Step 3
Design Experience 3: Rethinking the Learning Experience

Pre-work

Preparing for Design Experience 3

Experience

Design Experience 3

Post-work

Post-Work Activities

Preparing for Design Experience 3

Overview

In Design Experience 3: Rethinking the Learning Experience, your team will take on the challenge of designing transformational Learning Experiences. These activities will help you prepare by grounding your team in research around adolescent learning, student agency, and competencies that matter most. You will also collect rich insights from students and stakeholders by gathering feedback on your Model-at-a-Glance, surfacing community priorities, and listening closely to students’ most powerful learning experiences. These inputs will help refine your Bold School Concept and shape meaningful Learning Experience designs.

Outputs
  • One to three existing unit plans with lessons and assessments (to inform the Learning Experience design process)
  • Reflections on XQ Design Principles
  • Completed prompts from the XQ Competency Navigator

Goal
Complete all required learning activities and gather key materials to be ready for Design Experience 3.

Owner(s)
School design team

Contributor(s)
Facilitation partner, or district support if needed

Resources

XQ in a Box
Resources on the Science of Adolescent Learning; Meaningful, Engaged Learning; and Youth Voice and Choice.

XQ Competency Navigator
Interactive tool for prioritizing competencies.

Design Journey Notebook
Central hub for team plans, community engagement activities, collected input, design reflections, and next steps between Design Experiences.

Putting It Into Practice

1

Bring your unit plans:

Identify one to three representative unit plans with sample lessons and assessments. These will serve as a launch point to analyze your current approach and build a more bold, student-centered alternative.

2

Engage in key learning experiences:

  • Learn about the Science of Adolescent Learning, Meaningful, Engaged Learning, and Youth Voice & Choice using XQ in a Box.
  • Use the Design Principles Reflection to capture your team’s takeaways and assess your current strengths and opportunities in your Design Journey Notebook.
3

Explore the XQ Competency Navigator:

  • Use the Navigator to review essential competencies that align with XQ Learner Outcomes.
  • Reflect together: What surprises you about the XQ Competencies? Which competencies are most critical to elevate in your new Learning Experience? What competencies are currently missing from your instruction?
  • Write your insights in your Design Journey Notebook.
4

Synthesize and apply input from your community:

  • Sort the community-engagement insights you gathered as a team. Choose three to five insights that will materially strengthen your Model-at-a-Glance.
  • Model-at-a-Glance: Update your Model-at-a-Glance based on the insights you gathered from students, staff, families, and community partners. Revisions should reflect what resonated most and where clarity or alignment is needed.
  • Competency conversations: Use what you heard from stakeholder conversations with the XQ Competency Cards to inform which competencies you prioritize in your Learning Experience design. Update your internal planning documents to reflect these priorities.
  • Student interviews: Capture themes surfaced in student interviews about their most powerful learning experiences in your Design Journey Notebook. You will use these to inform the structure, content, and purpose of your upcoming Learning Experience.
5

Confirm readiness for Design Experience 3:

  • Send your facilitation partner a link to your updated artifacts.
  • Note any areas where you’d like targeted feedback or support.
6

Optional "can do" activities:

  • Apply learning from Strong Mission & Culture and Caring, Trusting Relationships to add supporting evidence or examples into your Bold School Concept.
  • Invite community members to “audit” your Model-at-a-Glance using the Design Principles. This is a powerful way to deepen shared ownership and test the clarity of your design.
  • Revisit your mission statement in partnership with your broader community. Use the protocol in the Activating Community Toolkit to facilitate this discussion.
Go to Next Step
Shared Milestone: Design Experience 3
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