Step
Design Experience 1: Embracing the Challenge and the Work Ahead

Pre-work

Experience

Post-work

Inspiration Visit

Overview

A visit to an innovative school, whether virtual or in-person, will energize and inspire your school design team. As a participant, your role is to look closely for how XQ Design Principles are brought to life, sparking fresh ideas for your own school community. Your team will document these insights in your Design Journey Notebook.

Outputs
  • Completed inspiration visit reflection, aligned to team’s theme or central question
  • Key takeaways documented in the Design Journey Notebook
  • Aligned next steps to integrate learnings into future design work

Goal
Complete an inspiration visit through the lens of the XQ Design Principles, and capture insights in your Design Journey Notebook.

Owner(s)
School design team

Contributor(s)
District transformation team, inspiration visit facilitator

Resources

Inspiration Visit Guidance
A step-by-step guide for planning and leading inspiration visits, with tips, mindsets, and a mini-visit example.

Putting It Into Practice

1

Prepare your school team before the visit:

Before attending, orient your team around these key mindsets to maximize inspiration:

  • Think like a designer, not a consumer: Move beyond “like/don’t like” and consider why certain design choices were made as well as their impact.
  • Push beyond the literal: Resist copying practices directly. Instead, ask how practices might be adapted or remixed to fit your context.
  • Bring joy and curiosity: Encourage openness, ask unexpected questions, and embrace surprises.
2

Conduct the visit and capture learnings

Use the virtual inspiration visit template to record observations during the visit.

  • What practices align strongly with XQ Design Principles?
  • What innovative practices or structures can you adapt to your context?

If meeting a representative, consider these example questions:

  • “What advice would you give us if we’re looking to build out [specific practice]?”
  • “What lessons have you learned about [hiring, budgeting, discipline policies]?”
  • “What unique factors set your model apart?”
  • “Who else’s work should we explore further on [specific topic]?”
  • “What challenges are you facing now?”
3

Debrief and craft insights:

After the visit, when you meet to reflect as a team, go through the following discussion questions and record your insights in your Design Journey Notebook.

  • How did this site exemplify your question or theme?
  • What connections can you draw to your own context?
  • What challenged or expanded your thinking?
  • What conditions are necessary to replicate this kind of success?
  • What new questions arose?
4

Reflect and align on next steps:

Record your responses to the following in your Design Journey Notebook.

  • What does this inspire you to explore next?
  • What implications does this have for our Case for Change?
Go to Next Step
Preparing for Design Experience 1
Let's go →