Laura K Spencer, Ed.D.

Category: Design Thinking

  • Adoption Isn’t Impact: The Quiet Failure of Learning Innovation

    Adoption Isn’t Impact: The Quiet Failure of Learning Innovation

    I keep seeing the same pattern across schools, organizations, and learning platforms.

    The tools keep getting better.
    The outcomes… not so much.

    AI is more capable. XR is more immersive. Platforms are more polished than ever. And still, leaders feel it. That quiet, nagging sense that learning isn’t actually working the way it was promised.

    Engagement spikes. Pilots multiply. Dashboards fill up.
    Clarity about impact stays frustratingly out of reach.

    This isn’t a technology problem.
    It’s a design problem.

    Most learning systems were never built to absorb this level of change. New tools get layered onto old structures. Innovation gets bolted onto workflows designed for stability, not adaptability.

    The result is fragmentation.
    Good intentions. Scattered execution.

    I hear versions of this all the time:
    “We’ve adopted the platform.”
    “We’ve rolled out the tool.”

    What’s missing is the harder question:
    What is this actually changing about how people learn, think, and make decisions?

    Adoption is visible.
    Impact is not.

    Impact only shows up when there’s alignment. Between learning strategy, leadership expectations, culture, and the realities of day-to-day work. Without that, even the most advanced tools struggle to matter.

    Another common miss is over-indexing on features instead of purpose.

    Yes, AI can personalize learning paths.
    Yes, XR can simulate environments.
    Yes, analytics can surface patterns.

    None of that answers the real questions:
    What capabilities are we trying to build?
    What skills matter here?
    What should change when the tool is no longer new?

    When those questions go unanswered, technology defaults to efficiency, not meaning.

    I also see responsibility for learning outcomes get diffused. Innovation teams experiment. IT enables. Designers design. Leaders cheer from a distance.

    No one owns coherence.
    No one is accountable for the system as a system.

    Learning doesn’t break down because people aren’t trying.
    It breaks down because no one is tasked with connecting the dots.

    The organizations making real progress look different.

    They slow down before they scale.
    They clarify what learning is for before deciding what to buy.
    They treat technology as a lever, not a strategy.

    Most importantly, they treat learning as a leadership function, not a procurement decision.

    Leaders are involved early. They set priorities. They make tradeoffs. They resist the urge to pilot everything and instead commit to a few things done well.

    Learning stops being something that happens “over there.”
    It becomes part of how the organization thinks and operates.

    This shift isn’t flashy. It doesn’t generate big announcements.
    But it creates durability.

    What’s encouraging is that more leaders are starting to feel this gap. In conversations with superintendents and edtech leaders, I hear the same frustration surfaces again and again.

    Money is being spent.
    Capability isn’t always following.

    There’s a growing recognition that more tools aren’t the answer.

    The path forward isn’t about rejecting technology.
    It’s about designing systems that can actually hold it.

    That means:

    • treating learning as a connected ecosystem, not a collection of initiatives
    • aligning leadership expectations with learning goals
    • designing for judgment, adaptability, and human skill, not just completion and compliance

    When learning is designed this way, technology amplifies it.
    When it isn’t, technology just accelerates confusion.

    The future of learning won’t be decided by the next platform or algorithm.

    It will be decided by whether organizations are willing to do the harder work of design. Clarifying purpose. Creating coherence. Building systems that support how people actually learn and grow.

    The organizations that get this right aren’t chasing better tools.
    They’re designing better systems.

    Everything else follows.

  • Designer or Design Thinker?

    Designer or Design Thinker?

    Innovation is when something new is created and implemented that adds value. Inventions happen every day, and every year inventions find their way into our classroom. 

    It’s only when an invention adds value that they become an innovation. A lot of times we get caught up in the invention, or the idea. I call this the glitter dust syndrome. 

    Ever receive a card with glitter on it? It’s pretty and you’re excited to receive it. But after you read the card and put it out for display, you see it… glitter. It’s everywhere. It’s stuck on your clothes, your skin, your carpet.

    It added no value to the card. In fact, sometimes the message of the card gets lost because you’re too busy cleaning up the glitter. If there is no value add, there’s no innovation. Just invention. 

    So how do we determine whether something is going to be a value added innovation in our classroom or a case of glitter dust?

    Design thinking.

    We are all designers. Every lesson plan you write, every bulletin board you create, every assessment you assign, even the outfit you put together for today. But that doesn’t mean you’re a design thinker. Human-centered design requires us to step away from our own needs, our own assumptions, and look at the world through the lens of others. 

    Design Your Mask

    During my keynote presentation at SDCOE’s Learning and Innovation Summit Saturday, I asked everyone in the room to design a mask that they could wear without holding it. They also had to be able to see through it. One piece of cardstock paper was the only material provided. The timer was set for three minutes.

    Just about everyone was able to design a mask and wear it. But then I asked them to trade masks with the person sitting next to them. Quickly, they realized that their mask didn’t quite fit their colleague as well as it fit them. Maybe the eye slits were off, or the way it latched on to their face didn’t quite work. Those who used their glasses to hold it on had to also give their glasses to the colleague, which caused some blurry moments!

