What are learning ecosystems? Aren’t they just the conglomeration of the systems — like education, out-of-school time, youth development, workforce development, libraries, museums, cultural and civic organizations — that support learning? And even if they are more than just the sum of the parts, why should anyone care? At a time when our pre-K to higher ed systems are being actively dismantled, why introduce this nebulous term?
Three reasons:
1. Because while formal human-made systems can fail and even disappear, ecosystems — as natural systems – will change but continue to exist.
Ecosystems are complex, dynamic, self-regulating systems in which living organisms interact with their nonliving environment, continuously adjusting to achieve balance. Unlike formalized human-made systems, ecosystems don’t have control centers. Change happens through adaptive interaction.
2. Because while learning ecosystems exist in every community, they are highly inequitable and often unhealthy.
The phrase “learning happens everywhere and all the time” implies expanded opportunities and heightened risks connected not only to uneven access to structured learning activities in and outside of school but also to supportive contexts and conditions in the broader environment.
3. Because while formal, human-made systems can’t control the broader natural learning ecosystems, they can do a lot to improve them.
Formal learning systems exist in every community. But they are designed to look inward. They are governed by rules and policies designed to manage the people and resources assigned to them to achieve specific aggregate outcomes (e.g., on-time graduation rates). Adolescents are wired to explore. Unfortunately, they spend too much time in systems that don’t challenge them to fail forward as they learn to navigate the real world.
In my experience, asking systems to think about engaging “the community” is too familiar and too vague to spark the depth of change needed. We need to push our thinking to grapple with how learning systems become more active stewards of learning ECOsystems where Every Connection is Optimized:
Connections within learners’ brains and between their brains and bodies.
Connections between the places and people where learners spend time.
Connections between learners of different ages, backgrounds and abilities.
Connections between adults in different learning support roles and places.
Connections between possibilities and purpose.
Every new or deepened connection sparks others, creating new neural and social pathways.
AnnaStills/Shutterstock
Learning happens everywhere and all the time, in and outside of school.
Systems that effectively use their human and material resources to optimize opportunities have let go of traditional definitions of control and embraced uncertainty. They have not abdicated responsibility. But they have replaced the bureaucratic controls associated with managing a complicated system with a decentralized, adaptive management approach more appropriate for stewarding a complex ecosystem.
To optimize connections: embrace “organized chaos.”
In her article “Benefits of organized chaos,”Laura Amendola defines organized chaos as “a situation that appears disordered and chaotic on the surface but actually has an underlying order or structure. It often describes systems, environments, or processes where there is a high level of activity, complexity or apparent randomness, yet everything functions effectively and efficiently due to hidden rules, patterns or organization.”
Amendola notes four benefits for this approach:
adaptability,
collaboration,
innovation, and,
trust.
Alan Cheng, in a recent blog, provides an absolutely awe-inspiring example of how this kind of change can be realized in a large system. Cheng is a high school superintendent in the NYC public schools who leads a portfolio of 50 high schools that belong to unique innovation networks managed by the city or state. Cheng fully understands the importance of what he has been able to accomplish over the past six years. He opens his blog,“Transforming public education: A blueprint for learner-centered change,” with this statement:
“I’ve witnessed the transformative power of a personalized, student-focused pedagogy.”
“Our schools, which cater to a diverse student body of approximately 22,000, have proven that the H3 learning ecosystem is not just a theoretical concept …”
H3 is short for the third horizon, a paradigm for a future-ready learning ecosystem that moves beyond compliance-driven, traditional education (H1) and incremental improvements (H2). LearnerStudio, Getting Smart Collective and Incubate Learning have created a blog series based on 24 case studies to describe the shifts needed to complete this transition:
From fixed standards to competency-based mastery.
From one-size-fits-all to adaptive learning.
From prescribed knowledge to innovation and inquiry.
From subjects as silos to transdisciplinary, real-world learning.
From schools as self-contained to schools as embedded in communities.
From standardized testing to meaningful assessment.
From institutional ownership of student data to student-controlled learning wallets.
All of these shifts and more are described in Cheng’s example-packed blog, which should be considered a must-read for anyone who believes change at scale is impossible. Cheng moves through big themes – like collaboration, innovation and adaptability — that are becoming the new grammar of schooling.
The most important theme is collaboration.
“This collaborative culture … is what sets our schools apart, creating a sense of community and shared purpose among educators and students alike,” Cheng writes. Transformative change, Cheng writes, “isn’t just about innovative programs; it’s about fostering a culture of collaboration.”
Courtesy NewYork City Schools
Each one of Cheng’s 50 schools is different by design, reflecting the unique ways educators have celebrated the assets of students and of their learning ecosystem.
Cheng’s stories about collaboration are shared from the perspectives of students — emphasizing the personal impact of the partnership or policy that allows these impacts to scale. Collaboration isn’t dictated, it’s cultivated. Cheng has built a support system that “fosters a culture of collaboration and shared responsibility, ensuring each student’s learning journey is personalized and meaningful, and that their personal growth and career aspirations are fully supported.”
Not surprisingly, Cheng highlights the dozens of field partners that are making this transformative work possible (e.g., hundreds of partners providing internship opportunities). Beyond this, it is clear that Cheng’s success can also be attributed to the extent to which he has anticipated the challenges these changes pose for teachers by presenting supports that allow change to be seen as growth opportunities.
Innovative projects are described to provide more formal professional development supports (e.g., a “dynamic teaching toolbox” engages teachers in dialogue; partnerships with organizations like Big Picture Learning provide teachers with resources and training to implement cutting-edge practices; early career teacher fellowships; investments in hiring alums to work in the schools to prime the educator pipeline). Teachers are showcased as they take on new roles as advisors, facilitators, mentors, coaches and team members.
