October 28-30, 2026 |
Kansas City, MO

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Thu Oct 29•2:00 PM – 3:00 PM

Reimagining the Student Experience: Breaking Down Barriers Through Design

EDsession (60 minutes in classrooms)TRACK 4: Evidence, Impact & the Future of Practice — Research, systems, sustainability, and accountability

In this interactive session, participants will implement design thinking to break down learning barriers and create spaces that foster student success and wellness. Through the lens of predefined student profiles, attendees will play an engaging card game to critically examine the unique barriers their learner may face, explore approaches to provide emotionally supportive spaces, and align design strategies with improved outcomes. Evidence-based case studies will demonstrate the application of inclusive design strategies.

Speakers

Jennifer McKeel
Jennifer McKeelVice President and Senior Designer in Health Science + Interprofessional Education, HKS, Inc.
Kristen Ambrose
Kristen AmbrosePrincipal and Practice Leader, Education & Planning, HKS, Inc.

More Information

Tags:Group C
Allow Registration:No
Capacity Unlimited:No
Indicate how the topic is applicable to Health, Safety, Welfare (HSW) Design credits.:The session focuses on heightening awareness of barriers for learners and exploring how the built environment can promote an atmosphere of inclusion and wellness to support a broad range of students. The session demonstrates the connection of a learner’s unique situation and individual challenges to emotionally supportive design strategies implemented in physical spaces to promote equitable access, create opportunity, and positively affect learner outcomes.
Learner Engagement:This engaging session explores design thinking as a gradated process, with the goal of developing supporting learning environments through an interactive card game activity. The game breaks down the development of an inclusive design strategy into the steps of barrier identification, support strategy development, experience ideation, and then application to the physical environment. The process encourages participants to consider the unique experiences and situations present in student populations to uncover design criteria that will shape inclusive and emotionally supportive design.
Learning Objective 1:Assess the risks of ignoring barriers for learners and understand how risk identification can increase learner success and inclusion while reducing uncertainty

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Tags:Group E
Allow Registration:No
Capacity Unlimited:No
Indicate how the topic is applicable to Health, Safety, Welfare (HSW) Design credits.:This session addresses Health, Safety, and Welfare by examining how learning environment design impacts cognitive load, stress, and human performance. By identifying system-level friction and decision fatigue, participants will explore how spatial planning and digital workflows influence psychological safety and long-term staff wellbeing. The session provides actionable strategies for designing environments that reduce burnout risk, support mental health, and improve the operational sustainability of school staff.
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Lennie Scott-Webber
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Hila Stern-Bornstein
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Bridgitte Alomes
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Lennie Scott-Webber
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Bridgitte Alomes
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Tags:Group E
Allow Registration:No
Capacity Unlimited:No
Indicate how the topic is applicable to Health, Safety, Welfare (HSW) Design credits.:We believe this session qualifies for HSW designation because it is grounded in neuroscience research applied directly to the built environment, it equips participants with evidence-based frameworks for spatial decisions: material selection, configuration, acoustic and lighting conditions, that protect and elevate the physical and emotional well-being of occupants. The interdisciplinary team structure demonstrates the full continuum from research to implementation, giving participants actionable tools for programming and design decisions rooted in occupant health and welfare. The instructional content directly addresses how the built environment can be intentionally designed to support those outcomes in educational settings.
Learner Engagement:This highly interactive workshop invites participants to experience the Neuro-Design Learning Protocol firsthand through a sequence of activities that mirror the learning progression Regulate → Educate → Create. Regulate: Connecting to Human Experience The session begins with a short reflective exercise designed to ground participants in the relationship between environment and human experience. This opening moment establishes a shared understanding: places shape how we feel, think, and learn. Educate: Seeing Learning Environments Through Multiple Lenses Participants then move into cross-disciplinary small groups to analyze a real-world classroom or learning commons using the Neuro-Design Learning Alignment Framework. Each group is assigned one human-experience design lens: Visual acuity, Audible clarity, Ergonomics and movement, Physiological comfort, Behavioral engagement, Belonging and safety Groups engage in a mini design challenge. Using a provided floor plan, image, and project narrative, participants diagnose how the space supports—or constrains—learning through their assigned lens. This process reveals how neuroscience research translates into design criteria, spatial strategy, and intentional affordances procurement that actively support human development. Create: Designing for Alignment and Impact: Each group shares their findings with the full audience. Facilitators capture insights in a live Neuro-Design Learning Protocol Meets Design Principles allowing participants to see how improvements across multiple lenses transform a single space into a more supportive Networked Learning Ecosystem. Through this synthesis, participants experience how research, design, and product innovation must work together to move from theory to impact. The result is a understanding of learning environments design principles that intentionally support regulation, engagement, and creative expression.
Learning Objective 1:Interpret neuroscience and brain-health research to explain how physical learning environments influence learner regulation, wellbeing, and cognitive performance.
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EDsession (60 minutes in classrooms)Session TypeTRACK 4: Evidence, Impact & the Future of Practice — Research, systems, sustainability, and accountabilitySession Track
John Pfluger
Noel Schmidt
Hailey Wrasman
Amy Frye
John Pfluger
John PflugerPrincipal, Cuningham
Noel Schmidt
Noel SchmidtSuperintendent, Rock Ridge Public Schools
Hailey Wrasman
Hailey WrasmanAssociate / Senior Certified Project Interior Designer, Cuningham
Amy Frye
Amy FryeNational Research Director, Cuningham
John Pfluger
John PflugerPrincipal, Cuningham
Noel Schmidt
Noel SchmidtSuperintendent, Rock Ridge Public Schools
Hailey Wrasman
Hailey WrasmanAssociate / Senior Certified Project Interior Designer, Cuningham
Amy Frye
Amy FryeNational Research Director, Cuningham
Tags:Group E
Allow Registration:No
Capacity Unlimited:No
Indicate how the topic is applicable to Health, Safety, Welfare (HSW) Design credits.:NA
Learner Engagement:The session is structured as a 40-minute provocation with a 10-minute small group reflection opportunity and report out and we will end with a whole group general discussion at the end. Participants will engage in a brief small-group discussion using the Rock Ridge High School POE example to identify what evidence or metrics they would prioritize within their own institutions and how they would integrate research into their own practice.
Learning Objective 1:Interpret findings from a post-occupancy evaluation of Rock Ridge High School to understand how learning environment design influences student engagement, staff experience, and well-being.