Summary
This session looked at a case study in mapping the architecture of a world-class learning ecosystem. Behr detailed the growth of “Remake Learning,” an innovative educational network in Pittsburgh, USA over 15 years. In that time the initiative has woven together more than 600 separate institutions to transform an entire region into an equitable, porous learning landscape.
Key Learning Points
- The Ecosystem Metric: Learning ecosystems must ignite engaging, relevant, and equitable opportunities for youth navigating rapid technological and social changes.
- Targeted Equity Areas: True regional inclusion requires clear naming conventions to reach specific vulnerable populations, namely: learners of color, learners in poverty, rural learners, girls in sciences, and learners with disabilities.
- Beautiful Chaos vs. Hierarchy: Unlike rigid organizations with top-down lines of power, functional networks thrive on decentralized coordination driven entirely by the self-interest of participants acting in service of the collective good.
- Weaving with Time: Present-moment problems cannot be fully understood without embedding a continuous practice of looking backward, asking unresearched family questions, and honoring ancestral struggles.
- The Intellectual Property Trap: Siloed sectors frequently lock down ideas due to copyright anxiety. True network scalability requires non-negotiable open-source frameworks to spread educational models globally.
Key Action Points
- Deploy the Five C’s Framework: Leverage the tactical network support levers developed by Remake Learning to structure daily ecosystem management (notably focusing on Communications, Coordinating, and Championing).
- Launch a Public-Facing Storytelling Campaign: Address audience stagnation by funding multi-platform media outreach. Run active engagement initiatives (e.g., the Remaking Tomorrow campaign) across blogs, podcasts, video showcases, and interactive online forums.
- Coordinate Thematic Working Groups: Counter cross-sector siloing by organizing interdisciplinary clusters around specific educational passions, such as STEM/STEAM, personalized learning policy, and justice-based design.
- Activate Families via Micro-Event Days: Build grassroots educational demand among parents and caregivers by hosting regional, decentralized open-house festivals like Remake Learning Days to bridge out-of-school and in-school gaps.
- Distribute Catalytic Moonshot Grants: Spark risk-taking and uncommon ally experimentation by offering targeted financial pathways that fund collaborative pilots between teachers, technologists, artists, and librarians.
- Map Systemic Learning Deserts: Gather regional data to map localized learning spaces (e.g., public maker spaces or funding streams) to diagnose geographic inequities and target resource interventions.
- Enforce Creative Commons Licensing: Legally mandate open-source licensing for all network-developed assets while strictly trademarking and protecting the core network brand identity.
- Engage Policy Makers Tactically: Align regional networks with state departments of education to survey pandemic-era wins and transform localized strategies into legislative district roadmaps.
References
- Gajan Mishra: Featured opening Indian poet whose writing frames the universe as an interconnected, living landscape of learning.
- Fred Rogers: Iconic children’s media pioneer whose foundational learning sciences approach anchors the network’s educational philosophies.
- When You Wonder, You’re Learning (Book): Co-authored by Greg Behr, outlining the intersection of Fred Rogers’ legacy and modern learning network structures.
- Remake Learning Playbook: An open-source, Creative Commons-licensed operational toolkit designed to guide urban and rural regional ecosystem configuration.
- What Comes Next (Roadmap): A policy-level publication framed across three essential pillars: Justice, Method, and Relationships.
- Shifting Power Project: A collaborative research initiative funded by the Gates Foundation and the University of Pittsburgh designed to elevate Black and Latinx educators as lead research partners.
Knowledge Base Categories: 1) The Future of Weaving 2) Funding & Strategy
