Learning Ecosystem Research Articles

A smart learning ecosystem design for delivering Data-driven Thinking in STEM education

This paper proposes an Internet of Things device (IoT)-based ecosystem that can be leveraged to provide children and adolescent students with STEM educational activities. Our framework is general and scalable, covering multi-stakeholder partnerships, learning outcomes, educational program design and technical architecture. We highlight the importance of bringing Data-driven Thinking to the core of the learning environment as it leads to collaborative learning experience and the development of specific STEM skills such as problem-finding and solving, cognitive, analytical thinking, spatial skills, mental manipulation of objects, organization, leadership, management, and so on. A successful case study in Singapore involving tens of thousands of students is presented.

Interactive Tool in Digital Learning Ecosystem for Adaptive Online Learning Performance

The objective of this research was as follows: 1) to develop an interactive tool in a digital learning ecosystem for adaptive online learning performance; 2) to carry out a suitability assessment of this process. The documentary research method was used in this study. The results showed a model of an interactive tool in a digital learning ecosystem for adaptive online learning performance consisted of two phases. Phase 1: The development of an interactive tool in a digital learning ecosystem for adaptive online learning performance. This includes the following four design steps: 1) Reviewed literature and previous studies regarding an interactive tool, a digital learning ecosystem, and adaptive online learning performance to study the model, characteristics, and previous research. 2) Studied relevant research of an interactive tool in a digital learning ecosystem for adaptive online learning performance. 3) Designed an adaptive online learning performance model using an interactive tool in a digital learning ecosystem. 4) Developed a digital learning ecosystem. Phase 2: Evaluated the appropriateness of the interactive tool for an adaptive online learning performance model; this was checked for suitability by twelve experts and resulted in a conclusion. The results of the suitability evaluation revealed that the interactive tool for adaptive online learning performance was at the highest level.

Adoption of E-Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has resulted in the complete disruption of the learning ecosystem across the world. The sudden shift from the class room learning to the use of virtual platforms has not only made an unprecedented impact on the learning style of the students, but has also resulted in the problem of adoption of the same. Thus, with the significant surge in the usage of e-learning mechanism, the researchers even tend to predict the continued usage of the digital learning platforms post pandemic due to its accelerated usage and adoption by the learners and teachers as well across the age and gender. Therefore, the present research seeks to study the factors influencing e-learning adoption by the students in the context of the pandemic. Further, it would examine the moderating influence of age and gender for the adoption of e-learning using the UTAUT model with extended constructs like computer anxiety, attitude, and technology anxiety.

The Ethics of Using Digital Trace Data in Education: A Thematic Review of the Research Landscape

This article presents the findings of a systematic qualitative analysis of research in the ethics of digital trace data use in learning and education. From the resulting analysis of 77 peer-reviewed studies, we (1) map the characteristics of research by study type, academic community, institutional setting, and national context; (2) identify the primary ethical concerns and related responses; and (3) highlight the research gaps. Four areas of focus are identified in this emerging area: (1) privacy, informed consent, and data ownership; (2) validity and integrity; (3) ethical decision making; and (4) governance and accountability. We highlight the lack of evidence particularly for preschool and school-aged children and the disparate communities working in this domain, and we suggest a more cohesive approach, where the wider learning and educational ecosystem is recognized, explicit engagement with ethical theory is central, and mid- to long-term ethical issues are considered alongside immediate concerns.

Learning Ecosystems with Educational Monopoly Media

Lack of availability of learning media on ecosystem topics which results in the learning process being less effective. This study aims to describe the prototype of the development of educational monopoly learning media and to produce educational monopoly learning media whose validity has been tested. This type of research is a development research using the ADDIE model which consists of five stages, namely analyze, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. The trial subjects in this study consisted of 2 material experts, 2 media and design experts, 2 practitioners, 3 students for individual trials and 6 students for small group trials. This research data collection method using a questionnaire method with the distribution of a 4 scale rating scale instrument. The data obtained from the assessment results were analyzed using the Mean formula to obtain an average score. The average score of material experts, media experts, design experts, practitioners, individual trials, and small group trials respectively was 3,79, 3,86, 3,78, 3,70, 3,80 with very good qualifications. So that the overall validity of the educational monopoly learning media is in the range of 3.25 <x <4.00 with very good qualifications. Based on this analysis, the educational monopoly learning media on the science content of the ecosystem topic is suitable for use in learning.

