I’ve reinvented myself a zillion times over…

Luckily my natural curiosity kept me learning and my love of people’s stories kept me reaching out and asking. Eventually I would stumble along to the next step and feel as though it was going in the right direction. However, much of the time, my learning path more resembled a game of pin the tail on the donkey than a well-informed pleasant country hike. I barely knew where I was coming from, and sorely missed asked the right questions when opportunities arose.

Learning Ecos is dedicated to all the people that have influenced me and all the questions I did not know to ask.

Learn more the “Ecos” meaning and lifestyle in this great article from The Cambrian (Now The Tribune), “Ecos or oikos, there’s no place like home: Earth1

Headshot of Author, Patricia Stitson
Patricia Stitson, Learning Experience Designer

Founder, Connector, Techie, Writer, Artist, Force of Nature, and Instigator.

The spark behind Learning Ecos occurred during my time engaged in graduate work in Information and Learning Technology at the University of Colorado, Denver School of Education. Two of my professors, Patrick Lowenthal and Joanna Dunlap asked if I would co-write a research paper they were working on titled, “Creating an Intentional Web Presence: Strategies for Every Educational Technology Professional2“. I was over the moon delighted and the experience cemented my interest in Communities of Practice and Personal/Professional Learning Networks.

From this, I have formed strong conviction about how everyone needs to consciously create a learning ecosystem for themselves. That has become more and more relevant in today’s rapidly shifting workplace, especially with regard to having to ‘relearn’ your role as augmented by AI.

Last year Patrick reached out about possibly updating the paper. I was busy though, partly brainstorming on a course about PLNs and didn’t quite follow up. At the same time the AI revolution was hitting as were trends in blockchain education and Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs). That completely shifted my view of community and learning so I took a step back to try again. Soon to come I will be sharing more resources that you will be able to access through a membership on this site.

  1. Roest, M. (2016, April 13). Ecos or oikos, there’s no place like home: Earth. The Cambrian. Retrieved from https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/community/cambrian/cambrian-opinion/article71561242.html ↩︎
  2. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-016-0056-1
    Publication Date:  2016
    Publication Name:  TechTrends
    Educators are pushing for students, specifically graduates, to be digitally literate in order to successfully read, write, contribute, and ultimately compete in the global market place. Educational technology professionals, as a unique type of learning professional, need to be not only digitally literate – leading and assisting teachers and students toward this goal, but also model the digital fluency expected of an educational technology leader. Part of this digital fluency involves effectively managing one’s web presence. In this article, we argue that educational technology professionals need to practice what they preach by attending to their own web presence. We share strategies for crafting the components of a vibrant and dynamic professional web presence, such as creating a personal website, engaging in social networking, contributing and sharing resources/artifacts, and attending to search engine optimization (SEO).

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