Each day of an Expedition has a special name.

We call the last day “Boss Level.”

In a video game, the boss level requires you to face a significant challenge before you can proceed.

In Expeditionaries, student teams have to pitch a social entrepreneurship problem-solution set to a CEO panel, who ask difficult questions and provide feedback.

When “Boss Level” arrives, students venture onto the high wire: they typically have had only 3 days to go from knowing nothing about their teammates or their social impact challenge to articulating a clear problem definition and prototype solution.

And not only are they presenting to the CEO panel; members of the public are invited to attend as well. (This past week, 35 people showed up to be part of the audience.)

But anticipating a CEO panel and public audience has a way of focusing the mind.

First, students have chosen their social impact problem, which means they are invested in their solution, which in turn means that they care about the CEO panel’s feedback.

Second, because it’s a public performance students want to make a positive impression on the audience. Students almost always rise to the challenge.

As a facilitator of the experience, the event is a “Boss Level” for me too. Even though I have been teaching for over 22 years, and even though last week marked our 8th Expedition since January of 2018, I still get nervous. During the first few days, I constantly worry, “This might not work.” I’m like a basketball coach who can prepare his team with scrimmages, but in the end the players have to take the court—and they might lose.

But that possibility of failure is precisely what makes a “Boss Level” such a valuable learning experience. At the most recent CEO panel, one student said to the audience, “Before we settled on the prototype we just presented, we had tried 4 previous versions and failed every time. But to us they weren’t really failures, because each time we learned something new.”

Once you have experienced learning like this—either as a student or facilitator—you can never look at traditional assessments the same way.

So when will be the next chance your students have to attempt a “Boss Level?” [1]

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[1] Do you know any students who could benefit from a “Boss Level” growth opportunity? A few spots are left in our next Expedition during MLK Jr Day Weekend, Jan 17-20.

Interested parties can register here.

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