Pathways of interest and participation: How STEM‐interested youth navigate a learning ecosystem

AbstractDespite considerable efforts in recent years to encourage Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) interest and participation among youth, STEM interest during adolescence continues to decline. Recently, researchers, educators, and policymakers have used a learning ecology perspective to better understand the development and persistence of youth interest in STEM topics or activities. This study examined the dynamics of the STEM interest and participation pathways of three youth in an under‐resourced, urban community. These three cases offer insights into how youth with a strong interest in a STEM topic or activity perceived the resources that were available to them in a STEM learning ecosystem and highlight the affordances and constraints each faced in pursuit of their interests. We interviewed each youth 4–5 times during their middle school and high school years (ages 11–14). The analysis reinforces the unique nature of youth interest pathways, but also common factors that contributed to each of these pathways. The ability of youth to navigate the ecosystem depended on the availability and accessibility of both in‐ and out‐of‐school learning resources related to their interest, and the support they received from significant adults in their lives in terms of both social, cultural, and financial capital. This study offers important insights into how STEM learning ecosystems might best be structured to enable more youth to develop strong, enduring interests in STEM.

Security of complex economic systems: Risk management of their digital transformation

Subject. The article presents an overview of recent results of foreign and domestic studies on the security of complex economic systems in the process of their digital transformation. During the deployment of Industry 4.0 technologies, the frequency, diversity and level of digital risks are growing faster than digital security tools for complex systems are evolving. This will offset the benefits of digital transformation, and can lead to large-scale failures. Objectives. The aim is to identify sources of new threats, vulnerability areas of complex systems and possible losses, assess the result of measures taken, and form a modern paradigm for ensuring the digital security of complex systems. Methods. The study employs identification, systems analysis and discussion of relationship between recent scientific results on this topic that enable to reveal methodological problems and determine the directions of their solution to ensure digital security at a qualitatively new level. Results. We unveiled the behavior patterns of complex systems, which form systemic risks, identify trends that are changing the digital risk landscape, consider classifications of weaknesses and possible losses of enterprises in the process of their digital transformation, show the gaps in organizational capabilities to meet digital security requirements. The increasingly complex digital environment forces enterprises to redesign their plans for business continuity. Conclusions. In the next decade, enterprises will need a new paradigm of security, organically combining economic and social aspects, a strategic and operational approach to the risk management of digital transformation, considering the security management as a flexible learning ecosystem.

Minimal Organizational Requirements for the Ascription of Animal Personality to Social Groups.

Recently, psychological phenomena have been expanded to new domains, crisscrossing boundaries of organizational levels, with the emergence of areas such as social personality and ecosystem learning. In this contribution, we analyze the ascription of an individual-based concept (personality) to the social level. Although justified boundary crossings can boost new approaches and applications, the indiscriminate misuse of concepts refrains the growth of scientific areas. The concept of social personality is based mainly on the detection of repeated group differences across a population, in a direct transposition of personality concepts from the individual to the social level. We show that this direct transposition is problematic for avowing the nonsensical ascription of personality even to simple electronic devices. To go beyond a metaphoric use of social personality, we apply the organizational approach to a review of social insect communication networks. Our conceptual analysis shows that socially self-organized systems, such as isolated ant trails and bee’s recruitment groups, are too simple to have social personality. The situation is more nuanced when measuring the collective choice between nest sites or foraging patches: some species show positive and negative feedbacks between two or more self-organized social structures so that these co-dependent structures are inter-related by second-order, social information systems, complying with a formal requirement for having social personality: the social closure of constraints. Other requirements include the decoupling between individual and social dynamics, and the self-regulation of collective decision processes. Social personality results to be sometimes a metaphorical transposition of a psychological concept to a social phenomenon. The application of this organizational approach to cases of learning ecosystems, or evolutionary learning, could help to ground theoretically the ascription of psychological properties to levels of analysis beyond the individual, up to meta-populations or ecological communities.

Learning Ecosystem using New Normal Active Administrative Innovation in Thai Society

: Learning ecosystem has been using in educational context in different areas to enhance the development of leaning ability in current situation. The purpose of this article was to propose learning ecosystem using new normal active administrative innovation in Thai society. Documentary study and qualitative research synthesis were used for the study. Results showed that 1) there are four aspects to consider of setting learning ecosystem that consisted of learning differently, supportive collaborative learning, self-directed learning, and thinking utilization. 2) New normal active administrative innovation is an active administration applying constructivism concept that consisted of knowledge, persuasion, decision, implementation, and confirmation. The nature of innovation should have relative advantage, compatibility, less complexity, divisibility, and visibility. 3) e-Learning Ecosystem will be applied in new normal active administrative innovation with 3 aspects consisted of (1) content providers offer content for learning solutions that is linked to competency development and personal development, (2) consultants which are strategy consultant, compensation consultant, information technology consultants, and implementation consultants, and (3) Infrastructure which are learning content management system, content delivery system and tools. Learning ecosystem is not started from how teacher design the lesson, but it will start from acceptance the difference of learners, teachers, parents, and community by performing roles of giving and taking knowledge from learners on supportive collaborative learning

PyGeNN: A Python Library for GPU-Enhanced Neural Networks.

