(The Lack of) International and Hungarian Digital Materials in the Field of Health Education – A Comparative Study

Abstract

The epidemic situation caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus has highlighted the importance of dig-ital teaching aids and experience indicates that the availability of teaching materials in Hun- garian is decreasing, while the demand for their usability is increasing (European Commission, 2020a, European Union, 2020). One in five young people lacks basic digital skills (European Commission, 2020a). In our digital age, it is essential that existing technology and digital tools are used for education and training purposes and that high-quality training is provided to fill any infrastructure gaps (European Union, 2020; European Commission, 2020a, European Commission, 2020b). There is potential for the inclusion of authentic digital materials to enhance the effectiveness of teaching and learning, but in some subject areas there is a lack of online resources. In addition to the lack of tools, the digital skills and competences of teachers and learners need to be improved. Despite the epidemiological situation, the development of health literacy has continued, but the use and application of digital teaching materials/assistance have been a challenge for teachers. The aim of our study is to analyse the availability of online teaching aids and thus their applicability at national and international levels. In our research, we present the availability and applicability of digital health literacy materials in English and Hungarian available in autumn 2020 and August 2021. Our results show that the number of available Hungarian language aids at the beginning and in the middle of the epidemic was significantly lower compared to English language ones, while the number of English language aids was continuously updated, and fresh data, information and aids were published in English, while in Hungarian it was less frequent, and the number of available materials even decreased.