AAIR Forum Reflection

My experience as a presenter and first-time attendee

I was genuinely thrilled to attend the AAIR Forum for the first time.

As someone who spends a lot of time in survey management, data collection, and reporting, it was a fantastic chance to step back and connect with others in the field, data analysts, managers, and academics, who face the exact same daily challenges. And I quickly felt a strong sense of belonging after sharing conversations and enjoying presentations. Hearing colleagues share their frustrations and brilliant solutions regarding everything from response rates to creating actionable feedback gave me a huge boost of energy and motivation. It was incredibly validating to realise we are all pursuing the same goal: finding better ways to use feedback to truly improve teaching quality.

Group of AAIR committee members standing on a platform at the front of a conference room. There is a projector screen behind them.

A major personal highlight was also being a speaker, where I shared the lessons we learned through the journey of developing our AI-enhanced approach to scan harmful content in student feedback. It was a privilege to contribute to the discussion and share our journey.

Group of people celebrating. Some have their arms up in the air. There is a city skyline and late afternoon sky in the background.

The most important takeaway was a fundamental shift in perspective about the value of teaching evaluation. Speaking from my reflection, I often get absorbed in the daily tasks, for example the eight questions, the response rate, the reports, and sometimes I forget why we are doing this. Attending this conference made me realise that our role is not just to administer a process, but to be strategic partners.

Attending the AAIR Forum helped me return to work with renewed focus, not just on managing the data, but on ensuring our evaluation system actively measures and supports our path to institutional excellence.