More than half of the Top 10 supercomputing sites worldwide use GPU accelerators and they are becoming ubiquitous in workstations and edge computing devices. GeNN is a C++ library for generating efficient spiking neural network simulation code for GPUs. However, until now, the full flexibility of GeNN could only be harnessed by writing model descriptions and simulation code in C++. Here we present PyGeNN, a Python package which exposes all of GeNN's functionality to Python with minimal overhead. This provides an alternative, arguably more user-friendly, way of using GeNN and allows modelers to use GeNN within the growing Python-based machine learning and computational neuroscience ecosystems. In addition, we demonstrate that, in both Python and C++ GeNN simulations, the overheads of recording spiking data can strongly affect runtimes and show how a new spike recording system can reduce these overheads by up to 10×. Using the new recording system, we demonstrate that by using PyGeNN on a modern GPU, we can simulate a full-scale model of a cortical column faster even than real-time neuromorphic systems. Finally, we show that long simulations of a smaller model with complex stimuli and a custom three-factor learning rule defined in PyGeNN can be simulated almost two orders of magnitude faster than real-time.

Digital Learning Ecosystem at Indian Higher Education System

Digital Learning Ecosystem at Indian Higher Education System

Architecting Analytics Across Multiple E-Learning Systems to Enhance Learning Design

With the wide expansion of distributed learning environments the way we learn became more diverse than ever. This poses an opportunity to incorporate different data sources of learning traces that can offer broader insights into learner behavior and the intricacies of the learning process. We argue that combining analytics across different e-learning systems can potentially measure the effectiveness of learning designs and maximize learning opportunities in distributed settings. As a step toward this goal, in this study, we considered how to broaden the context of a single learning environment into a learning ecosystem that integrates three separate e-learning systems. We present a cross-platform architecture that captures, integrates, and stores learning-related data from the learning ecosystem. To demonstrate the feasibility and the benefits of cross-platform architecture, we used regression and classification techniques to generate interpretable models with analytics that can be relevant for instructors in understanding learning behavior and sensemaking of the instructional method on learner performance. The results show that combining data across three e-learning systems improve the classification accuracy compared to data from a single learning system by a factor of 5. This article highlights the value of cross-platform learning analytics and presents a springboard for the creation of new cross-system data-driven research practices.

Integrating Metacognitive Regulation into the Online Classroom Using Student-Developed Learning Plans.

Students and instructors have been faced with unexpected challenges that presented rapidly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic forced students into an unfamiliar learning ecosystem to which they had to quickly adapt in order to continue to be successful in their courses. Literature supports the importance of metacognition and self-regulated learning in the success of students in an online environment. More importantly, the concept of metacognitive regulation, which includes monitoring, planning, executing, and adapting learning strategies, is vital to student academic success. These strategies have been shown to close the opportunity gap observed specifically in persons excluded because of their ethnicity or race (PEERs) in STEM. Outlined here is the use of student-developed learning plans as a guided process to enhance students’ metacognitive regulation of their learning. These learning plans provide students a template to assist them in time management, practical study skills and planned study sessions, that are designed to increase their self-efficacy, motivation, and performance in online classes. Moreover, the iterative nature of the learning plan encourages students to continue to use and expand this plan in other academic courses.

OPEN AND DISTANT LEARNING (ODL) STUDENTS ARE NO MORE JUST LEARNERS


 
 The presence of diverse online resources in different delivery modes and the introduction of blended learning have posed new challenge for educational institutions to choose the method of learning which is not only effective but also a synchronized one. Changing a-synchronized contents into synchronized require an integrated effort from all members of e-learning system in the form of learning ecosystem. Learning ecosystem includes all components (content provider, infrastructure and consultant) that are necessary for the e-learning. In a learning system teacher are considered as content provider while students are acting as learners. A learning ecosystem aims to involve all stakeholders for the benefit of each other and does not restrict the role of students as learners only. Professional students enrolled in different degree programs have professional experience and are the source of asynchronous contents that can be synchronized through involving them as content vendors in learning ecosystem. This paper aims to introduce role of students as content vendors in the form of their professional experience from different industries. Their experiences will act as resources of educational institutions that can be assembled and used for awareness about business community among students. In order to integrate this valuable experiential knowledge, this paper will propose a model for institutions. Model proposed by this study will change the existing role of students solely as leaner to the knowledge providers. This attained knowledge will also cover the existing gap between theory and application of knowledge. 
 
