Carrie Mata, CM Education Insights and Solutions

Institutional research professionals are subject matter experts who help stakeholders answer questions in pursuit of data-informed decision making. Although this is an important aspect of IR, answering questions is not helpful if inquiries don’t illuminate the true knowledge sought. IR professionals are more than just curators of information—we are partners in discovery, which requires helping institutional colleagues clarify goals and refine questions in addition to the analysis of data, making sense of results, communicating findings, and generating insights. This workshop is an intensive exploration of IR’s agency in data-informed decision cultures and highlights the skills required to be effective in this field. It is an extension of AIR’s highly successful virtual Foundations series and an essential experience for any IR professional. The workshop starts with a question and sees an IR project through to its culmination. Workshop elements include principles of research design, survey design, descriptive statistics, effective reporting and communication, and translating findings into recommendations.

As a result of this bootcamp, participants will be able to:

• Understand common data-related higher education terminology
• Identify a research design appropriate to address stated research questions
• Understand quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques, sampling, and testing for reliability and validity
• Construct a high-quality survey and conduct proper validity tests on the survey instrument
• Identify and conduct proper descriptive statistics to best summarize research findings
• Create effective visualizations and reports to community findings
  

Eric Atchison, Vice President for Strategic Research, Arkansas State University System; Elizabeth Wakefield, Director of Institutional Research, Arkansas State University-Newport

As a market-leading choice for modern business intelligence (BI), the Tableau software platform is known for taking data from almost any system and turning it into actionable insights with speed and ease. This full-day workshop will provide attendees with an introduction to data visualization basics and how to: create several of Tableau’s primary chart types, aggregate tables/charts into usable dashboards, utilize filters to customize views, utilize navigation tools to switch between views, and publish and share their work. While no data visualization experience is needed, to get the most out of this course students should have a working knowledge of spreadsheet applications such as Microsoft Excel.  This workshop will be conducted in the free Tableau Public platform, however all skills learned will transfer to the Tableau Desktop application.

As a result of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Comprehend data visualization basics,
• Understand structure and function of dashboards,
• Create several of Tableau’s primary chart types,
• Aggregate tables/charts into usable dashboards,
• Utilize filters and calculated fields to customize views,
• Apply parameters and negational buttons to switch views, and
• Share insights through the Tableau Public platform

Jeremy Goodman, Founder and Principle, Jeremy Goodman Consulting

Most IR directors and other management staff move up from within the field. But when we are promoted into management positions, we rarely receive any formal or structured learning opportunities on what management means and how to do it well. Allocating resources, managing workflow, and leading a team require different mindsets and skills from the individual contributors we used to be. In this workshop, we will focus on building, managing and communicating with your team and effectively managing resources such as staff time and budget to achieve your office goals, including exercises designed to consider how you might apply what you’ve learned when you return to your institution. Whether you are new to managing an office or just never had the opportunity to learn about it in a structured way, this may be the experience for you.

As a result of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Discuss the shift in mindset needed to move from an IR/IE staff member to the office leader.
• Discuss management techniques like staff hiring, staff retention, managing office workload, and budgeting.
• Discuss the difference in strategies between office staff management and “managing up”.
• Discuss how to adapt/adopt the knowledge shared in this workshop to their unique IR/IE office setting.

Eldrid Sequeira, Executive Director of Data, Systems, and Analytics, Mercy University

Institutional Research/Data Office (IR/DO) has traditionally been the go-to department for accurate reports. And then those wonderful reports die! However, in a tough higher-ed market where data is to be used not just for compliance purposes but also to drive change that supports university goals, IR departments need to adapt. It starts with Letting Go of our trusted datasets and democratizing our report creation skills so more departments can leverage our data and co-create reports.

In this session you will learn how Mercy University’s IR department has disrupted the reporting function by building a federated Data-as-a-Service (DaaS) data model that, when combined with our data-driven consulting, has led to impactful change in our data culture, while also expanding IR’s footprint. We will discuss the challenges faced, solutions employed, share templates, and spend time on Q&A. You will walk away with the tools to create a data and analytics system that expands the IR/DO in your university while exponentially impacting student success.

As a result of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Leave with best practices for creating a Federated DaaS data model.
• Understand how to expand usage of data reports.
• Learn how to redesign/revision their IR departments to expand its footprint and relevance by developing. coaching relationships with report users.
• Use given templates and resources to further their knowledge and start building a toolkit to begin on this work.
• Expand their network of colleagues embarking on similar work.

