School is back in session and students have returned to physical classrooms after months of digital learning. But following this experience, there is an opportunity for teaching methods put in place during the pandemic to continue supporting teachers as they return to face-to-face learning.

Cloud-based digital school reading program, Wushka surveyed* teachers across Australia to find out their opinions surrounding online learning and whether it can continue to be adopted in a post COVID world.

Online Teaching Should Stay

The survey found that 97% of respondents embraced digital literacy learning during COVID-19 and of those, 7 in 10 stated that online methods (such as Wushka) are here to stay.

“When COVID-19 saw schools move online, teachers needed to innovate. Students were expected to stay engaged and parents were concerned that if this didn’t happen, their children would fall behind. Wushka was born out of evidence-based best practice in literacy teaching and learning, combined with the benefits of technology, teachers have recognised the pedagogy within the platform and have quickly made it a trusted tool in their literacy teaching portfolio.  Despite the challenges of distance learning we saw teachers rise to the occasion and embrace digital learning especially for literacy lessons,”  said Michelle Kelly, General Manager Education Resources – Schools & Publishing Modern Star

Benefits Of Online Methods

COVID-19 has provided the opportunity to change the way students learn, with 84% of those teachers surveyed stating that students would benefit from online methods even after they return to physical classrooms.

While the fundamentals of literacy teaching remain the same, Wushka supports teachers to assist with home learning and provide students and teachers access to over 600 fiction and non-fiction readers, that are carefully levelled to support students learning to read. The platform makes it possible to move the learning online in a way that allows teachers to track students’ progress and keep them engaged, both in the classroom and at home.

Wushka provides the opportunity for schools to continue embracing online digital reading methods that support teachers while ensuring literacy levels continue to improve, not only during COVID, but beyond.

*Data and insights are based on survey responses from 765 Primary School teachers across Australia

Do you think your child and teachers could benefit from keeping some kind of online learning? Tell us in the comments below.