Students as Data Partners: Co-Creating Evidence-Based AI Strategies for Campus Policies

When students research students, the data tells a different story. This student panel explores groundbreaking student-led research that uncovered surprising truths about AI usage in higher education—insights that administrative surveys and vendor promises completely missed. Student panelists will discuss the findings, share what resonates most from a student perspective, and explain why peer-to-peer research reveals patterns that traditional data collection overlooks. You'll hear what the research uncovered, why it matters for your institution, and how inviting students into research design creates better policy outcomes than traditional top-down approaches. Whether you're drafting your first AI campus policies or revising existing guidelines, you'll leave with a replicable research framework, practical policy recommendations grounded in evidence, and strategies for making students genuine partners in institutional decision-making.