Learning as Ecology

As mentioned before, but repeated here in case you are starting with this post, I need to find a better way to explain what I mean when I say, "I want to apply tools useful for understanding and managing natural resources to better understand and manage learning systems." I realize that statement is not at all descriptive to anyone who hasn't done large scale resource management. The name of the technique, "computational modeling," isn't very helpful, either, unless it's already familiar. One effective way to describe a difficult concept is through analogy, and this seems like a good forum to try out some ideas. I hope you'll leave a comment to let me know what you think!

There are many parallels between an ecosystem and a learning system. An ecosystem is comprised of biotic elements, the groups of species that interact, and abiotic elements like water, rocks, and climate. An ecosystem is governed by rules like gravity, and impacted by events like storms. It is driven by the flow of energy. To describe an ecosystem, you have to include all the elements and the relationships between them.

A learning system is comprised of biotic elements, the people and the roles the people fill, and abiotic elements like learning resources, home and school spaces, and culture. A learning system is governed by rules like policies, and impacted by events like pandemics. It is driven by the flow of information. To fully describe a learning system, you need to include all these elements and the relationships between them.

Over the past 50 or so years, ecologists have used computational modeling to visualize, analyze, and manage all the elements and relationships that make up an ecosystem. The great strides we have made toward solving our problem with the hole in the ozone layer represent our potential to analyze and manage a complex ecosystem with computational modeling. Computational modeling gives us the ability to concurrently analyze many types of data across a system: the elements and interactions, flows and impacts. Applying this technique to learning might improve our understanding of how learning works as well as our ability to manage a learning system.