Starting a Learning Ecosystem: What Nature Teaches Us About Succession Planning (Part 1)

This week in our Learning Ecosystem series, we look at succession ecology and how it relates to learning ecosystems.

Nature has a remarkable ability to recover. After a wildfire, a flood, or a major disturbance, landscapes often look completely barren. The soil is exposed, trees are gone, and wildlife has scattered. While it may even appear as if the environment is completely devoid of life, this is the moment when ecological succession begins. 

Small pioneer species usually sprout first – hardy grasses, some mosses or even lichens. Plants that are not particularly glamorous but are remarkably good at stabilising the soil and preparing the environment for what comes next. These early pioneer species don’t try to rebuild the entire forest. They do something much more important:  they make the system stable again and prepare the way for others to follow.

Over time, other species begin to return. Shrubs take hold, and with them the insects arrive. Then the small animals, birds and rodents appear. Eventually, larger plants and animals make their entrance, and by now the young trees have established themselves, offering shelter, food and protection. 

This process reminds us that complex ecosystems rarely appear overnight. They grow through step-by-step stages, each stage building purposefully on the next. Patience rather than speed allows the ecosystem to rebuild itself.

Learning ecosystems inside organisations need the same patience and step-by-step development. We’ve often come across the expectation that an LMS needs to be perfect before it can be launched. There seems to be an assumption that every course in every content area needs to be in place before going live. As a result, many organisations either delay getting an LMS, or delay going live with their LMS because they assume the entire system must be flawless, every course migrated, every report and certificate designed, every possible feature configured. 

The perfection myth is severely limiting and more often than not does far more harm than anyone realises in general life, as much as in the design and development of learning ecosystems. It causes teams to spend months preparing and perfecting the final product, when the ‘learning process’ is completely overlooked. In the meanwhile, training continues in email threads, shared folders, spreadsheets, and the occasional heroic attempt to track everything manually. 

Ironically, healthy learning ecosystems rarely begin that way. They begin much more like pioneer landscapes. A small number of courses emerge, they’re not perfect but they’re supporting learning. There is some structure and a manageable group of users start engaging. Soon after simple reporting starts to show that learning is indeed happening. The goal at this stage isn’t sophistication but as with the pioneer species in nature, it is to stabilise the system and prepare for the succession of species (more advanced courses and learning systems) to arrive. 

These early courses lay the groundwork for more advanced courses to arrive. They also develop confidence and skills throughout the learning ecosystem, in both the students / trainees and the educators / trainers, to use the learning process to their advantage. In the process, everyone learns to log in, find their courses, complete learning activities, and see their progress clearly. Trainers start to feel more confident using it, and managers begin to trust what the reporting is showing them. Learners understand how to move through the environment. This is when the system not only stabilises, but starts to create excitement. 

Over time, this stability allows the system to grow. New programmes can be added with a clearer sense of where they belong. Reporting can be expanded to answer more complex questions. Additional departments can also participate properly without disrupting what already exists. Each step builds on what has already been created.

Healthy ecosystems always start somewhere small, and learning ecosystems are no different. We’ve learnt that the safest starting point isn’t a large technical implementation, but a clearly structured Moodle LMS environment that can support early learning activity while leaving room for growth later. In much the same way that pioneer species prepare the ground for what follows, these early stages create the conditions for a system that can grow, adapt, and sustain learning over time.

Sometimes the smartest first step is simply creating the conditions for learning to take root. The next is to let go of the perfection myth and instead embrace discovery, growth and learning as part of the process.

By Dr Isabel Tarling