 
 
 

A study on digital learning, learning and development interventions and learnability of working executives in corporates

PurposeThe digital learning and learning & development (L&D) at workplaces in corporates is having a significant challenge, where only about 1% of the week is spent on L&D by the employees. There are an array of recent L&D reports–by Deloitte, 2019; Skillsoft's, 2019; LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report-2019; UK L&D Report-2019; FICCI-NASSCOM and EY “Future of Jobs” Report-2017–which have clearly been indicating that the digital learning is fast-emerging as one of the realistic option. The employees invest their time and energy for skilling/up-skilling/re-skilling for remaining relevant to the emerging business context under volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA) world and also coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is being researched.Design/methodology/approachThe L&D interventions have primary objective of enhancing skills, competencies and career growth among employees, and the learning engagement styles/ systems are undergoing dramatic paradigm shifts. There is dire need to understand the impact of sweeping changes with Industry 4.0 and HR 4.0; however, there are only a few industry-centric studies that are available to assess the impact of technology on L&D with digital learning. Hence, there is a need to study the factors influencing various segments of workforce in large corporates, where the learning engagement with digital learning is fast-emerging among corporates.FindingsGiven the digital learning / L&D context in corporates, this research paper has attempted to review and analyse the opportunities, challenges and emerging trends with respect to leveraging technology and innovation to enhance L&D to deliver the business goals, under the 70:20:10 framework, with case analysis of ten different corporates (across different industry sectors) viz., Genpact, Nexval, Airbus, Siemens, AstraZeneca Pharma, HPCL, HGS (BPM), HP, Flipkart and IBM. The A-to-Z of Talent Management and Leadership Development (adopted version from India Leadership Academy, Publicis Sapient, 2019) best practices are analysed, summarized and presented to indicate emerging trends in Industry 4.0 era.Research limitations/implicationsThis study has been carried out for just ten major corporates/ multinational companies (MNCs) operating in various sectors. The sample size used is relatively less; therefore, the study can be carried out with a larger sample size and deeper data analysis and insights across countries/continents. At present, this can be considered as a base-research for undertaking deep-dive analysis. The sectoral analysis and cross-industry perspectives require consideration in next studies. To address the sector-specific issues, the research can be undertaken for either a particular sector such as manufacturing, automotive, IT/ITeS, telecom, aviation, agri-tech and pharmaceutical, knowledge-based industries, etc. or comparative analysis across few related sectors required.Practical implicationsThis research has provided/shall provide a basis to understand the various factors that influence the L&D and digital learning ecosystem in large corporates. It is expected to provide a practical and also strategic perspective towards effective usage of digital learning systems (both in-house and open systems) for enhancing the effectiveness of L&D in the context of VUCA World and HR 4.0 around us. The proposed hypothesis of “The Digital Learning is the “Future of HR”, especially for the L&D in large Corporate Academies (in the context of Industry 4.0)” stands justified.Social implicationsThe clear shift from training culture to “Learning Culture” is possible and feasible with strategically planned digital learning/ L&D interventions, which benefits the corporates, employees, customers and the society at large.Originality/valueTo the best of our knowledge, probably this is one of the first paper in the analysing the industry best L&D/Digital learning practices from an practitioners and academic perspective, as we live in the era of bit-sized and byte sized micro-learning. This study contributes to the academics by providing insights on possible digital learning policies that can be practiced by large corporates, where the “ownership of learning and career growth” is transferred onto the employees. The result of this study complements the evolving digital learning trends, in line with science of self-driven and lifelong learning principle.

