Digital health communication and health literacy in times of COVID-19. Planning and implementation of a special course of study in health promotion and prevention

As a result of the corona pandemic, the amount of digital health information has increased substantially. As the quantity and diversity of information increased, so does the need for evidence based and reliable health information. In the special course of study “Health Communication”, students of the Bachelors program “Health Promotion” at Fulda University of Applied Sciences are enabled to develop and disseminate evidence-based health information and preventive messages that meet the demands of the target group. Due to the corona-related university closure, the module “Digital Health Communication” was realized in a digital format during the summer semester 2020. In order to activate students and promote teamwork, the study course used the approach of problem-based and research-based learning. Moreover, the course concept is based on a variety of methods, including MS Teams with screencasts, videos, synchronous teaching sessions, gamified audience response systems, the online Inverted Classroom Model and a final oral examination. Despite various challenges such as the short planning period or the necessary restructuring of a part previously planned as “en bloc”, the experiences are mostly positive. Among other things, the use of MS Teams as an integrated learning, collaboration and communication platform has proven to be useful. In the students' feedback, the broad use of methods, the gamification elements and the flexibility of the lecturers are evaluated positively.