As we get ready to launch new features in the next few weeks, I can’t help but think back to my original intent in creating Corsava. My goal has always been to help students everywhere think in new and impactful ways as they consider their options after high school. I never want to lose sight of the fact that as counselors we are here for students—to help them discover what is important to them as they consider their options, and balance this with the other facets of the process that will play a part in their final decision. It has been so rewarding to get your feedback and hear stories of the impact Corsava is having on students in such different settings. I am confident that we are making a change for the better.
Student Tips and Progress Bar
We upgraded the student interface to be more friendly and fun through graphics and helpful tips. During each phase in the Corsava process, as a supplement to their counselor or as a stand-alone feature should students not have access to a counselor, tips are presented to help students explore their options.
Our goal is to help students become more knowledgeable about each of their choices in a fun and interactive way. From writing a more informed application to understanding why a particular college is a better fit, students who understand the “why” when it comes to each college will more fully engage when meeting with college representatives or interviewing. Whether a student is going it alone or completing an assignment from a counselor, the tips will be an easy way to help encourage them to explore their options at a more powerful level.
The tips will encourage students to add a college list to their account and give their impressions, adding clarity to how each college lines up with their top preferences. For those counselors who add colleges to their student’s account, the tips will encourage their students to complete a card sort, add their geographic preferences and colleges, and provide impressions of each of their colleges. I especially like the new progress bar, which allows students (and counselors) to view progress from the first card sort through to giving their impressions of colleges.
Student Registration
To increase security, we are updating the registration process. Students will no longer be able to access Corsava’s website and search the list of counselors to create an account. As before, Corsava’s student on-boarding system allows counselors to invite students in two ways:
Ask students to sign up using their registration link.
Create a student profile and send a personalized invitation via email.
Your students will also receive short, helpful email invitations and messaging throughout their experience. From pop-up notifications that appear the first time students log in to a more comprehensive user guide, counselors can feel confident that the student experience is positive and clearly presented in a fun and interactive way.
Invitation Status and Notifications
I often want to check to see if I’ve already invited a student to complete a card sort or if a student has received an invitation, and several other counselors contacted me with the same request. Counselors can now see a real-time list of the students who have been invited to create an account and do a card sort, and which email address an invitation was sent to. Counselors will receive a notification if the email bounces and can resend an invitation in case the student loses it.
And don’t forget a feature we built in a while back—the ability to receive an email notification when a student completes a card sort. I find this feature invaluable as it lets me know when a student card sort report is ready to view. You can select this option by logging into your Corsava account, clicking on your name in the top right window, and checking the box below.
Weighted Scores
We are always looking for ways to make Corsava Cloud work more efficiently for counselors and students, and in line with this, we have updated the algorithm that calculates student impression scores. Must Have cards are now given more weight over Would Be Nice cards in the numerical score that appears next to each college. So counselors won't have to worry about consistency going forward, we will retroactively update all previous impressions completed by students.
Parent Accounts
We all know how much more successful students are once they get to college if they have taken ownership of the process. The key is to keep everyone on the same page as early as possible in the process, opening up communication between parents, students, and counselors. We have been thinking a lot about how to do this so that counselors have the option to connect with students, while students also have the option of receiving the support they need outside of their counselor. I like our solution.
Your feedback regarding parent involvement and the creative ways you use Corsava Cards to engage parents got me thinking about ways to help them feel part of this important process, yet not increase the stress or workload of the counselor. Students will now be able to invite a parent to their account, giving them some fun tools to test out on their own. Parents are critical players in most students’ college process and often want to learn as much as they can and demystify the process to support their student through this exciting time in their life. In building this feature, I considered ways to encourage parents to walk alongside their child, if the student so chooses.
Families are clearly stressed about the entire college process. We all know how critical parental support and involvement can be, as we encourage them to walk alongside their child rather than taking the lead and dragging them along. However, when talking to counselors, there often is a conflict between keeping parents informed and also giving students the necessary independence as they go through this important developmental phase in their lives. It is a balancing act we all face as parents, as the college process is often the final opportunity to support our children before they fly the coop. And because parents often foot the bill for at least a portion of college, they want to be part of the process. I struggled with the best way to make this happen, and by giving the students control, I believe we achieved the correct balance.
If a student chooses to invite a parent to create a Corsava account linked to the student’s, parents will be able to view (no editing allowed!) their child’s card sort reports, location preferences, college list, and impressions of each of their colleges. Parents can also have fun being part of the process by completing one of their own card sorts and adding their impressions of the colleges. This is a great way to help families open discussions and compare what they thought their child wanted to a student’s own card sort results.
We have all met with families who have conflicting experiences or memories of college visits. Some parents asked for a way to add their own questions or impressions of a college after a campus tour or college fair interaction, and this is the perfect opportunity to make sure questions are addressed, putting everyone on the same page.
The Café
The Café has been growing and I am particularly excited about these growing numbers, as once we get to a particular threshold, we will be able to provide suggestions of colleges that meet individual card preferences. Reading your shared counselor notes, I have discovered a lot of new college facts, the key to making this a helpful community for all of us. My ultimate goal is to allow counselors to search by card through multiple colleges, generating recommendations based on card preferences. I am determined to make this a reality, and we are getting closer to helping students and counselors everywhere discover college options they may never have considered!
We added a College category to the other six card categories so that counselors can now provide notes and impressions of each of these five new cards that students already have access to. I like that I can now add notes with admissions updates after a college tour and am able to share that with other counselors. Several counselors asked for a way to provide an overall impression of the college after a visit, and I have enjoyed reading some of the shared notes when looking at specific colleges. Impressions are subjective, but when we start to see patterns in responses, that’s when they get even more valuable to us as counselors.
I also have been using the “like” button to support others who have given valuable information and/or shared notes.
Check out a few like Denison, Whitman, and UC Berkeley to see what other counselors have to say! You can tell if there is an impression note for an individual card at a college if the box is highlighted orange.
General Card Notes and Resources
Did you know you can add general notes for a card that applies to all colleges, not just a specific card at a college? This is a great opportunity to store information that is hanging around your office or bookmarked on your computer. For example, if you have tips or resources to help other counselors, you can add these by logging into your Corsava account, clicking Cards, and then going to a specific card to add your tips.
Here is an example of what counselors have been adding, in this case for the Engineering card. These are great resources to help students explore the many options that are out there, as so many of the programs are direct admit and students are often unaware of their options in the broad field of engineering. As we share the unique, collective knowledge and resources we have, having one place to add these bookmarked sites and office notes will make access to information easier.
New Cards and Updated Definitions
We have added two new cards to Corsava Cloud—Hispanic-Serving Institutions and One of a Crowd. You can check out these new cards and activate them by logging into your Corsava account, clicking on Cards at the top right, and then selecting the cards at the top of the page. This feature provides you with control over the cards your students will see when doing a sort, customizing your deck for individual students or for all of your students. We have also updated some definitions based on counselor feedback. Thank you for letting us know!
Did You Know?
Counselors remain the only users who can customize a deck, giving you control over what individual students or all of your students see when sorting the cards. You can customize your deck for all students by logging into your Corsava account, clicking on Cards, and selecting Customize Your Deck.
You can also customize a specific student’s deck by going to that student’s profile. Managing the card sort process is key to giving counselors the ability to customize the experience for their students.