2025 Pre-Conference Workshops
The 52nd Annual SAIR Conference will be held September 27-30 at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center in Alexandria, Virginia (book your room before August 26).
| Saturday | 8:30-11:30am (additional fee and pre-registration required) | |
| Em-Power BI: A hands-on Data Visualization Workshop for Institutional Researchers ($100) Dr. Charlie Wilder and Dr. Rachel Whitman Rotch, Auburn University Auburn University’s Office of Academic Insight has successfully transitioned to Power BI for data dashboarding, and campus stakeholders buzzing with excitement! This immersive experience, tailored for IR/IE professionals, aims to equip participants with essential Power BI skills for data analysis, visualization, and reporting. Attendees will learn to import, clean, transform, and model data, and create impactful visualizations. The hands-on training will cover themes; data preparation; creating visuals, buttons, slicers, and bookmarks; and publishing reports with row-level security. Practice datasets are provided, and attendees should bring a laptop with Power BI Desktop installed. Come join us for this exciting learning opportunity! | ||
| AI in Action: Making Assessment Smarter, Simpler, and More Impactful ($100) Dr. Will Miller, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Artificial intelligence isn’t the future of assessment—it’s the now. This hands-on workshop explores practical ways AI can streamline and enhance assessment processes across higher education. From curriculum mapping and student learning outcomes to accreditation reporting and faculty engagement, we’ll demonstrate how AI tools can reduce administrative burden and refocus efforts on meaningful improvement. Participants will explore real use cases, experiment with tools, and leave with actionable strategies to implement immediately. Whether you're just starting or already experimenting, this session will help you harness AI’s potential to make assessment more efficient, insightful, and relevant to student success. | ||
| Saturday | 1:00-4:00pm (additional fee and pre-registration required) | |
| Leading with Why for Data, Analytics, and Institutional Research ($100) Dr. G. Marc Turner, Texas State University Our work is essential in shaping decision-making, but the deeper “why” behind our work is often overlooked. Using Sinek’s “Start with Why” framework, this workshop will help participants identify and connect their “why” to institutional goals through guided reflection and discussion. Participants will leave with practical strategies to enhance engagement, impact, and alignment within their organizations. In preparation, participants should identify:
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| AI-Enhanced Reporting Practices: A Workshop for Modern Developers ($100) Mr. Andre Goodman, Mr. Bryant McBride, and Mr. Nick Chaviano, Georgia Institute of Technology Discover how reporting professionals can unlock new levels of productivity by integrating AI into their everyday workflows. This session is designed for entry to mid-level reporting developers seeking to streamline tedious tasks, like documentation, project planning, and requirements gathering, without losing control over quality or expertise. You’ll learn how to map out effective workflows and enhance them using AI tools to automate routine processes, generate project assets, and align more quickly with stakeholder needs. Through real-world demonstrations, prompt-based activities, and collaborative exercises, you’ll leave with reusable templates, AI best practices, and practical strategies to elevate your development toolkit. | ||
| Visualizing Achievement of Student Learning Outcomes Using Power BI ($100) Ms. Caitlyn Jessee and Dr. Galiya Tabulda, Florida State University Effectively visualizing student learning outcomes (SLOs) assessment data in the form of a robust, user-friendly dashboard can help instructors shift focus from data wrangling to analysis and improvement of student learning. In this workshop, we will guide participants through the steps of building an interactive Power BI dashboard that shows how well each program-level SLO was demonstrated by the students. Participants will learn how to leverage various visualizations, custom calculations, and other features in Power BI to create a comprehensive dashboard that facilitates outcomes assessment. | ||
| From Compliance to Catalyst: Reimagining Accreditation for Student Learning ($100) Dr. Will Miller, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Accreditation is at a crossroads. In this interactive workshop, participants will examine the current priorities of institutional and specialized accreditors, with a focus on institutional effectiveness and assessment-related standards. We will critically explore whether these standards truly support student learning—or simply reinforce compliance. Through guided discussion and collaborative brainstorming, participants will envision more meaningful approaches to accreditation and draft alternative standards that emphasize learning, equity, and continuous improvement. Join us to contribute ideas that can help shift the narrative: accreditation should not be a barrier to innovation but a catalyst for student-centered transformation. | ||
| Sunday | 8:30am - 4:00pm (additional fee and pre-registration required) | |