Engineering Education for Development of Safety-Critical Systems

<italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Contribution:</i> This article shares the learning ecosystem of a project-based safety-critical systems (SCS) course, identifying course contents that support self-directed learning and how assignments develop students’ knowledge and understanding toward meeting the demand of industries. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Background:</i> The syllabus for undergraduate and postgraduate students of the engineering stream has been periodically updated by universities and higher education institutes to meet the demand of industries. Due to high reliability and safety requirements, the development process of SCS differs from that of other industrial systems in many ways. This article seeks to further understand ways that a project-based learning approach in an undergraduate and postgraduate SCS can earn a systematic knowledge to meet industrial demands. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Research Question:</i> In what ways can a project-based learning and experimental approach in the undergraduate and postgraduate course can embed the expertise on the development of SCS among the students to meet the industrial demands and increase the employability. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Methodology:</i> In-depth reviews with 21 experienced industry experts from ten different organizations, working on different domains, were conducted in the context of the development of SCS in order to investigate critical aspects related to the development of SCS. Then, students and faculty members of different universities and institutes were interviewed to know the existing course structure of SCS. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Findings:</i> The salient differences between the university students and practices were analyzed, based on which a systematic course on the development of SCS is proposed that can meet the industry demand.

A Community-enabled Readiness for first 1000 Days Learning Ecosystem (CRADLE) for first-time families: study protocol of a three-arm randomised controlled trial

BackgroundEnhanced parenting self-efficacy (PSE) contributes to positive parenting and future parental-child health. First-time parents, in particular, are in need of support since the pregnancy until post-delivery to strengthen their early PSE. However, there is a lack of effective and sustainable relevant programmes in the community. The Community-enabled Readiness for first 1000 Days Learning Ecosystem (CRADLE) aims to develop a self-learning eco-community throughout the pregnancy and early childhood to promote PSE among first-time parents. We apply choice architecture strategy using behavioural nudges and midwife-led continuity care during the first 1000 days, and test their effects on PSE and mother-child health for first-time families in Singapore.MethodsThis three-arm randomised controlled trial will recruit up to 750 pregnant women from the KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Singapore. Participants will be randomly assigned to receive: (1) standard routine care; (2) behavioural nudges (text messages) along with the use of a social media platform; or (3) midwife-led continuity care involving individualised teleconferencing sessions, during pregnancy and post-delivery. Using web-based questionnaires, participants will be assessed for baseline socio-demography and health status in the first visit, with follow-up assessments in the third trimester, at birth, 6-week (primary end-point), 6-, 12-, 18- and 24-month post-delivery. The primary outcome is PSE. Secondary outcomes include health and birth experience, mental wellness, feeding practice, maternal and child nutritional status. Intention-to-treat and per-protocol analyses will be performed using general linear models to test the effects of interventions across three arms. Recruitment has begun in June 2020 and is estimated to complete in September 2022.DiscussionThis study may identify a sustainable effective strategy in the community by helping first-time parents to have a positive experience during the pregnancy, childbirth and parenthood, leading to an enhanced PSE and health outcomes for both mother and child. Findings from this study will provide insight into the implementation of early parenting and mother-child care programmes.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT04275765. Registered on 19 February 2020.

Learning in the library: A national study of youth services public library workers

This study aims to interrogate the occupational identity of youth services public library workers across the United States and to understand specifically how this study is related to the learning ecosystem. Public library workers, especially those who work specifically with youth, are underrepresented in academic literature. We adapted an interview method that allows participants to explain how they think different stakeholders perceive their work and used it in a digital survey with 306 youth services public library workers. Overall, the participants described their work as deeply connected to learning, specifically connecting people to resources, facilitating learning activities, and providing a space for learning. This reflects the evolving nature of public library services. Unfortunately, many library workers feel significant friction between their own understanding of their job and the views of outside stakeholders. We address this friction and its implications in our recommendations for future research and practice.

