Updated essay

INTRODUCTION With the world changing at a very fast pace, it is very imperative for schools to adapt. The pandemic opened the eyes of the world of education to a way that education is transferring onto the online learning rather than face to face education. It is evident that the COVID-19 pandemic caused a major paradigm shift in teaching and learning. Which in our case, it has managed to expose the flaws, deficits and weaknesses of our teaching and learning ecosystem.In this essay we are going to discuss the re- imagined future learning ecosystem for our learning ecosystem. This topic is important as the future of education needs to change. What is a learning ecosystem? According to Eudy (2018) “A learning ecosystem is a system of people, content, technology, culture, and strategy, existing both within and outside of an organization, all which has an impact on both the formal and informal that goes in that organization.” The sudden emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic whereby learners had to endure and transition to online learning and teachers had to be utilising more technological gadgets has posed some challenges on the education system in South Africa and across the globe. Parents and guardians were instantly forced to became teachers overnight and they had to assist their children with online teaching and learning access. Furthermore, some teachers felt a little more disadvantaged by their ecosystems as they did not have adequate or reliable access to technological infrastructure such as laptops or computers and proper network connectivity to reach out to their learners. The importance of a learning ecosystem is as follows: It enables collaboration by promoting experiences, sharing of ideas and growth opportunities. It boosts employee productivity; it monitors and tracks the progress of their learning and identify areas of improvement. Lastly it empowers employees by providing access to relevant learning material and courses. Digital Transformation trends and strategies in education: • Using technology to enable classroom coaching

• Transforming the EdTech models • Transforming teaching and learning methodologies. Our re-imagined learning ecosystem recognizes the increasing need for cognitive, agility meaning leaning is a lifelong experience of continual growths. The way learners learn must be personalized to their unique attributes, skills , interests and needs in order to achieve necessary effectiveness and efficiency. Our re-imagined learning ecosystem will be explained in the four components below. CONTENT Theodotou (2020) “states that the learning content in the learning ecosystem includes the learning courses your organization offers. E.g the informal and formal learning”. In our learning ecosystem we are still using the traditional standard of learning which is outdated. In our re-imagined learning ecosystem Teachers will have to transform teaching and learning methodologies to use: Video integration for online learning, AR/ VR-based learning, gamification, AI/ Predictive learning, Interactive video and media, smart exam portals and learning experience platforms. PEOPLE Theodotou (2020) “explains that the people in a leaning ecosystem is the main beneficiaries of our organization’s learning ecosystem”. Which in our learning ecosystem it is the teachers, learners, parents, district officials and community as large. When the teacher and learner get along it has positive effect on the de Parents also need to play a vital role in their children’s learning experience development of the learner. Learners will also play key role by crowdsourced, peer-to-peer and collaborative learning. With the 4IR approaching teachers should adapt and familiarise themselves with ICT by going to computer workshops and e-learning trainings, teachers should also Microsoft certificate. Teachers will need to be empowered and trained to take full advantage of this new experience of learning. LEARNING CULTURE

Our re-imagined learning ecosystem is creating a new culture to learning by giving teachers support to help them integrate new methods of learning into the e.g libraries, museums and other civic and cultural institutions, must become full-fledged participants in learning networks. TECHNOLOGY Theodotou (2020) “states that the most viable technology to support and foster a learning ecosystem is a learning experience platform (LXP)”. Bersin by Deloitte defines an” LXP as a single-point access, consumer-grade system that can curate and aggregate content; create learning and career pathways; enable networking; enhance skill development; and track multiple learning activities delivered by multiple channels and content partners.” Equity of access to resources including reliable Wifi, hardware, applications and high- quality content. All educators and learners need a sufficient degree of media, digital and social-emotional literacies to learn through multiple media confidently. Conclusion Its clear that Traditional way of learning don’t stand a chance in the world of today. The Covid-19 pandemic opened the eyes of the world of education when the world stood still, and schools had to close. With the world changing at a very fast pace, it is very critical for schools to make use of continuous learning a very important part of their culture. This can be done by leveraging technology to empower teachers, learners and keeping up with the change.