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Reflect and Reimagine: 10 Years of Shaping Higher Education
The Brown Hotel | Louisville, KY, USA
July 30 – August 2, 2023
University of Louisville is honored to host the 10th annual Bluenotes GLOBAL 2023 conference in Louisville, Kentucky! Join our Bluenotes Community in person for four experience-rich days of knowledge sharing, learning, networking and professional development.
Pre-conference workshops, community meetups, and an opening welcome reception are scheduled on July 30.
Early-bird Discounts End on April 28, 2023
Hosted by the University of Louisville, Sponsored by Explorance
WHY BLUENOTES GLOBAL 2023?
The Bluenotes GLOBAL Conference remains the place to meet, share, discuss, and learn about innovative solutions that Bluenotes Community institutions in Higher Education are implementing to improve teaching effectiveness and enhance the student learning experience.
We hear increasingly from higher education leaders that the last few years have been an inflection point where much-debated transformations of higher education have accelerated. Leaders also expressed that higher education as we knew it will not return, and no institution can successfully navigate the transformation from vision to sustainability without placing student’ success and experiences at the center.
To help navigate the higher education transformation, Bluenotes community academic institutions are automating feedback collection and analysis with Blue, a holistic People Insights platform.
In 2023, Bluenotes Community institutions are coming together to share their experiences in automating data collection, improving engagement, and reporting for insight-informed actions that can drive teaching effectiveness and student success. Join to connect, share, problem solve together, and inform Explorance’s product direction.
See Bluenotes GLOBAL 2023 In Action!
WHAT YOU WILL EXPERIENCE
Bluenotes GLOBAL 2023 provides impactful professional development opportunities to:
- Immerse yourself in a community of like-minded peers who are passionate about sharing experiences, discussing new ideas, and innovating together for student success and teaching effectiveness
- Make friends, collaborate with others, and have fun at exclusive social networking events making each other smarter
- Problem-solve together, share lessons learned, feel inspired, and brainstorm new ways, while empowering others to do the same
- Advance your professional development through experience-rich sessions, hands-on workshops, certification training camps, and opportunities to speak directly with Explorance staff and influence Explorance product direction
- Connect with a global group of collaborative thinkers to expand your professional network of like-minded peers
- Thrive in the culture of continuous improvement by leveling up your skills, elevating your expertise, and growing your career
Make a Business Case for Budget & Travel Approval
Download the editable budget and travel approval request letter for your use, in order to help make a business case with the information that your decision makers need to approve your attendance to Bluenotes GLOBAL 2023.
KEY DATES
| KEY DATE | TO REMEMBER |
|---|---|
| October 17, 2022: NOW OPEN | Early Bird Registration Opens |
| December 7, 2022: LAST DAY | Deadline for Faculty Research Grant proposal submission |
| April 28, 2023: LAST DAY | Early Bird Registration Ends; Special Bundle Discount Ends
Download the editable budget and travel approval request letter |
| June 9, 2023: LAST DAY | Call for Presentation Proposals Closes |
| July 14, 2023: LAST DAY | Discounted Hotel Rate Ends for the The Brown Hotel (Conference Venue) |
| July 14, 2023: LAST DAY | Conference Registration Closes |
| July 28 – 30, 2023: Training Camp | Blue Report Master Certification (BRMC) & Blue Expert Certification (BEC) Training Camps |
| July 29, 2023: Training Camp | Blue Administrator Onboarding Training Camp |
| July 30, 2023: LAST DAY | Registration Fee Due [Early bird rates honored to those who register before April 28, 2023] |
| July 30 – August 2, 2023 | Bluenotes GLOBAL 2023 Conference [Pre-conference activities on July 30] |
Highlighted below are various learning activities and networking activities planned to connect, share, learn, discuss and advance student learning and development with your fellow Bluenotes community members and Explorance experts.
PRE-CONFERENCE LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES ON JULY 30
There will be various pre-conference activities to connect, share, and learn with your community colleagues on Sunday, July 30.
- The pre-conference workshops are mainly for Blue Administrators who want to gain a better understanding of the Blue suite of products and to learn about recent product updates and releases.
- The community meetups are planned for the Blue Experts Community, the Business Schools Community, the Medical and Health Sciences Community, and the Reporting & Analytics Community.
- If you’d like to hold a Bluenotes Regional Chapter meetup, let us know by contacting the Bluenotes Community Engagement Support Team.
