Mitä ovat oppimisen ekosysteemit?
Keywords:
ecosystem, learning, working life collaboration, education, digital learning environmentsAbstract
The concept of learning ecosystem has increasingly been used to describe networks between educational institutions and the world of work. Despite its wide use, the concept has not been adequately defined. The aim of this article is to outline how the concept of the learning ecosystem is used in the contemporary discussion through investigating the origin of learning ecosystem, its predecessors and related concepts. We explore the emergence of the concept through ecology, ecological system theory and actor network theory, and show how the concept ‘ecosystem’ is anchored to discussions about innovation ecosystems, and digital learning ecosystems, and how they give affordance for learning.
Our overview of the origins of the concept reveals that ecosystem refers to a wide range of phenomena in multiple contexts, even to the extent that the use of the term can at times be described in terms of eclecticism. Often, there seems to be a need to understand how the micro, meso, and macro levels relate to each other and how the organizing principles of education ecosystems can be identified. The concept of the learning ecosystem is linked to the practical need to understand and to conceptualize the dynamic and interactive nature as well as diversity of the relationships between VET, higher education and the world of work. In particular, the concept seeks to understand the new models of organising collaboration between businesses and educational institutions and practices enabled by digitalisation. However, the debate rarely addresses the ontological basis of the learning ecosystem: the importance of learning for the existence and survival of the human species in the global ecosystem.
