Company News
New Feature
Big Things Coming
Hi everyone! It’s Matt from CourseStorm.
I wanted to take a moment and give an update on some great new features we’ve been working on here at HQ. Some of these updates you’ll be seeing before the end of the month and for some other, larger updates we’ll be sharing more info throughout the coming months. It’s definitely an exciting and busy time for our team and we can’t wait to share it all with you!
What’s happening this month?
Our team has been hard at work on two new features you’ll see launch this month.
✅ “Always Ask” Questions
As you know, we try to keep the registration process of CourseStorm impossibly simple. This takes many forms – easy to use accounts, remembering a credit card number, friends & family registration, and more. To that end, one feature we’ve had since the beginning involved remembering your student’s information from past registrations so that, if they’ve already put in their birthdate, for example, they won’t be asked for it again.
While this has saved a lot of time for students and parents, there are also situations where it’s not so great. For example, what about information that changes, like say medical information, a t-shirt size, or a donation?
This week, we’re pleased to announce that we’ve launched a new feature to the customized form builder in CourseStorm – the ability to designate a question as “Always Ask”. This way, with every registration, that question will come up for registrants, regardless of whether they’ve answered it in the past.
How does it work?
Simple! For any questions you’d like to ask every time, just go to the customized form builder, edit the question, and check the “Always Ask” checkbox. From then on, your registration flow will update automatically for both existing and new students.
🔒 Two-Factor Authentication for Admin Users
For those who don’t know, two-factor authentication is a feature common in web applications that provides an extra level of security for your organization. Rather than just using an email address and password to log in, which can be stolen, two-factor authentication adds a second method of verifying that the person logging in is who they say they are. It does this by sending an email or text message that only the user should have access to. You’ll often find this kind of security in banking applications, for example.
I’m pleased to report that two-factor authentication is coming to CourseStorm as well! This will not only help protect your account, but also the personal and financial information of your students. We think that our customers in community colleges and hospitals will be particularly helped by this!
How does it work?
To make use of this new feature, there’s only a single checkbox you need to activate for each user on your account. Just check that box and you’re done! The next time that user logs in, they will be asked for a 6-character authentication code sent directly to their email. They just paste that code into the box and they’re logged in. Simple for you, difficult for malicious hackers!
🗓️ Later this Year
As I mentioned in the intro, we have lots of other great new features coming, so stay tuned to hear the latest news!
And, in the meantime, if you’re a current CourseStorm customer and are interested in getting an early preview of some of the big new financial features and updates we have coming, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at hello@coursestorm.com and we’ll add you to our list!
🎉 Thank you!
Our entire team would like to give a huge thank you to the customers who have offered their suggestions and feedback on the new features we’re announcing today.
“Always Ask” Questions
A special thank you to:
- John, Jonny, Liz, and Aaron at SPARC
- Mendota Elementary PTA
- Bertha, Julie, and Karyn at Emmaus Catholic Parish
- and all others who suggested this feature!
And on the CourseStorm team, we’d like to thank Brady Charron and Nicholas Riegel for their work in releasing this feature!
Two-Factor Authentication
Over the Summer we had a wonderful team of interns join us from the University of Maine who we have affectionately referred to as ⚡ Team Lightning ⚡. In their work with us, they were able to spearhead this feature and we’re incredibly excited to release it into the wild!
A special thank you to Team Lightning members: Sophie Kummer, Brody Looney, and Sam Waggoner!
We’re also pleased to announce that all three have been invited to keep cranking at CourseStorm throughout the school year, so keep an eye out for other great features this team will help us launch!
Matt James
Matt has over 20 years of experience in the software industry. As the founder or co-founder of four software companies, he comprehensively understands technology, design, operations, finance, sales, marketing, and customer service. Matt co-founded CourseStorm to connect learners to classes where they can gain education a la carte to enrich their lives through art classes, prepare for a new job, or level up their existing skills.