The pre-conference learning activities do not require an additional fee. However, space is limited, so please register early.
| Sunday, July 30 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| TIME | WORKSHOP: Foundational Level | WORKSHOP: Advanced Level | COMMUNITY MEETUP |
|
9:00 AM to 10:15 AM |
Learn about How to Get Actionable Insights from Comments with BlueML and Customize a BlueML Model to Meet Your Institution’s Needs With Blue Machine Learning (BlueML), you can see what matters most to your learners and employees, instantly getting actionable insights from their comments. In addition, with Blue Machine Learning (BlueML), you can see what matters most to your learners and employees, instantly getting actionable insights from their comments. Join this hands-on workshop Join this hands-on workshop to learn about easy-to-use functionalities of BlueML that can help you glean insights from students’ comments quickly and also learn about how to use advanced features in BlueML, such as variable mappings and custom topic views, in support of your institution’s unique needs. |
Blue – Design Workshop Dive into the Blue user experience! Our interactive design workshop is a canvas for your creative insight. Immerse in engaging activities to help us understand your needs better. No prior preparation, just bring your enthusiasm. Let’s kickstart this journey with a hot cup of coffee. Together, we’ll push design frontiers and co-create something spectacular. We are excited about this partnership in UI/UX for Blue 9 and beyond! |
Blue Experts Community Meetup (a closed session for certified Blue Experts) |
|
10:45 AM to 12:00 PM |
Preparing your Data for Evaluation with Advanced Data Structure – Relationship Demographics and Three-level Relationship in Blue In this workshop, we will show you how to work with relationship demographics and three-level relationship to provide more flexibility and control over the course evaluation and reporting processes. Utilizing additional data fields will offer you more options for setting triggers, different types of filters, and other conditional rules. As a result, students can select whom or what to evaluate while providing more granular options for reporting. Build a project in a way that students can evaluate their complete learning experience (lectures, tutorials, labs, instructors, TAs, etc) in one survey. |
Learn How to Empower Your Faculty and Academic Administrators to Glean Actionable Insights Using the Latest Version of the Blue Dashboard How well is this program doing? How do you see trends over time between multiple courses across multiple projects? What level of correlations exist between various aspects of courses? How are our instructors doing (ranking)? Why are my department’s response rates not going up? In this workshop, you will learn how to analyze data from across your projects in Blue in a way to visualize key aspects of teaching and learning for stakeholders at various levels. Break the data silo with Blue Dashboard! |
Medical & Health Sciences Community Meetup
|
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12:00 PM
|
Lunch Break |
||
|
1:00 PM to 2:15 PM |
Set up Reports in Restructured Report Settings and Report Styling (CSS) in Blue for Greater Visual Impact and Better Report Viewing Experience In this workshop, you will have hands-on experience in new reporting settings in Blue where related report options are grouped together for easier access with new defaults (including emails turned off and authentication on) to help set up reports more quickly. You will also learn about a new report color theme that features updated fonts, optimized borders and spacing, restyled table and chart formatting, refreshed report listing page, and other refinements. |
How to use the Question Bank to Handle a Large Questionnaire for Cascaded Evaluations Join this session to have hands-on experience in using the Question Bank functionality in Blue to build questions applying a cascaded assessment structure that can provide instructors, academic administrators, and students with meaningful and relevant feedback. In addition, in this workshop you will also learn how to build a report using Question Bank Report Blocks. Set up, go live, and troubleshoot! |
Business Schools Community Meetup |
|
2:45 PM to 4:00 PM |
Setting up Midterm Surveys in Blue More and more institutions are implementing midterm surveys to help instructors improve students’ learning experience and teaching effectiveness. In this workshop, you will have hands-on experience in setting up a midterm survey project, subject management, and reports for instructors. |
Learn How Enhancements in Data Integrity Gateway (DIG) 3.0 Can Further Optimize Your Data Preparation The Data Integrity Gateway (DIG) is a tool that will help you prepare your data for survey and evaluation automation. In this workshop, you will have hands-on experience in enhanced features and functionalities in DIG 3.0. |
Reporting & Analytics Community Meetup |
|
6:00 PM
|
Welcome Reception – The Brown Hotel Rooftop |
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MEET THE CEO
Schedule a 15-minute meeting for a one-on-one conversation with the Explorance CEO, Samer Saab (Only 20 appointment time slots are available).
