The Rhizomatic Lifelong Learning Ecology: A Relational Interpretation of LifeComp in the Postdigital Era

Purpose: This conceptual chapter develops the Rhizomatic Lifelong Learning Ecology (RLLE) as a relational framework for explaining how competence-related activity takes shape within changing learning relationships across formal, non-formal, and informal settings. Approach: The chapter develops a selective conceptual synthesis of the LifeComp framework, rhizomatic pedagogy, learning ecology, and postdigital scholarship. It interprets selected rhizomatic dynamics through the nine LifeComp competences, examines the conditions that may enable or constrain participation, and demonstrates the framework’s analytical use through a hypothetical community inquiry.

Conceptual Contribution: RLLE distinguishes four connected analytical functions: ecological arrangements, rhizomatic dynamics, learning processes, and LifeComp configurations. Support, access, and power operate across these functions and shape the opportunities available to participants. The framework shows how revising a learning route, evaluating sources, negotiating participation, and reconnecting after interruption may involve personal, social, and learning to learn competences. It also distinguishes opportunities to exercise these competences from evidence that they have developed or transferred across settings.