| Newcomers Workshop ($100) Dr. Eric Godin, St. Thomas University, and Carolyn Mata, CM Education Insights and Solutions The workshop will provide an introduction to institutional research, its principal components, and the practices of institutional researchers including the sourcing of data, communication and reporting of data, and the role of institutional research in supporting assessment and accreditation. The workshop will also address how institutional research offices function and how to be an effective practitioner of institutional research. Lunch is included with this session. | ||
| Best Practices for Data-Informed Program Review and New Program Selection ($175) Dr. Seth Houston, UQ Solutions, and Dr. Gary Daynes, Salem College Many institutions want to implement data-informed program management processes, but many struggle with the best approach to doing so. In this session, we will share best practices we have developed through consulting with many colleges and universities, and through our popular “UQ Foundations” course. We will share:
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| Sunday | 8:30-11:30am (additional fee and pre-registration required) | |
| Bridging Tradition and Technology with dplyr and ggplot2 ($100) Dr. Charlie Wilder and Dr. Rachel Whitman Rotch, Auburn University Join us for an exciting workshop that enhances your data manipulation and visualization toolkit using the innovative dplyr and ggplot2 packages in R Studio. Designed for both beginners and those looking to deepen their knowledge, this session offers a unique opportunity to explore the intersection of historical data practices and cutting-edge technology. Dive into the R interface and master key dplyr verbs (mutate, select, filter, arrange, summarize) and the main arguments of ggplot2 (geoms, aes, themes, scales). You'll gain hands-on experience during this guided walk-through with a provided dataset. Bring your laptop with R installed and be ready to innovate! | ||
| Streamlining Data Requests using Microsoft Power Automate ($100) Mr. Lee Howell, Florida State University Join our pre-conference workshop to discover how automation can transform your business processes. This hands-on session will guide you through creating and managing automated workflows using Microsoft Power Automate and Forms, focusing on practical applications for data requests. Learn to identify automation opportunities and implement robust automated systems across various business functions. Enhance productivity, improve data accuracy, and foster innovation within your organization by mastering these essential tools and strategies. Gain the skills to revolutionize efficiency and strategic capabilities in your workplace. | ||
| The Assessment Playbook: From Data Graveyard to Strategic Impact ($100) Dr. Naima Wells and Dr. Will Miller, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Let's be honest: for many, the word "assessment" is the most dreaded in any planning meeting. It conjures images of dusty binders and data reports destined for a digital graveyard, rarely sparking the real change they're meant to. But what if your assessment process could be transformed from a compliance chore into your most powerful strategic compass? This session is your opportunity to step off the hamster wheel of reporting and learn how to make your assessment data tell a compelling story. This isn't a lecture; it's a hands-on lab for institutional architects. You will roll up your sleeves and learn to:
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| Sunday | 1:00-4:00pm (additional fee and pre-registration required) | |
| Getting Started with R for Institutional Research ($100) Mrs. Katlyn Bagley-Sepsey, Furman University This hands-on workshop provides a gentle introduction to R and the tidyverse for Institutional Research professionals. Using web-based tools developed specifically for IR, participants will learn how to clean, explore, and visualize data—no prior coding experience needed. | ||
| PowerBI Day One: Getting Started with PowerBI Dashboards ($100) Mr. Andrew Brady and Mrs. Logan A. Poland, Florida State University Power BI is a business analytics service by Microsoft. This software provides interactive visualizations and business intelligence capabilities with an interface that end users can create their own reports and dashboards. In a hands-on training structure, instructors guide users on building a Power BI dashboard from the ground up. The session starts with basic data cleaning in Excel and concludes with an interactive dashboard featuring several visualizations. Along the way, the user will learn important information and navigation of the tool, import the cleaned dataset, build the visualizations, incorporate interactive slicers (filters) and format the final dashboard. | ||
| Creating, Implementing, and Evaluating a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP): Lessons Learned, from Troy University ($100) Dr. Richard Ledet, Troy University Are you involved with a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP)? If so, this workshop is probably for you. Led by a QEP Director in the process of preparing the final “Impact Report” required by SACSCOC, the workshop provides participants with a chance to learn about the development, implementation, and impact assessment processes, and discuss issues with their QEP. From deciding what to do and how it should be done, determining who should be involved and how to maximize resources, as well as suggestions about ways to incentivize participants and evaluate progress, no QEP-related topic is off limits! |