- Select “yes” to scheduling a one-on-one meeting with Samer Saab during the registration process
SPEAK WITH EXPLORANCE STAFF
Throughout the conference, there will be four stations available for you to meet one-on-one with Explorance staff, including:
- “I need help” – Customer Support Station
- “I have feedback” – Product Management Station
- “I have challenges” – Consultation Station
- “I want to see and try what’s new” – Product Demo Station
- “I want to try UX/UI” – UX/UI Station
DOOR PRIZES
Three door prizes will be randomly drawn at the Bluenotes GLOBAL 2023 Conference. Attendees will be automatically entered to win 1 of 3 all-inclusive trips to the 2024 conference – a value of up to $3,500 USD each!
- Win 1 of 3 all-inclusive trips to a Explorance World 2024 in Montreal, Canada
Welcome Reception: Sunday, July 30 | Rooftop at the Brown Hotel, 6pm
- Meet and greet your fellow Bluenotes Community members with cocktails and canapés
Networking Dinner & Social Event: Tuesday, August 1 | Main Event, 6pm
- Enjoy an evening of fun and food suitable for all ages. Play billiards, classic arcade games, bowl on pro lanes, challenge your colleagues in laser tag, or master the obstacle course of gravity ropes!
SUPPORTING LOCAL CHARITIES
Explorance focuses on people, those in the communities in which we host our conference as well as those attending the conference, with our passion for improving lives. Your conference registration helps local charities. Explorance is committing a $18,000 donation to local charities, and conference attendees will determine the allocation of this donation. Three local charities have been identified to receive a portion of the $18,000 commitment. At the time of registration, attendees will vote for their preferred charity. The $18,000 donation will be allocated as follows:
- #1 most selected charity: $10,000
- #2 most selected charity: $5,000
- #3 most selected charity: $3,000
Please select one of the charities below during your registration process:
Blessings in a Backpack www.blessingsinabackpack.org
Blessings in a Backpack ensures that kids nationwide have full bellies over the weekend by sending them home on Fridays with backpacks full of satisfying and healthy food.
Maryhurst www.maryhurst.org
Maryhurst stands together with the children and families of Kentucky who are facing crisis – offering healing and hope.
Kentucky Humane Society www.kyhumane.org
The Kentucky Humane Society is a champion for companion animals. Through leadership, education and proactive solutions, they are creating more compassionate communities.
CONFERENCE REGISTRATION FEES
Early Bird: ends April 28, 2023
- Single Attendee Registration: $599 USD (33% discount)
- Group of 3 (buy two, and get a third registration free): $1,198 USD (instead of $1,797 USD) for 3 people (55% discount)
Regular: ends July 14, 2023 (any registration made thereafter may not appear in the printed program)
- Single Attendee Registration: $895 USD
- Group of 3 (buy two, and get a third registration free): $1,790 USD (instead of $2,685 USD) for 3 people (33% discount)
Conference Registration Fee includes: Bluenotes GLOBAL 2023 conference attendance including pre-conference workshops, breakfast, lunch, and refreshments daily, a welcome cocktail reception, and social networking dinner. Travel and lodging expenses are not included in the registration fee.
SPECIAL LEARNING BUNDLE (with BEC or BRMC Training Camp)
Conference Registration + Certification Training Camp (special learning bundle discount ends April 28, 2023)
- 1 Conference Registration + 1 Training Camp (BEC or BRMC) Seat
- $3,800 USD (35% discount; regular rate is $5,845)
- Group: 3 Conference Registrations + 1 Training Camp (BEC or BRMC) Seat
- $4,045 USD (47% discount; regular rate is $7,635)
Group Special Learning Bundle applies to attendees from the same organization.
SPECIAL LEARNING BUNDLE (with Blue Administrator Onboarding Training Camp)
Conference Registration + Onboarding Training Camp (special learning bundle discount ends April 28, 2023)
- 1 Conference Registration + 1 Blue Administrator Onboarding Training Camp Seat
- $1,225 USD (35% discount; regular rate is $1,890)
- Group: 3 Conference Registrations + 3 Blue Administrator Onboarding Training Camp Seats
- $3,375 USD (40% discount; regular rate is $5,670)
Group: Special Learning Bundle applies to attendees from the same organization.
Note: Register now and reserve your place. You can pay later, as the submission of your conference registration form and the payment of the conference registration fee are handled separately.
- Once you submit your conference registration, your attendance and selected preferences will be reserved for you. A conference registration confirmation email will be sent to the email address indicated on your registration form with payment details.
- Payments may be completed through credit card payment via this payment link or by contacting Becky Patterson directly.
- You may complete your payment at any time prior to July 30, 2023. The early bird special rates will be honored to those who register before the early bird pricing ends.
We strongly recommend registering your attendance as soon as possible to ensure your preferred choices are available and your place is saved.