    Why didn’t the mask fit as nicely on the colleague as it did on the designer? What needed to happen for the mask to fit somebody else?

    Innovation in Education

    Human-centered design requires us to step away from our own needs, our own assumptions, and look at the world through the lens of others.

    When considering innovation in education, it’s important to differentiate between invention and innovation. What is the value add for our students? Is there one? Schools implement adaptive tech programs that promise to increase reading scores. Tables on wheels are placed everywhere. Social-emotional curriculum is purchased. 

    But whose face are we designing the mask for when we do so? Are we simply covering our students in glitter dust?

    When we recognize that our mask doesn’t fit everyone else like it fits us, we realize how our bias, our experiences, our beliefs, impacts student learning. And we start becoming human-centered designers. 

    This is the difference between designers and design thinkers. 

    This blog post is adapted from a keynote I gave at SDCOE’s Learning and Innovation Summit Feb 8, 2020.

  • Teens Doing Whatever It Takes to Draw Attention to Human Trafficking

    Teens Doing Whatever It Takes to Draw Attention to Human Trafficking

    Yesterday I watched as teens came together to use their design thinking and entrepreneurial skills to tackle the subject of human trafficking, which is prevalent in San Diego. They came up with innovative ideas to increase awareness and inspire action.

    The day kicked off with a motivational talk by WIT Founder, Sarah Hernholm. She stressed to them how important their voice is to solving big issues in our society. “You’re so much more than your school, your GPA, your AP course load… what matters are your ideas.”

    Sarah and Don sharing with teens about the issue of human trafficking.

    To provide more context as to how important the issue of human trafficking is to San Diego teens, Don from Saved in America shared with the group how 3,000 teens from San Diego alone were lost within the past year. He shared signs of distress to look for in friends who may be involved in unhealthy relationships, as well. When asked why teens don’t know more about this epidemic, Don responded that it’s a hard conversation for adults to start with teens. One of the teen participants responded, “Just because it’s a hard conversation doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have it.” Another added on, “Teens have to be at the table for issues impacting teens.”

    Brainstorming ways to encourage teens to avoid unhealthy relationships.

    And at the table they were!

    Don’s talk lit a fire in the teens. Split into smaller groups, they brainstormed solutions to:
    – Ensure teens know the Human Trafficking Hotline Phone Number
    – Provide education to teens on healthy vs unhealthy relationships
    – Encourage parents to engage in conversations about human trafficking with their teen
    – Use social media to increase awareness of human trafficking amongst teens

    Sorting ideas on how to encourage parents to engage in conversations with their teens about human trafficking and unhealthy relationships.

    Design Thinking the Challenge Presented

    Empathizing. Defining. Ideating. Prototyping. Testing and Refining. Teens spent six hours developing their proposed solution to one of the problems. Unlike past WIT Hackathons, this year the teens did not have an adult coach assigned to them. Instead they were trusted to use the design thinking process on their own, seek out feedback or assistance when needed, and most importantly, have their voices heard.

    Students had not met prior to the day, but by the end, they were family.

    A Bias Towards Action

    It was an honor to coach them, and a thrill to listen to their pitches. Two groups tapped in to the power of Instagram to get their message out to peers. One group connected with local and national businesses to ask that the hotline be printed on their product packaging. We had a group developing curriculum for middle and high school teachers, and another group developing signage for public transportation stops and gas stations.

    Hotline Heroes is partnering with local and national companies to add the hotline to product packaging.

    Each proposal was unique, and their pitches were on point. Just like Shark Tank, students tackled all the key components of a pitch: Why, How, What, Target Market, Competition, Unique Selling Proposition, and Financials. They were scored on how well they met the challenge; their ability to address all the components; their presentation skills; the feasibility of their solution; and their adherence to the time allocation.

    This video uses a snack analogy to discuss healthy vs unhealthy relationships

    Change Agents

    Although three groups won a monetary award, the reality is that all of the teens were winners. They came together, used empathy to tackle a tough issue, and spread the word about an issue that affects their lives. These kids are world changers!

    If you haven’t heard of WIT, check it out. Hackathons and college credit courses are available for all San Diego County high school students. It’s also available in Austin, TX and New York City. And hey, if it’s not in your town (yet), reach out to Sarah and make it happen!

  • Students Are Changing the World NOW

    Students Are Changing the World NOW

    Last night, my district received the Innovate Award for its District Design 2022 initiative. This initiative is focused on providing an extraordinary school experience for all students. Using the Design Thinking mindset, curiosity is promoted as students seek out real world problems and formulate innovative solutions. Students connect with contemporary and historical issues, and with industry experts in their local community and around the globe to develop empathy and a greater understanding of the world.

     Students develop a sense of purpose when they have opportunities to engage in relevant and meaningful learning experiences. By creating a learning culture of innovation, curiosity, imagination, and creativity, students are empowered to ask questions, explore ideas, and take action.

