New Corsava Logo!
First and foremost, we are excited to share our new logo with you! It was fun to go through the design process, thinking about what makes our applications unique, while keeping in mind the cards that serve as the foundation of Corsava. I like the way it feels—very active and suggestive of a student making choices when considering their college options. We are looking forward to building new features for you and your students, and this logo has just the right positive attitude to help us do that.
Corsava Now Part of the AWS EdStart Program
In the spirit of our students’ college notification season, I want to share some great acceptance news of our own. This week, we became part of the AWS EdStart Program, giving Corsava access to Amazon’s team, which will support our development of innovative solutions for your students. The possibilities for Corsava and for you and your students have expanded with this great program, and we are really looking forward to working with the Amazon team and other EdTech partners around the world to grow Corsava.
What’s New for You and Your Students
We have been working on a lot of enhancements to our platform these last few months; thank you for the feedback! Here is a look behind the scenes at some new offerings and a peek at what’s ahead…
High School Search for Your Student Accounts
We have licensed the CEEB codes (think Common App list of high schools) to provide a better experience when your students enter their high school as they create their account. We also added an advanced search capability that allows your students to quickly find and select their school. Gone is the zip code box, as it is the rare student who would know the zip code of their high school!
Corsava Usability Study
In January, we were excited to be selected by the University of Washington Human-Centered Design and Engineering Department for a usability study; it just wrapped up at the end of March. We learned a lot from the graduate students who tested Corsava’s platform with several high school students and are in the process of making changes based on their recommendations (and your input!). The UW team came to Corsava’s office to make a final presentation of their findings, but I got a preview during the class presentations from our team and others who were doing studies for Microsoft, Zillow, REI and others. We were honored to have Corsava included in this cohort, and it was fascinating to watch the testing process and findings. Look for more enhancements to the student experience based on their feedback. I also now know a lot more about a very cool department at UW.
Corsava Now Accessible on GuidedPath
Corsava is now displayed on the GuidedPath platform so that you can easily access the card sort and impressions features. We are looking forward to presenting with the GuidedPath team in June, highlighting the features of Corsava for their users. Look for an invitation coming soon from GuidedPath.
Streamlined Student Invitation Process
We have streamlined the student invitation process by reducing the options down to the two most popular methods. As before, the first is using your registration link and sharing it with your students. You can copy and paste the link in the Registration Link box to your organization website or send the link to your students. The second is popular with counselors who want to add a student before sending them an invitation. Simply add a student’s name and class in the Add a Student section, and then go to their profile page and invite them via email using the Send Invite option. Both methods tie your students’ accounts to your account.
Students Share Their College Impressions
It is college visit season, and more and more students are adding their college impressions during their visits or research, helping them drill down to what is important to them at the colleges on their list. Once students complete a sort, either you or your student can add their colleges to their account and begin adding impressions. Students access their list, impressions, and notes by clicking on My Stuff once they are logged in. You will be able to see in real time what they think of their Must Have and Would Be Nice cards at all of their colleges and discuss it with them—a great “homework assignment.” As students start giving their impressions, their colleges will be ranked accordingly. It is fun to see how their preferences for their college experience start to line up with their impressions at each school. We have just switched the direction of the star ratings to correspond to the card sort—that just made more sense!
You can read more about how using Corsava during college visits can benefit your students' interview, application, and decision processes in one of our earlier blogs. It’s interesting that visits really change students’ preferences (Wow, I loved the sense of community and outdoorsy feel at that rural college I never wanted!), so completing a card sort after tours and/or research can help students clarify their interests and change their list in a big way as they approach a final decision.
Card Sort Tip: During or after a card sort, I like to ask my students if they do better when they are Pushed By Their Peers or if they prefer being Top of Their Class. Most students don’t know what the latter card means, so this provokes some interesting conversations, and often they stop and think hard before answering. If a student does better being surrounded by students who are more academically focused, it can often mean their stretch schools will be a better fit than their more solid choices where they might be on the top of the heap. Just some food for thought……