2025NEeanFF: NEean Fall Forum (virtual) 2025 Virtual via Zoom November 7, 2025 |
| Conference website | https://neean.wildapricot.org/ |
| Abstract registration deadline | August 8, 2025 |
| Submission deadline | August 8, 2025 |
2025 NEean Virtual Fall Forum Session Proposal
Proposed Session Title: Taking Flight with AI and Technology in Assessment
Presenter Information:
Dr. Karen Pain
Executive Director of Academic Assessment
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Florida
5685 Basil Drive, West Palm Beach, FL 33415
386-241-6057
paink@erau.edu
Session Type: Regular Presentation (45 minutes including up to 15 minutes for questions, conversation)
Conference Track: AI as Partner, Not Replacement: Assessment Technology for Mission-Driven Results – Leverage AI and assessment technologies as strategic tools that enhance human judgment and connect data collection directly to institutional mission and student success. (#2)
Intended Audience: Assessment Professionals
Abstract: Charting assessment in 2025 has something in common with piloting an aircraft: success depends on harnessing available instruments, making real-time adjustments, and staying on course. Just as modern aviation relies on both human judgment and sophisticated autopilots, assessment professionals today can leverage AI and technology not as replacements but as co-pilots—partnering to reach new heights of academic impact.
Session Description
(a) Session Objectives
- Define the changing role of AI and technology in assessment practices.
- Connect the process to the institutional mission.
- Address common challenges.
- Share strategies for effective and sustainable technology integration.
(b) Institutional Impact
This session will explore ways to harness AI and assessment technologies to design and execute assessment plans that do more than generate data—they inform action, drive improvement, and keep mission, impact, and student success at the forefront. Challenges such as data overload, resistance to new technology, and the need to align initiatives with institutional goals will be considered as critical points where strategic use of technology makes the difference between stalling out and making measurable progress.
The session will provide practical guidance for assessment professionals. It will discuss how to leverage technology as a multiplier for human insight, a catalyst for positive change, and a direct link between assessment data, institutional impact, and successful outcomes. While focused on academic assessment, these approaches are equally effective for institution-wide initiatives.
(c) Applicability of Information to Other Institutions
The societal roles of AI and other technologies are applicable universally. Similarly, mission-driven initiatives are widely practiced across many sectors, including higher education. The points discussed in the presentation will easily be relevant to the emerging and related challenges and opportunities commonly faced by assessment professionals. Nothing in the presentation will be dependent on the size, type, accrediting agencies, location, or other characteristics of an institution, and in this way, the content is applicable to other institutions.
Five main segments will define the presentation format:
- Preflight Inspection: Embracing AI and Assessment Technologies in Higher Education
- Flight Plan: Connecting Data Collection to Mission and Academic Impact as the Foundation
- Navigating Turbulence: Turning Obstacles into Opportunities
- Smooth Landings: Maximizing Impact and Success through Effective and Sustainable Strategies
- Post-Flight Review: The Journey is Common – Personalizing the Session to Identify as a Passenger or Pilot and Find Key Takeaways
It is expected that the first four segments will empower participants to see AI and assessment technologies as powerful, strategic tools that can directly connect data collection and analysis to institutional mission and academic impact. Through practical strategies and examples, assessment professionals will learn how to maximize the benefits of technology, ensuring that every data point collected serves a clear purpose—driving improvement, demonstrating success, and advancing institutional goals. The final segment will allow attendees to personalize to their institutional environments.
(d) Opportunities for Audience Participation
Polls will be woven into the each of the four planned segments to keep the audience engaged and prepared for the conversation and/or questions that are planned as the final component. Samples of interactions during the presentation components include rating (1) their comfort level with AI and other applicable technology, (2) the degree of pressure they feel to adopt new technology practices, (3) their level of difficulty connecting data to impact and decisions. They will also be asked to identify their most persistent barrier in using AI or technology.