Abstract
Advances in technology and the rise of interconnected devices have ushered in new ways of accessing, communicating, and showcasing that have the potential to help us reimagine education as a networked ecosystem, supporting learners and information to move freely across connected nodes including and beyond school. In this paper, I explore the idea of recognizing and designing for a healthy learning ecosystem that supports freedom of movement, supporting crossing physical boundaries of location, domain-specific boundaries of different topical areas, and conceptual boundaries of value and goodness of fit. The paper begins with a look of my own childhood, serving as both an example and metaphor for the idea of freedom of movement. I then share three design-based implementation initiatives from the Digital Youth Network to support freedom of movement. I close with a suggested framework for defining a healthy learning ecosystem, one that utilized existing infrastructure and sociotechnical systems to leverage movement within communities towards the goal of optimizing youth development.