STUCK AT 90'S LEARNING ECOSYSTEM

Contents Stuck in the 90s learning ecosystem ........................................................................................................ 1 What is a learning ecosystem?............................................................................................................. 1 Stuck in the 90s learning ecosystem Learning has evolved. Years ago our notions about learning had their foundations in our experience of teachers or experts sharing their knowledge. But things have changed. What is a learning ecosystem? “The Learning Ecosystem is a customized online learning program that makes studying engaging, efficient, and effective. The Learning Ecosystem adapts to your needs, strengths, and weaknesses, serving you the right material at the right time and focusing on areas you need to work on most. Stay focused, engaged, and on track while you study.” (Institute, CFA, 2020). “A learning ecosystem is a system of people, content, technology, culture, and strategy, existing both within and outside of an organization, all of which has an impact on both the formal and informal learning that goes on in that organization.” (Eudy, 2018) Our learning ecosystem is a state rural school in Namibia. Our learning ecosystem did not responds sufficiently to the imperatives of 21st Century Teaching and Learning. The recent COVID-19 pandemic acutely highlighted the deficiencies of my learning ecosystem. Learners, teachers and parents are illiterate about technology and do not have access to technology tools. School do not have enough buildings and no facilities. Since, the Namibian government closed schools in March after it declared a state of emergency and carried out subsequent restrictions, learning has not been taking place at our learning ecosystem.

We are still stuck at 1990 learning ecosystem. Education has been deeply affected with a lot of disruption and uncertainty. With few exceptions, schools are now closed national wide, putting additional stress on education systems in rural schools, many of which are struggling to provide quality education for all. Introduction What considerations do disruption on this scale raise? Are there ways to mitigate the effects of protracted school closures? It seems everything is moving to the 21st learning ecosystem these days. Even our education is transferring onto the internet rather than face to face education. Many people might squabble about the disadvantages of this phenomena, but today, I want to discuss the re-imagined future learning ecosystem for our learning ecosystem. This is a pertinent topic, as the future of education is moving more and more towards shifting physical educational school online. “The COVID-19 crisis is already having and will continue to have devastating consequences for individuals and communities across the globe, which must not be underestimated. At the same time, the crisis also provides a critical opportunity for us to learn more about the essential principles underpinning large-scale transformative change, as is needed in many education systems around the world. The hope is that we can come out on the other side of this pandemic with more evidence and lessons learned about how to expand the impact of effective social interventions and introduce new ways of working within our education systems to provide quality learning opportunities to all” (Curtiss, 2020) . There are reasons for this: many times you can learn whatever you want, it is more comfortable in a variety of ways, 21st learning ecosystem often look good on resumes, the pacing of learning is managed by the learner, and the cost of virtual education is often lower than traditional education. “If a learning ecosystem helps L&D better meet the specific needs of your organization and learners, then it may be worth the investment.” (Benedicks, 2018).

Questions to guide our digital transformation strategy: According to (MALULEKE, 2020) he suggested some of the questions to guide our digital transformation strategy:  “What does your school want to achieve?  Take a moment to consider the bigger picture to maximize your investment in ICT as a school. What are the existing pain points you wish to address within your school? How does this translate into solutions, devices and software to support these goals?  Ask yourself and your staff the following questions to craft your I CT Framework.  What type of learning environment would you like to see within your school in five years’ time? Remember you are starting from scratch, so it will be a gradual process.  How will teaching and learning process change and how will ICT support this change?  Do your staff feel confident delivering effective, engaging lessons using ICT?”  How can you achieve these goals?” 21st learning ecosystem environment It is an environment which permits learners to immerse themselves in multiple outlets for educational engagement. I will discuss how the local context will contribute to our learning ecosystem. “Today’s learners seek a learning environment that is not as obsolete as traditional classrooms but that is specifically engineered to support thinking. They prefer the learning environment that pushes their learning capacity with altering strategies and teaching practices. They want to be a part of an impactful learning setting that provides a sense of achievement while they can be adaptive and interactive with fellow learners as well as instructors. In brief, they want to be active and engaged players throughout the learning course. How to cover those needs?” (Movchan, 2018) Classrooms with 21st Century learning environments are well‐equipped with computer hardware, software, electronic whiteboards and rich digital and online curricular resources. When you enter a 21st Century learning environment, you quickly see that interactive learning, higher level thinking skills, and student engagement are pervasive, whether students are learning math, science, reading, or history. 21st Century learning environments provide opportunities for collaboration and access to

relevant content that would not usually be available to the highest need students being served by these programs.