This workshop provides institutional researchers with the tools and knowledge needed to harness the power of Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Large Language Models (LLMs) for text mining and analytics. Participants will learn to process and analyze unstructured data, such as survey responses and feedback, using NLP techniques and pre-trained LLMs.. By gaining hands-on experience, attendees will be able to effectively categorize text, perform sentiment analysis, recognize and extract named entities to support data-driven decision-making in their institutions. This session is ideal for those interested in transforming unstructured data into actionable insights, ultimately enhancing institutional research capabilities.

Yuxiang Liu, Director of Institutional Research & Assessment, Yeshiva University

This workshop is aimed at building a solid understanding of the linear regression model, and its applications to solve the problems in institutional research. This hands-on workshop uses real-world data to predict first-year college GPA with independent variables like high school GPA, SAT scores, student gender, ethnicity, and Pell Grant. The results of the linear regression analysis can be used for establishing the admission index for a university or for a state higher education system. The workshop focuses on using Excel and SPSS to run the model, testing the assumptions, interpreting the results, and applying the results to real-world problems.

As a result of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Understand the basic statistical concepts of the linear regression model.
• Understand which assumptions should be tested and how to test the assumptions for the model.
• How to run the model, interpret the statistical analysis results, and calculate the effect size.
• Understand the real-world applications of the results.

Christopher Petrie, Director of Assessment and Institutional Effectiveness, Northwestern Health Sciences University; Angelina Radick, Data and Reporting Analyst, Northwestern Health Sciences University

We often engage in repetitive tasks that are structured in nature and follow a series of rule-based logic steps. These tasks can be labor intensive and are often tedious and boring leading to inadvertent errors. Automating this type of work historically required extensive programming or scripting knowledge to create systems that ingested and manipulated data from otherwise disconnected systems. Today, automated workflow tools bring the ability to perform these tasks automatically to non-programmers, allowing us to spend time on tasks that require more nuance. Once we have data collected in one place, it can also be a challenge to present that data in meaningful ways that allow users to more readily see patterns and trends. Dashboards and data visualizations can make accessing and interpreting data easier, helping drive the adoption of data-driven decision-making. This workshop will introduce attendees to designing their own automated workflows and building data dashboards.

As a result of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Construct a simple form to collect requests and associated information
• Construct a simple automated workflow to process form submissions
• Construct a data table to hold processed submission data
• Construct a dashboard to display real-time reporting

Yao Z. Hill, Specialist, University of Hawaii at Manoa

This hands-on workshop offers a step-by-step tutorial on using Power Query and Power Pivot in Microsoft Excel to analyze and visualize complex student learning assessment data through self-updating dashboards. Program and institutional assessment professionals often encounter challenges when managing complex data sets, such as multiple measures for each student learning outcome or multiple rubric ratings for each student. This workshop provides practical guidance on efficiently cleaning, transforming, and merging multiple data sources using Excel’s Power Query and Power Pivot tools. By the end of the session, participants can create dynamic dashboards that automatically update when new data is added. A key benefit of these tools is the ability to share files with colleagues, allowing them to quickly access up-to-date assessment results using their own data without the need for manual data manipulation. Participants need to be familiar with Excel Pivot Tables.

As a result of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Use Excel Power Query to clean and transform data
• Use Excel Power Pivot tool to analyze data across multiple datasets
• Create self-updating data dashboards that allow data drill down

Sarah Gallimore, Director, Planning and Decision Support, The University of North Texas, Health Science Center

Effectively visualizing student experience data is crucial for improving satisfaction and retention. This hands-on workshop guides participants in building a Power BI dashboard report containing several dashboards from a template, transforming raw survey data into actionable insights. Learn how to reshape data in Power BI, use prompt engineering with Microsoft Copilot or ChatGPT for text analysis, and apply STAR schema for efficient modeling. Participants will master custom DAX calculations, advanced formatting, and secure sharing via Power BI workspaces. By the end, participants will be able to create elegant dashboards that succinctly communicate survey results, whether it's Likert-scale data, promoter feedback, or open-ended responses. Join us to enhance your data analysis and visualization skills, unlocking the power of your survey data!

As a result of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Reshape and model survey data for Power BI dashboard creation.
• Utilize prompt engineering for text analysis, allowing for a deeper understanding of qualitative survey responses.
• Effectively visualize different types of survey data, including Likert-scale question, promoter question and open-ended question responses, in a dashboard that convey impactful insights.
• Develop skills to enhance user interactivity and share dashboards securely with target audiences.

