficiency with regard to competence development. In addition, materials will be tested to ensure the ‘transnational use’ of them (for detailed activities refer to the PR Section and Timeplan).<< Results >>The expected overall result would be improving the speed and efficiency of language education for healthcare professions, thus securing external replenishment of the labour market in fields of nursing and caretaking, i.e. overall quality of healthcare in Europe. To achieve this the consortium plans to solve the following problems and achieve the following tangible outcomes:1. Develop methodology and recommendations on selection of the educational contents best suitable for transfer into a mixed reality format. This methodology is required to map the contents of medical language courses suitable for transfer to current state-of-the-art consumer-grade immersive MR applications to identify digitization potentials.2. Develop methodology and a set of tools for a productive cross-discipline collaboration between teaching personnel in nursing and care and language education specialists involved in design, programming and testing of MR applications. The mechanism is required for a time and cost efficient production of the digital learning materials.3. Developing a testing and demonstration toolkit for:- experiencing and understanding of technology;- bringing up basic operational skills to the teaching and training staff of the language education providers;- selecting and adopting of functions and settings provided by MR simulation technology corresponding to the specific requirements of training programs suitable to train particular professional language skills in nursing and caretaking.4. A pilot development of mixed technology language education modules, based on 3D graphics or computer-generated imagery (CGI), augmented reality with integrated speech recognition functions for practical application of training scenarios into medical language teaching curriculum and teaching and learning practice.5. Conduct of an empirical study on the impact on learning success of training scenarios in professional language skills improvement for nursing and caretaking.6. Development of the up-to-date guidelines based on the implemented procedure.7. Development of a training course on design, development, adjustment of MR training modules and their integration into language teaching and learning.These outcomes will be implemented in the following four project results: 1. DR FLEMP Guidelines: Methodology and Recommendations on development of Mixed Reality applications for foreign language education for nursing in caretaking2. DR FLEMP Mixed reality testing and demonstration toolkit3. Two MR-supported language training modules4. DR FLEMP Training course Additional value on the European level will be achieved through use of synergy effects of the partners to facilitate faster implementation of MR technology in European professional language education, build a pan European expert network to share skills and experiences of MR integration in education through collaborative project activities, researchers and teachers exchange, joint learning and training activities. Support deeper integration of MR technology in European language education for healthcare professions and nursing, in particular. These results should serve as a further contribution to the Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027), fostering the development of a high-performing digital education ecosystem, including three of four required elements:- effective digital capacity planning and development, including up-to-date organisational capabilities;- digitally competent and confident teachers and education and training staff;- high-quality learning content, user-friendly tools and secure platforms which respect privacy and ethical standards.The expected results also follow the provisions of the European Skills Agenda in general and, especially, the Osnabrück Declaration focusing on establishing a new lifelong learning culture – relevance of C-VET and digitalisation.