Who would have thought opening some data that shows all the books you have borrowed from the WAB library could be such a learning moment? Recently Grades 4 and 5 went through a process of finding, identifying, selecting, and analysing data from their personal borrowing history at WAB. They took time to stop and think before drawing any conclusions.
They reflected on habits and patterns they had formed, knowingly or not, in their recreational reading choices. It was a moment of ‘never judge a book by its cover’.
Firstly, students accessed their data by logging into OLIVER (WAB’s Library catalogue). Students can use a variety of tools in OLIVER that helps tailor their own personal book borrowing choices, browsing, recommendations and reviewing. They can pre-set a wide selection of what they ‘like’ (author, subjects, series etc) and if any of their preferences are catalogued, they automatically receive a notification of this new resource. After some analysis of their own data, they make more informed choices on what notifications they would like to receive.
Borrower History feature enabled students to analyse their own reading habits as this shows every title a student had borrowed since they began at WAB.
Students able to browse their borrowing history.
What did we learn:
And what types of wonderings, patterns, reflections did students conclude? Here are some of the students’ comments:
Many students were surprised at what the data uncovered. Patterns like: always reading same type of ‘series’ books; realisation that they had never borrowed a non-fiction book; a deeper understanding of why they had borrowed so many titles yet knew they did not read them. Comments ranged from simple observations to more insightful reflections on reading habits. Reading data, in this case image covers and titles, which had an authentic connection to students was the trigger! Such reflection has made students re-think and redirect their reading choices to become broader, more diverse, and sharper focussed.
Ask your child to show you how they log in and view borrowing history. It is fascinating to see how patterns changed as their reading habits changed, developed, and matured over time. This data allows for wonderfully rich conversations about your child’s reading choices.
Your inquiry should be from an interest/intrigue viewpoint, and not as an investigation into areas you’ve had concern with regarding your child’s reading. Your child’s free choice of recreational reading titles (helped by them using a ‘good-fit’ strategy in selecting) is crucial. Keep the conversations about your child’s book borrowing alive and enjoy listening to what you child has to say.
You will be amazed.
Learn.WAB.Edu: ES LiBRARY HOMEPAGE
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