Dates
July 28 – 30 Training Camps
- July 28-30: BRMC & BEC Training Camp
- July 29: BOC Training Camp
July 30 – August 2 Conference
- July 30: Pre-conference Workshops & Community Meetups
- July 31 – August 2: BNG 2023 Conference
Conference Registration Rates
EARLY BIRD: $599 USD
- Buy two & get a third registration free (ends April 28, 2023)
REGULAR: $895 USD
- Buy two & get a third registration free (ends July 14, 2023)
Special Learning Bundles
Conference Registration + BEC, BRMC, or BOC training: Take advantage of the special learning bundle discounts (ends April 28, 2023) .
What’s included in the registration fee?
- Conference registration fee includes the conference attendance including pre-conference workshops, breakfast, lunch, and refreshments daily, a welcome cocktail reception, and social networking dinner.
- Travel and lodging costs are not included in the registration fee
Networking Events
Sunday, July 30
- Welcome Reception | Brown Hotel rooftop
Tuesday, August 1
- Social Networking Dinner Event | Main Event
Conference Theme
Reflect and Reimagine: 10 Years of Shaping Higher Education
CONFERENCE VENUE & ROOM RESERVATIONS
The Brown Hotel
- 335 West Broadway, Louisville, Kentucky 40202
- For more information on the Brown Hotel click here
Group Rate
- A discounted room rate of $173 USD per night is now available for all Bluenotes GLOBAL 2023 attendees and certification training camp attendees.
- This discounted rate will be available for the nights of Thursday, July 27 through Thursday, August 3, 2023 inclusive.
- Please reserve early as this discounted rate of $173 USD will only be available until July 14, 2023.
Reserve your Accommodations
- Phone: If you wish to reserve your room by telephone, please call the Brown Hotel reservation line at 1-888-888-5252 and reference “Bluenotes GLOBAL 2023” to receive the nightly rate of $173 USD.
- Online: If you wish to reserve your room online, please book your reservation through this link to have the discounted rate automatically applied.
TRAVELING TO LOUISVILLE
Airport
Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport (SDF), is 7 miles from downtown Louisville, where the Brown Hotel is located. Check out the terminal map here.
Airport – Hotel
The Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport (SDF) is 6 miles to the Brown Hotel. Drive time is approximately 9 minutes and typical taxi fare is around $35 USD. There is also the option of taking the bus (also known as the TARC, which is short for Transit Authority of River City), or ride shares such as Lyft or Uber, which are located in the in the baggage claim area, on the west side of the terminal. For more travel options, visit the SDF’s to-and-from airport page.
Things to See & Do
Considering a vacation before or after the conference? There is something for everyone in Louisville! Visit the Louisville Tourism website for the city’s top attractions, dining and nightlife, shopping, arts and culture, sporting events, and everything in between.
Hear What Past Bluenotes GLOBAL Attendees Are Saying
“The Bluenotes GLOBAL Conference continues to be the best professional development opportunity each year. The community is so supportive and open to sharing their knowledge. The conference balances sessions focusing on the pragmatic details of implementing Blue with sessions expanding on broader perspectives like the relevance of course evaluations and incorporating feedback in decision–making processes. Most of all, the wonderful people at both Explorance and the Bluenotes community is what keeps me coming back every year!”
– Christina Pomykal, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Eshelman School of Pharmacy
“Again another epic Bluenotes conference despite joining remotely. The ability to talk not only to Explorance Experts but to network with community members and share experiences made this an extremely valuable conference. Thanks to all the organisers, Explorance and attendees for making this definitely worth my while attending! “
– Julie Mulvey, Durham University
“Bluenotes GLOBAL is a great opportunity to share ideas and engage with the excellent community around Blue and course evaluations more broadly.”
– Gregory Hum, University of Toronto
“The conference is a valuable opportunity to network with peers at other institutions and to share pain points, innovative solutions and best practices. I’ve been able to attend three years in a row and each year I’ve gotten left with plans to improve my processes in Blue based on what I learned from conference sessions and discussions.”
– Heather Thompson, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
“I attend a variety of higher education professional development conferences. My first Bluenotes was among the best in my career. This excellent event is a continuation of the product/service excellence we receive from Explorance. Thank you.”
– Rob Downie, Fanshawe College
“A great conference that was very worthwhile attending, both for meeting practitioners from around the world, and the high quality papers and mix of topics from increasing response rates through to machine learning applied to text analytics. There were so many good sessions, and I am still writing up all of my notes.”
– Tim Linsey, Kingston University
Bluenotes GLOBAL 2023 Contact:
CONNECT. SHARE. LEARN. GROW.