The 2017 AAIR Annual Forum was successfully wrapped on 2 November 2017, and what an interesting and motivating three day that was! The editors were lucky enough to attend and we hope you enjoy our special coverage of the Forum!
The Forum kicked off with pre-forum workshops and special interest group meetings on day one. Naturally, the discussion topics focused on government reporting, QILT/ student evaluations, Business Intelligence (BI) and load planning. Regardless of what the topic of focus was, frequency of data and the increasing importance of (or demand for) ‘real-time’ data is a common trend and challenge we all face in our roles as BI managers, institutional researchers, survey gurus and statistics analysts. Another emerging trend tied hand in hand with the demand for ‘real-time’ data is the demand for easily digestible data that is fit for purpose and meaningful for busy executives who just don’t have the time to filter through the plethora of data available. To do this you need to be able to answer the seemingly basic questions of Who? What? When? Where? How? The answers to those questions are not always easy to find, especially when you try to make one set of data meet the needs of a very diverse range of clients that want different things (e.g. teaching staff versus senior management).
On day two we opened with a keynote from Professor Adrian Miller, Pro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous Leadership from Charles Darwin University (CDU). Professor Miller outlined the criticality of robust research strategies and methodologies pertaining to Indigenous history and knowledge.
He also pointed out that the traditional forms of research have often been a source of distress for Indigenous people, as the research is often designed to serve the academic, political or professional needs of researchers rather than advancement of the Indigenous people. It is thus very important to keep these core principles fore of mind when conducting research:
Professor Miller’s keynote set the context for the stimulating Panel Session on day two. Panellists included Professor Hon Luamanuvao Winnie Laban QSO, Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Pasifika), Victoria University of Wellington; Associate Professor James Smith, CDU; Jessica Procak, Assistant Manager Indigenous Grants, CDU; and Shane Motlap, Indigenous Policies and Programs Analyst, also from CDU.
The Panel’s discussion centred on equity evaluation and the challenging feat of working with arbitrary or generic performance measures that are consistency driven rather than context driven. The current measures fail to recognise the importance of individuals within the equity groups and it also does not take into consideration the cumulative effect of students belonging to multiple equity groups at the same time.
The Award for Best Session went to Wayne Franklin from CDU. Wayne shared with the audience the CDU’s journey on streamlining data processes for unit evaluation survey and some of the tools and techniques they have implemented to achieve that. Wayne was also interviewed in our May 2017 Newsletter as part of our monthly ‘Five Questions with …’ segment. You can read Wayne’s interview here.
The Award for Best New Presenters went to Bo Liu and Annie Rose Smedley from Australian National University (ANU). Bo and Annie reported on their survey of survey managers’ journey and was able to capture information on how universities manage their student evaluation activities any other institutional survey support, including relevant policy implementation.
The editors would like to do a shout out and thank the amazing forum organising committee for putting together such great event! Thank you Don, Penny and Rhianna for your looking after us so well!
Monica and Tracy
Editors, The Institutional Researcher
And last but not least, here are some photos from the wonderful Forum Dinner at the Old Quarry. Until next time!
