Innovative Strands in the ZOE Project
Innovative Strands in the ZOE Project

Summary/Abstract: The article is a study on the ZOE project, Zoonoses Online Education, a European project funded by the Erasmus+ programme for the years 2016-2019. The project has been developed within an international partnership including a wide range of institutions (Universities, medical and educational institutions, non-governmental educational organisations and IT centres) from Bulgaria, Italy, Spain and Romania. The project promotes a better understanding of zoonoses and outlines the role of interdisciplinary research and technology enriched education where professionals can share their knowledge and experience. Furthermore, it raises awareness about the importance of creating synergies between the human and veterinary medicine and encourages raise-awareness interventions related to identifying, monitoring and controlling malaria and dirofilariosis. The article focuses on the project's interdisciplinarity: the ZOE project encompasses medicine, veterinary practice, linguistic communication in six languages, internationalisation of higher education and technology enriched education. It also highlights the innovative character of its guidelines on infectious zoonotic diseases, malaria and dirofilariosis, which were once eradicated in Europe but have appeared again. The article describes the project's idea and main objectives, highlighting its focus and innovative activities. The study gives interesting insights into the innovative and ICT based teaching/ learning MOOC project course, which is supported by videos in six languages. The linguistic MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) created within the project aims to improve students' skills in zoonotic clinical procedures as well as medical communication and intercultural skills. The project addresses not only medical lecturers and language teachers teaching medical students but also medical students and the public at large.

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