A nice example of a brief, short-term learning ecosystem, as referenced in Setting the Stage for Anytime, Anywhere Learning — from campustechnology.com by Michael Hart
She pointed out that “self-congestion” plays a large role in the lives of undergraduate students, and recalled one day during midterm exams when she saw a couple of students sit down at a cluster of couches, pull a marker board over and begin working their way through a math problem together. Shortly after beginning, they texted a couple more classmates, who joined their discussion a few minutes later. About 20 minutes later, a couple of students who happened to be walking by recognized their friends and joined the group — but to work on something completely different. Over the course of a couple of hours, the very informally organized group swelled and ebbed as students came and went, joined in the initial discussion about a math problem or didn’t, worked together or independently.