Mixed Reality (XR) research and practice

Up until recently, learning affordances (possibilities) offered by immersive digital technology in education, such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), were addressed and considered in isolation in educational practice. In the past five to ten years this has shifted towards a focus on integrating digital affordances around particular learning contexts and/or settings, creating a mixed reality (MR) ‘continuum’ of digital experiences based on the combination of different technologies, tools, platforms and affordances. This idea of a ‘digital continuum’ was first proposed during the mid 1990s by Milgram and Kishino (1994), conceptualised as an immersive continuum going from the real environment (RE) end, where no digital immersion exists in the real world, all the way to the fully digitally immersive VR end, where digital immersion is at its full.&#x0D; &#x0D; Recent literature expands the original digital continuum view – rooted in Milgram and Kishino (1994), to now consider MR environments extending to a multi-variety of sensorial dimensions, technological tools and networked intelligent platforms, and embodied user engagement modes, creating interconnected learning ecosystems and modes of perception (see for example Mann et al., 2018; and Speicher, Hall &amp; Nebeling, 2019). This new approach to MR is referred to as XR, where the X generally stands for ‘extended reality’ (referring to all the points along the MR continuum and beyond), or for ‘anything reality’ (accounting for the range of existing immersive technologies and denoting the imminently yet-to-come new digital affordances). XR as a multi-dimensional immersive learning environment can be approached and understood as a dynamic and culturally-responsive ‘medium’, offering targeted, flexible and adaptable user experiences coming from user-centric learning design strategies and pedagogy (Aguayo, Eames &amp; Cochrane, 2020).&#x0D; &#x0D; Today, XR as an emergent learning approach in education invites us to re-conceptualise technology-enhanced learning from a completely different epistemological stand. We have moved from focusing on the individual and isolated use of immersive digital technology like AR and VR as ‘learning tools’ that can enhance and augment learning experiences and outcomes in education; to now going beyond hardware and software and consider perception, cognition, aesthetics, emotions, haptics, embodiment, contexts (space), situations (time), and culture, among others, as critical components of a purposefully designed XR learning ecosystem (Aguayo et al., 2020; Liu et al., 2017; Maas &amp; Hughes, 2020). Imagine the educational possibilities when artificial intelligence (AI) learning algorithms connected to internet of things (IoT) devices come into play with XR in education (Cowling &amp; Birt, 2020; Davies, 2021).&#x0D; &#x0D; The challenge remains in knowing how to ground such epistemological and technological innovation into authentic, contextual, and tangible practice, while facilitating the balancing with non-technology mediated lived experiences in the real world (i.e. real reality (RR), Aguayo, 2017). Here, a set of XR research and practice case studies from Auckland University of Technology’s AppLab are presented to showcase and discuss how XR as a new paradigm is leading the exploration of digital innovation in education.

In search of the margin spaces

Virtual and Distance Learning are certainly not disruptive technologies, but rather a trend in contemporary education. However, the potential of new mobile technologies, and the openness to new pedagogies associated with them, is enabling teaching professionals to design learning instances that could truly disrupt traditional schooling (Agarwal, 2013).&#x0D; Societal changes such as the rise of the knowledge society and disintermediation of education (Prince, 2014) demand a learning ecosystem where learners can create their own opportunities to develop life-skills and problem solve (Hannon, Patton &amp; Temperley, 2011). This means that learners should be given the opportunity to be their own agents of learning and build collaborative networks with both instructors and peers. However, secondary school education is still organised around students’ attainment and standardised testing, where curriculum normalisation demands supersede student-centeredness (Leadbeater, 2005).&#x0D; This paradigm-clash together with some limitations on teachers’ digital capabilities or/and the organizational constraints on the adoption of technology challenges the full implementation of ICT as a neural network that could enable full-personalisation and, therefore, a deep learning ecosystem.&#x0D; Digital technologies can no longer be considered a simple tool to access, organise and communicate information. At its lowest denomination, technology becomes a constitutive structure “which partly constitutes the things to which is applied” (Van der Hoven, 2006, p68), and acts as a medium that both impacts on the way we explore reality and mediates its understanding (Carr, 2011; Cardinali et. al; 2009; Doidge, 2007; Kurtweil, 2005, quoted by White, 2011).&#x0D; At its highest denomination, technology can be understood from the perspective of sociomateriality, where material means are “constitutive of both activities and identities” (Orlikowski &amp; Scott, 2008, p 455).&#x0D; From the perspective of the Extended Mind Theory (Clark &amp; Chalmers, 1998) humans and tools can work together as a functional organ, blurring the boundaries between human and technology (Hannon, 2018). &#x0D; Technologies are not the only medium capable of enabling deep learning, since “learning is not only the development of the fundamental competencies [but] also developing the personal, interpersonal and cognitive capabilities that allow one to diagnose what is going on in the complex, constantly shifting human and technical context of real-world practice and then match an appropriate response.” (Fullan &amp; Scott, 2014, p4.). However, it would be naive to disregard the impact that emerging technologies are having not only on pedagogy, but also, on the economic and political pressures being transferred into secondary schools (Bolstad et al.,2012. p1). &#x0D; The aim of my research is to inquire into the tools that high-achieving senior secondary school learners are using to interact with digital texts in order to (a) structure their learning [organising]; (b) articulating the "external mind" [signposting] and (c) representing mental processes [synthesising] and its intersection with Biesta’s (2010) notion of the dimensions of Education from the perspective of Complexity and ANT (actor-network) theory.