Practitioner Perspectives:
Guided Innovation Walks
EDspaces Show Floor Tours
Practitioner Perspectives: Guided Innovation Walks
Led by industry experts and specialized thought leaders, these 60-minute innovation walks provide a brand-agnostic, research-informed look at the products, environments, and design strategies shaping today’s learning spaces. Each tour offers a different perspective:
• Neuro-Inclusive Design: Exploring sensory-first solutions that support neurodivergent learners and create more inclusive learning environments.
• CTE & Workforce Development: Examining how learning environments, equipment, and design decisions support technical skill development and connect education with industry expectations.
Tour Information
CTE & Workforce Development: Bridging the Gap Between Classroom and Industry
Career and Technical Education spaces are among the most exciting and impactful environments in a school building. When designed with intention, they launch students into viable careers, build real-world confidence, and signal to learners that hands-on education is a priority worth investing in. This curated innovation walk invites you to move through the EDspaces Show Floor with a workforce-ready lens, exploring how the right products and solutions come together to support the technical skill building that strong CTE programs demand.
Led by a multidisciplinary team bringing together expertise in workforce development, technical education, and learning environment design, this tour will help you identify products and solutions that genuinely reflect industry standards and position students for the careers and opportunities that lie ahead.
You will leave with a sharper eye for evaluating CTE furniture and equipment solutions, a stronger understanding of how purposeful product selection supports technical skill development, and practical language to build specifications that reflect the expectations of today’s employers and industry partners.
Tour Leaders
· Dr. Christina Counts — Title/Organization to be confirmed
· Dr. Robert Dillon — School Designer, Intentional School Designs
· Stacy Roth — K–12 Education Interiors Leader, DLR Group
· Dr. Danelle Marsden — Vice President of Sales, Circadia
Neuro-Inclusive Design: Exploring Learning Environments Through a Sensory Lens
Not every learner experiences a space the same way. For neurodivergent students, the built environment can be the difference between engagement and overwhelm, between belonging and exclusion. This curated innovation walk invites you to move through the EDspaces Show Floor with intention — examining how color, product features, texture, and spatial arrangement converge to support neurodiverse learners.
Led by Dr. Christina Counts alongside occupational therapist and sensory environment specialist Amanda Perches of Sensational Spaces, and Kelsey Jordan, architect at Legat, this tour brings together clinical, experiential, and architectural expertise to offer a truly multi-disciplinary perspective. Together, they will guide you through a brand-agnostic, research-grounded lens — helping you identify which products, layouts, and design strategies genuinely serve neurodivergent populations, and why.
You will leave with a deeper understanding of sensory-first design principles, practical criteria for evaluating furniture and spatial solutions, and the vocabulary to advocate for truly inclusive learning environments in your next project.
