August Institutional Research webinar
This map of registrants shows the geography of folks who came together across the Northeastern US
🟦 The Hudson Valley (north of NYC) and the Eastern New York Institutional Research groups invited us to present a data equity webinar in August. Thirty-some experts in higher education actively engaged in and brought their practice to the event. Not familiar with institutional research? The field utilizes data, analytics, information, and evidence for decision making to benefit students in higher education.
❝It was great to witness the realtime learning at this workshop. It reflected one of the hallmarks of our work at LA Tech4Good: helping folks translate data equity theory and concepts into relevant and useful practice.❞ –Mary Lang
A confirmation: equity work is an ongoing practice
Betsy Carroll, event organizer and Director of Institutional Research and Effectiveness at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park NY, had this to say about the event’s success:
Our professional organization asked LA Tech4Good to present a webinar about equitable data practices in our field. Generally we are eager to contribute to this kind of work, but we need some expertise to turn motivation into action. The webinar was so useful especially because LA Tech4Good took the time to learn about our field, so the webinar was a bit tailored to the kind of work we do and the kind of impact we can potentially make.
Sometimes when the world is changing, intentions aren't enough. So many of us, including many of my colleagues in higher education, are hungry for the equity changes happening around us. It can be frustrating to want to contribute when our hearts are right there but we aren't completely sure how to contribute. I'm not a content area expert in equity work, so I need to tap into those experts and learn how to adapt what they know to my work and my field. I've been exploring the options for several years now, attending webinars and workshops, talking to experts and organizations, and trying to understand how to make change in my field.
In this exploration I came across LA Tech4Good - my first contact was their website. That was a fantastic experience for me - the language that they use resonated with me and the resources were new to me and exciting. I began to think I might have discovered some experts to collaborate with. We scheduled a webinar to test this idea with fantastic results.
The webinar gave me many things to think about and resources to familiarize myself with. But perhaps the most important takeaway was a confirmation of something I had suspected - equity work is an ongoing practice. It takes some degree of commitment and is likely to improve with practice. Equity work is sometimes not perfect but there seems to be a community who are all trying together to learn more and do better because the work is so important. I think our webinar was a first step for me and 30 of my colleagues to start this practice together - exploring, learning, and contributing to positive change.
❝Data equity is a top priority in our shop; I logged off with many... ideas on how I can be a better data practitioner.❞
Jeannette Lim, Associate Director of Institutional Effectiveness at Bergen Community College in Paramus NJ, also commented:
I really appreciated the format of the session with the breakout discussions and the time allotted to the Data Ethics Case Study. I'm keen on sharing this resource as data equity is a top priority in our IR/IE shop... I thought the discussions about FGCS in breakout room 3 were invaluable, and I came away with ideas for how we could possibly obtain this info from our student body (those who haven't self-reported this info via FAFSA). It was a good experience; I logged off with many takeaways from the larger presentation and breakout group discussions, as well as ideas on how I can be a better data practitioner.