Shama Akhtar, Director, Institutional Surveys and Analysis, Bowie State University

This informative and interactive workshop is designed for individuals who are new to the field of institutional research. We review the typical roles and responsibilities associated with IR, highlight useful resources, and learn how to develop connections with others in the field.

As a result of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Understand common projects and responsibilities in institutional research.
• Identify useful resources to aid their work and professional development.
• Develop relationships with other professionals in the IR field.

Ivana Fredotovic, Chief Data Officer, Weber State University; Melissa Barnett, Director, Data Strategy & Governance, Harvard University; Susan Gracia, Senior Associate Director of Data Literacy, Northeastern University; Heather Epstein-Diaz, Director of Data Governance & Analytics Services, Florida State University

This interactive workshop will explore the integration of Data Governance (DG) and Data Literacy (DL) across the data lifecycle. Led by four experts from different universities, the session will provide diverse perspectives on developing data literacy programs within a governance framework. Key questions will be addressed, such as the components of an effective data literacy program, necessary training and support, its importance, strategies to consider, and participant roles. Participants will gain insights into the importance of fostering data literacy as part of their institution's governance efforts, with a focus on creating cross-functional collaborations between Institutional Research, IT, and academic units. Attendees will leave with practical strategies and resources to enhance their data literacy programs, along with a call to action for prioritizing data literacy in governance initiatives.

As a result of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Understand the critical role data literacy programs play in advancing data governance programs.
• Learn strategies for developing and implementing tailored data literacy initiatives within their data governance programs.
• Leave with an actionable plan for integrating data literacy into their data governance frameworks.

Jeremy Goodman, Founder and Principle, Jeremy Goodman Consulting

Movement from data insights to taking action involves more than access to data, analyses, and reports—it requires leadership, facilitation, and strategic communication to translate information into action. Institutional research and effectiveness professionals are uniquely positioned to bridge the gap between data and making data-informed decisions. This interactive, half-day workshop is based on the Change with Analytics Playbook (AIR, EDUCAUSE, NACUBO, 2024) and will help you learn to navigate the path to data-informed decision making and, more importantly, lead efforts to do so at your institution. Through a series of interactive exercises, you will develop strategies to engage stakeholders, navigate resistance, and foster a culture of data-informed decision making.

You will depart the workshop with a Change Readiness Toolkit that includes a facilitation guide for use at your institution, strategies for stakeholder engagement, and a roadmap for implementation. AIR’s goal is for IR and IE professionals to have the confidence, mindsets, knowledge, skills, and abilities to lead change and help ensure that critical resources like data and analytics become catalysts for change.

As a result of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Assess your institution’s readiness for analytics-informed change
• Communicate data and information in ways that spark conversation and create calls to action
• Engage stakeholders and colleagues in the data-informed decision-making process
• Anticipate, plan for, and overcome resistance to change among stakeholders
• Apply the Change with Analytics Playbook to your work
• Develop a customized roadmap for analytics-informed change
• Create a comprehensive Change Readiness Toolkit to guide and implement your efforts

Yuxiang Liu, Director of Institutional Research & Assessment, Yeshiva University

This workshop is aimed at building a solid understanding of the logistic regression model, and its applications to solve the problems in institutional research. The model can be used to predict student retention, graduation, or the probability of other events happening. This hands-on, interactive workshop uses the real-world data to predict student first-to-second-year retention (one-year retention, the dependent variable) with such independent variables as the first-year college GPA, student gender, ethnicity, the status of receiving the PELL grant, and in-state or out-of-state status. The workshop uses Excel and SPSS to run the model, focusing on interpreting the results, and applying the results to real-world problems.

As a result of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Understand the basic statistical concepts of the logistic regression model.
• Understand which assumptions should be tested and how to test the assumptions for the model.
• How to run the model, interpret the statistical analysis results, and calculate the effect size.
• Understand the real-world applications of the results.

Chris Orem, Executive Director of Planning, Analytics and Institutional Research, James Madison University In this workshop, participants will be introduced to an enrollment forecasting model used to project enrollments at a large (20,000+) public university for over 20 years. Adaptable to institutions of any size, the model, which is based in Excel, can help institutions forecast future enrollments using historical data and sound reasoning. While the model shown will focus largely on how to project progression of continuing students, the presenter will share additional strategies for forecasting new enrollment and how this information is communicated to stakeholders. Attendees will receive a template to use with their institution’s data and receive examples of how results are shared.

As a result of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Identify guidelines to consider when implementing an enrollment forecasting model
• Explain the logic behind the forecasting model employed by the presenter’s institution
• Adapt the model to their own institutions
• Identify various strategies to communicate the information effectively to stakeholders.