Each one of Cheng’s 50 schools is different by design, reflecting the unique ways educators have celebrated the assets of students and of their learning ecosystem. Embracing organized chaos, these educators are helping their system steward learning ecosystems in which every connection is optimized and every young person thrives.
Every connection optimized: Unleashing the potential of the people in learning ecosystems
Three reasons:
1. Because while formal human-made systems can fail and even disappear, ecosystems — as natural systems – will change but continue to exist.
Ecosystems are complex, dynamic, self-regulating systems in which living organisms interact with their nonliving environment, continuously adjusting to achieve balance. Unlike formalized human-made systems, ecosystems don’t have control centers. Change happens through adaptive interaction.
2. Because while learning ecosystems exist in every community, they are highly inequitable and often unhealthy.
The phrase “learning happens everywhere and all the time” implies expanded opportunities and heightened risks connected not only to uneven access to structured learning activities in and outside of school but also to supportive contexts and conditions in the broader environment.
3. Because while formal, human-made systems can’t control the broader natural learning ecosystems, they can do a lot to improve them.
Formal learning systems exist in every community. But they are designed to look inward. They are governed by rules and policies designed to manage the people and resources assigned to them to achieve specific aggregate outcomes (e.g., on-time graduation rates). Adolescents are wired to explore. Unfortunately, they spend too much time in systems that don’t challenge them to fail forward as they learn to navigate the real world.
In my experience, asking systems to think about engaging “the community” is too familiar and too vague to spark the depth of change needed. We need to push our thinking to grapple with how learning systems become more active stewards of learning ECOsystems where Every Connection is Optimized:
Every new or deepened connection sparks others, creating new neural and social pathways.
AnnaStills/Shutterstock
Learning happens everywhere and all the time, in and outside of school.
Systems that effectively use their human and material resources to optimize opportunities have let go of traditional definitions of control and embraced uncertainty. They have not abdicated responsibility. But they have replaced the bureaucratic controls associated with managing a complicated system with a decentralized, adaptive management approach more appropriate for stewarding a complex ecosystem.
In her article “Benefits of organized chaos,” Laura Amendola defines organized chaos as “a situation that appears disordered and chaotic on the surface but actually has an underlying order or structure. It often describes systems, environments, or processes where there is a high level of activity, complexity or apparent randomness, yet everything functions effectively and efficiently due to hidden rules, patterns or organization.”
Amendola notes four benefits for this approach:
Alan Cheng, in a recent blog, provides an absolutely awe-inspiring example of how this kind of change can be realized in a large system. Cheng is a high school superintendent in the NYC public schools who leads a portfolio of 50 high schools that belong to unique innovation networks managed by the city or state. Cheng fully understands the importance of what he has been able to accomplish over the past six years. He opens his blog, “Transforming public education: A blueprint for learner-centered change,” with this statement:
“Our schools, which cater to a diverse student body of approximately 22,000, have proven that the H3 learning ecosystem is not just a theoretical concept …”
H3 is short for the third horizon, a paradigm for a future-ready learning ecosystem that moves beyond compliance-driven, traditional education (H1) and incremental improvements (H2). LearnerStudio, Getting Smart Collective and Incubate Learning have created a blog series based on 24 case studies to describe the shifts needed to complete this transition:
All of these shifts and more are described in Cheng’s example-packed blog, which should be considered a must-read for anyone who believes change at scale is impossible. Cheng moves through big themes – like collaboration, innovation and adaptability — that are becoming the new grammar of schooling.
“This collaborative culture … is what sets our schools apart, creating a sense of community and shared purpose among educators and students alike,” Cheng writes. Transformative change, Cheng writes, “isn’t just about innovative programs; it’s about fostering a culture of collaboration.”
Courtesy NewYork City Schools
Each one of Cheng’s 50 schools is different by design, reflecting the unique ways educators have celebrated the assets of students and of their learning ecosystem.
Cheng’s stories about collaboration are shared from the perspectives of students — emphasizing the personal impact of the partnership or policy that allows these impacts to scale. Collaboration isn’t dictated, it’s cultivated. Cheng has built a support system that “fosters a culture of collaboration and shared responsibility, ensuring each student’s learning journey is personalized and meaningful, and that their personal growth and career aspirations are fully supported.”
[Related: Stitching together the threads — A cross-disciplinary literature review on youth arts and well-being]
Not surprisingly, Cheng highlights the dozens of field partners that are making this transformative work possible (e.g., hundreds of partners providing internship opportunities). Beyond this, it is clear that Cheng’s success can also be attributed to the extent to which he has anticipated the challenges these changes pose for teachers by presenting supports that allow change to be seen as growth opportunities.
[Related: The revolutionary speed of trust-based changemaking]
Innovative projects are described to provide more formal professional development supports (e.g., a “dynamic teaching toolbox” engages teachers in dialogue; partnerships with organizations like Big Picture Learning provide teachers with resources and training to implement cutting-edge practices; early career teacher fellowships; investments in hiring alums to work in the schools to prime the educator pipeline). Teachers are showcased as they take on new roles as advisors, facilitators, mentors, coaches and team members.
[Related: Why being forced to precisely follow a curriculum harms teachers and students]
Each one of Cheng’s 50 schools is different by design, reflecting the unique ways educators have celebrated the assets of students and of their learning ecosystem. Embracing organized chaos, these educators are helping their system steward learning ecosystems in which every connection is optimized and every young person thrives.
[Related Grant Opportunity: Northeast community education, human services and workforce development grants]
***
In her columns, Karen Pittman is exploring the research behind the statement, “When Youth Thrive, We All Thrive.”
The post Every connection optimized: Unleashing the potential of the people in learning ecosystems appeared first on Youth Today.
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