At CampusGroups, we have been learning from our conversations with our software users, brainstorming and identifying new pain points in higher education. Every single day, we are creating new solutions to help our campus communities navigate and stay connected amidst COVID-19 limitations. As such, we are pleased to let you know about new remote-inclusive features in the works.

We are launching a new Web/Desktop version of our Orientation App for students attending orientation remotely and often logging on from their desktop. This web event app page will be an exact replication of the mobile app and allows campuses to share a link for new students to easily access everything that the orientation app has to offer!

Learn More About Online Orientation

This year, we want to help our campuses maximize involvement in groups, even when students might be studying remotely.

Accordingly, we are launching our new Virtual Involvement Fair feature, called "Virtual Fair"! This feature will allow our campuses to select a specific list of groups which will be displayed on a dedicated web and mobile responsive page. Students will be invited to attend and to start having conversations with groups via Group Chat and Live Video Conferencing.

The groups will have the ability to post their information as well as a video presentation to let prospective members learn about them. As they explore opportunities to become involved, students will be able to easily & virtually visit student organizations and join each group on the "stop".

Learn More About Virtual Involvement Fairs

Key Updates

1) Directory Improvements with New Matching Interests Feature

Now more than ever, it’s critical for students to connect with each other, so we are creating more opportunities for users to discover other users with common interests and goals. To help inspire new connections, we have created a way to automatically match users based on their interests.

Students will be asked to fill out their profiles just after signing in. On the Directory page, a new button allows users to see a curated list of “Suggested For You” connections, automatically matching users based on their interests. More profile information will also be displayed on each user profile card on the Directory page, and more filtering options have been added to the Directory page (interests, city, country, language, company, job title, etc.)

2) NEW FEED TOPICS FOR GROUPS

Groups are now able to create topics (similar to Microsoft Teams and Slack Channels) to allow for greater segmented conversations and improved collaboration among group officers and members. We are adding a way for groups to create and manage topics directly from the Feed page. Group topics will be displayed under each group name in the My Groups section on the left sidebar.

3) Change the Default Email/Password Login Method

Community administrators now have the ability to change the default email/password login method (usualy located under the Single Sign-On button), into a One-Time-Password (OTP) method: a 6-digit OTP will be sent to any non-SSO users trying to log on or create guest accounts on the platform. (They will be asked to enter their name and email address.)

Additionally, community administrators now have the ability to add a custom message at the top of this page, and can choose the landing page of the platform upon login (either the current home page, the feeds page or the events page). It is also now possible to insert custom JavaScript in the footer of the platform through a school configuration setting.

Please feel welcome to send us an email at support@campusgroups.com for more information!

4) New Accessibility Button & Navigation

Enhancing the campus experience for all students is the most important mission at CampusGroups. To continue improving the online experience and ensure ease of navigation for users with extra challenges, we have added a new Accessibility button that allows you to easily access your platform accessibility page where you can activate and deactivate "Accessible Mode" of the platform for a better accessible experience. This is available under your profile dropdown (top right corner).

We have also updated the home page Events display (aligning with accessibility best practices when this setting is turned on) and added a user setting to indicate the need for an accessible platform. When this setting is on, the platform will be modified for Assistive Technology usage and improved keyboard navigation throughout to follow accessibility best practices.

5) CONNECTIONS PROGRAMS

Our latest update allows you to send feedback requests to participants about their appointments. To activate this, go to your program setting and set "Send meeting feedback request to participant" to Yes. Feedback comments will be added to the already existing report under the list of appointments in the program.

You can also add answers from appointment participants to your custom questions that will now be displayed in the notification sent to you when a new appointment is booked (under the different appointment listings in a Connection Program under My Meetings) and generate a report for mentee feedback comments.

6) Manually Update Students' Earned Badges

A new "Run Completion" update button allows you to manually update badges earned by students to ensure involvement data is the most accurate it can be. This is useful when you are not certain if badges are up to date for everyone (e.g., if someone completed an action that should have awarded him a badge and he does not have it, you can simply click this new button to complete the verficiation for everyone and award badges tho those who earned it).

7) Revamped Duplicate Users Page

We have improved the Duplicate Users page to make it easier to use and more user-friendly. When you have two students with the same first and last name, you will be able to easily see if they are different people or duplicates. This is a very helpful way to allow administrators to efficiently clean up the list of users to merge by removing those people who are not duplicates with a new Mark as Not Duplicates button.

8) NEW MOBILE APP UPDATES

We have added new features to the Mobile App Builder! Six new buttons on the Mobile App Builder are making it easier to bring more features to your mobile app: Stores, Checklists, Connection Programs, Manage Groups, Admin and My Activity!

These buttons will open responsive web pages with the corresponding features from the web platform.

9) New Follow Up Email Button

We have created a new way to send a follow up email to selected members directly from the Opens & Clicks page. This is very useful for when you would like to target those recipients who have not yet opened the email you sent. Simply filter by Not Opened and click the Resend Email button to send the email again.

10) NEW MOBILE APP UPDATES

No school or group's needs are exactly alike. At CampusGroups, we are very proud to offer our campuses the ability to customize their platforms to suit their precise needs, and we are constantly striving to make sure our features allow for each school's personal touch. Accordingly, we have made it possible to target a specific web page with CSS rules by using an ID included in the body tag of the page. Additionally, you may now include custom JavaScript on the pages of your website, and the Newsletters dynamic widget can now be configured to only filter newsletters tagged with specific email tags.

What else is new?

11) For improved clarity and UX, the approvals button is now deactivated and hidden by default for elections.

12) When you write on the Feed, you can now see how many people saw your post and who saw it.

13) It is now possible for you to add a banner on top of platform pages to share a custom message with your community.

14) When you manage a group, you can now retrieve all the refund requests made by students.

15) We improved the approval box on the list of Survey submissions page. Now, re-clicking on the selected button (Approve, Require Modification, On Hold, Reject) will move the submission status back to pending.

16) We added Quiz completion rules (Take a Quiz, Take and Pass a Quiz).

17) We created a new option for the Group Re-Registration process. This option allows you to prevent current officers until they submit their group's Re-Registration approval request.

18) The preferred email field can now be updated via the createUpdateUser API method.

19) When you create Timeslots, you can select whether you want to automatically display them by date or by name.

Interested in learning more about CampusGroups? Please do not hesitate to contact us for a demo to see how our solution can help your community connect, engage and succeed!

Request a Demo