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Why is it important to create an effective learning ecosystem at schools?

Introduction

An effective learning system means a system where the educators or the teachers provide the students with new teaching aids, ideas, or resources along with strategies so that they are more engaged and their performance enhances. This helps in improving the graduation rate and preparing the students for future prospects. Teachers must use technologies to scale up the 21st-century learning model. The learning ecosystem describes how different components of education interact and influence each other. Everyone associated within a learning ecosystem (teachers, students and parents) can form groups and interact spontaneously like the organisms within a biological ecosystem. It also focuses on the role of technology in the learning process. The effective learning ecosystem is broad, organization-agnostic, open, and accessible to everyone. It helps organizations to face unexpected crises. In a learning ecosystem, people interact with the content, technologies, and data surrounding them. This facilitates the delivery of the best products and services to the customers based on the guidelines set by the organization.

Need of effective learning ecosystem

• Increase employee engagement
• Cuts reskilling cost
• Promote innovations in the organisation
• Enables collaboration
• Monitor the progress
• Boost the productivity of the employees
• Encourages idea sharing
• Brings growth opportunities
• Easy access to learning material and resources
• Identify areas of improvement
• Long-term benefits

Components of the learning ecosystem

1. Living components

It includes the main beneficiaries of the ecosystem. It aims to provide required content to the other end. Stakeholders are the professionals, educators, policymakers that continuously engage with the institutes to make the learning ecosystem effective. Various living ecosystems are:

• Teachers
• Learners
• Friends and family
• Employees
• Supervisors
• Human resource specialist
• Co-workers
• Workforce professionals

2. Non-living components

The content is an important aspect of non-living components of the ecosystem including courses, videos, articles, podcasts, tools, guides, e-books, and webcasts. The appropriate technology enhances skill development, track multiple activities delivered by multiple channels, and enables networking.

• Digital learning tools (Media or technology) - Modern technology includes LXP or Learning Experience Platform. LXP is a consumer-grade system to curate and aggregate content, create learning and career pathways.
• Physical environment
• Curriculum and content
• Data
• Learning resources
• Internet and access to the internet
• Devices - laptop, computer, or mobile phone
• Space

The balance between the components

A learning ecosystem does not have a centre. As a result of the change in any of its components, it always responds as a whole. The teachers, educators, and employers can shape the learning ecosystem by introducing different methods of learning, and tools.

They can implement incentives for learning. Balance also depends on how the learners respond by acting on their own, how often they respond to their teachers, and to the technologies used by them.

6 actions to build an effective learning ecosystem

It is important that all educational institutions must take care of 6 actions to build an effective learning system for the students:

1. Get organized - It is necessary to organise all the technologies and tools. Teachers, students, parents and administrators must know the resources available how to get access and whether they have access to it or not. There must be a resource library for the teachers and the learners.
2. Communication - There must be one on one conversation between the teacher and the learner. The teachers must have direct contact with the learner to solve their problems and to get the required feedback as well.
3. Streamline processes - Core processes must be consistent and transparent to effectively implement a learning ecosystem, increase the returns, and to mitigate the associated risks.
4. Comply - There are many burdens like data privacy, accessibility, and data security. Edtech companies must take charge of compliance to reach the goals of cyber security, safety and cost-effectiveness.
5. Analyze - To maintain a balanced ecosystem, institutions must analyze the ecosystem and EdTech tools regularly. This helps to routinely align the strategic initiatives.
6. Improve - Improvement through appropriate leadership, management, and communication helps to align and achieve the goals in the learning ecosystem.

Steps to achieve an effective learning ecosystem

1. Personalisation - It involves pacing and achieving the paths, learning focusing to solve real-life problems, hearing student choice and voice, social-emotional learning, authentic learning, and student-directed learning.
2. Strong leadership - The leader must have a clear vision to collaborate curriculum and technologies for creating an effective learning ecosystem.
3. Determine the model - The institutions must decide appropriate tools, models and resources to develop the desired ecosystem.
4. Clear terms - Institutions must be clear about the terms like platform, apps and automated loop to avoid confusion and bring out the best outputs.
5. Redesigning - Redesign the procurement process to decide how the products and systems must work.
6. Take expert advice - Before designing an effective learning system, Institutions or EdTech companies must consult expert educators to decide the learning platforms and tools.
7. Work together - Effective consortiums develop when small organizations have partnerships with larger organizations to achieve the bigger goals.
8. Data integration - Before buying separate systems and resources, design your learning ecosystem. This is followed by data integration by inculcating digital content in LMS and LXP.

Conclusion

After building an effective learning ecosystem, the organizations show better results. The learning ecosystem needs a focus on the people, good content, technology, data, tools, resources, and governance in the organization.