How Bluepulse Made its Name at BbWORLD 2014

Bathed in the luminous glow of the strip, serenaded by the cacophony of slot machines and jeers from the crowd, engulfed by a dry desert heat, and with a hint of air conditioned oxygen rich casino floor air, the Explorance Team found themselves once again in Las Vegas for the penultimate Blackboard conference, BbWORLD 2014.

It’s always funny returning to a place that seems so familiar, yet remains constantly influx and thus never the same. Having been Platinum Sponsors at BbWORLD for three years, with the added benefit of being a Blackboard Premier Partner, has afforded us plenty of opportunity to connect with serious people looking to make a difference in higher education.

This year was particularly important for us as we have been hard at work developing and perfecting new tools for instructors and institutions. One tool in particular was a huge success at the conference, Bluepulse.

Released only a few months ago, there has been quite a bit of buzz around this sort of technology being used in the classroom. Bluepulse is a social feedback tool that is used by instructors to zero in on opportunities to improve their teaching approach and the learning experience for students. Ultimately, it’s way for instructors to gauge the ‘pulse’ of a classroom to make meaningful, incremental changes to the course environment to help improve mid- and end-of-term evaluations.

It was a real pleasure demonstrating the functionality of Bluepulse to potential users at BbWORLD. Faculty members’ and instructors’ eyes lit up when we showed them the tool. Part of the attraction is its simplicity and application. Potential users saw the immediate impact that Bluepulse could have on teaching and learning and how this positive impact could really improve the learning outcomes for students. Part of the excitement comes from having tools at the faculty level that are focused on improvement rather than evaluation.

An interesting statistic was published in a report, The Changing Academic Workforce, from the Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges. The May/June 2013 issue goes on to state that in 1969, 78.3% of teaching posts were tenure-track positions. Fast forward to 2009 and that number drops to 33.5%. This statistic alone is very telling, in that instructors are thirsty for tools to help them hone their craft, adapt to the changing classroom landscape and make meaningful improvements to meet student expectations of their post-secondary education.

The genesis for a tool like Bluepulse is an interesting one. To get a better grasp on why it is so important, we created this cool Bluepulse videos to shed some light on how when student and instructors collaborate to improve, everybody wins.