    These students are changing the world today. So much of schooling is focused on preparing students for this big, scary, unknown future. But the fact of the matter is, we need to be equipping students for the world that surrounds them today so that they can make an even greater impact on the future.

    It’s been an honor to work alongside teachers who are willing to embrace ambiguity and join me on a journey of learning transformation. And it’s an honor for Classroom of the Future Foundation to recognize their dedication. I can’t wait to see what comes next!

  • The Power of Empathy

    When we talk design thinking, we talk empathy. But it seems that empathy is struggling to keep its place in society. In the article “The End of Empathy,” a study was shared that showed a serious decline in empathy starting in 2000. Per the article:

    More students say it’s not their problem to help people in trouble, not their job to see the world from someone else’s perspective. By 2009, on all the standard measures, Konrath found, young people on average measure 40 percent less empathetic than my own generation — 40 percent!

    The End of Empathy

    I’m hopeful that this data has shifted since the study was completed, but regardless, it is a reminder to teachers that empathy is not a given. We need to intentionally bring it in to our classroom.

    Selfish Empathy?

    In the book The Dark Sides of Empathy the author Breithaupt suggests we give up on the idea that empathy is about helping others. Instead, we should use empathy to expand our own imaginations and help ourselves. By seeing the world through the eyes of a migrant child we can make our own minds richer. He calls it selfish empathy.

    Not sure that selfish empathy is the answer.

    But I think we can all agree that empathy is needed. And it’s needed beyond the design thinking framework. So with that in mind, here’s some more resources to think about empathy and its role in our lives and our classrooms.

    More Thoughts on Empathy

    Low & Slow (vs. fear) – Seth Godin’s blog post cautions us to consider the time it takes to make change. 
    Status Roles – Another Seth Godin entry, but this one is a blog and podcast. When working with others, perceived status roles can impact the message being delivered and received. 
    Teaching Empathy Through Design Thinking – Although Empathy is the first element of a Design Thinking approach, empathy plays a role in every part of a Design Thinking challenge.
    Empathy Mapping – Consider what people say, think, do, and feel to truly empathize with their perspective. 

    Empathy is not always about people – we also build empathy for the world around us. 
    ​
    Roundme – These 360 degree virtual tours provide an immersive experience. Some have sound, or links to learn more about the location. Being able to experience a location without being there helps builds empathy. 


    And while you’re checking out Roundme, consider the world that is right outside your door. Out of Eden Walk is all about slowing down, sharing stories, and making connections. 

  • Imagining Joyful Learning Spaces

    Imagining Joyful Learning Spaces

    This past month our innovation team has been fortunate to work with a school staff that is looking to reimagine their library space. Currently a traditional space with plain walls, a large circulation desk, and giant book shelves, the staff is wanting to build a space that reflects the joy of learning they want students to experience every day. In their words:

    Imagine a space where students of all ages and adults could create, innovate, and explore the world in an inspiring and natural environment designed to enlighten and change the world! Students need a way to access a variety of learning and discovery spaces in order to respect their age and place in the world and ignite their inner genius and advance the world.

    We’ve been using the design thinking process to guide us on the journey, which has been a fabulous way to keep us grounded in the WHY of our work. Today, I realized that a consistent theme kept reemerging during every brainstorm or prototype session – JOY.

    Adults design schools. Adults who have been schooled for years on how to build buildings. And then adults come in and furnish those buildings. They paint the walls. They choose the chairs. Somewhere in that process, the children become secondary. And often times, so does joy.

    Which brings me to the book Joyful by Ingrid Fetell Lee.

    In her book, Fetell Lee points out that joy isn’t reserved for religious gurus that have attained enlightenment. In fact, it can be found all around us. She summarizes 10 big ideas in which joy can be found:

    1. Harness the power of color.
    2. Live abundantly.
    3. Find your freedom.
    4. Discover harmony.
    5. Fill your life with playful shapes.
    6. Surprise yourself.
    7. Go higher.
    8. Feel the magic.
    9. Spread the love.
    10. Start anew.

    Schools, and libraries, should truly be places of joy. They should allow for playful wonder. Fetell Lee explains that “play etches itself deeply into our memories for a good reason: it is the only known activity that humans engage in solely because it produces joy. ”

    Play lets us practice give-and-take, through which we learn empathy and fairness. It also promotes flexible thinking and problem solving, which increases our resilience and help us adapt to change. When we play, our awareness of time diminishes, and our self-consciousness fades. Play can put us in a powerful flow state, which allows us to let go of everyday worries and be absorbed in the joy of the moment.

    Joyful, by Ingrid Fetell Lee

    Children understand joy. All you have to do is listen to them dream up the new library to know that they can see that which adults often forget. Their vision of the space includes waterfalls, cafes, and a loft… they see color, comfortable seats, and places for both quiet and social gatherings. They hear music and feel texture. They break down the barriers and let in nature’s beauty. They get it.

    And so did the adults in the room today. I’m excited for the future wonder and joy that awaits the students and staff as they turn their prototypes into a joyful place that ignites genius and empowers students to advance the world.

    Stay tuned…