CHEVY CHASE, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mytonomy, Inc., a video micro-learning platform for college and career advising, and XAP Corporation, a leading education technology company offering comprehensive college and career planning tools, are pleased to announce a new agreement that allows XAP’s national sales force to offer Mytonomy’s student and counselor-facing toolset to its state and district level customers. First Lady Michelle Obama recently highlighted the important role that school counselors can play in helping more high school students aspire to attend and complete college through her “Reach Higher Initiative.” Yet, according to the American School Counselor Association (ASCA), the average national student to counselor ratio is 471 to 1, making the counselors’ task even more daunting.
The XAP-Mytonomy partnership is a step towards delivering advising at scale. As counselors often struggle to keep pace with the growing demand for their time, Mytonomy and XAP believe their new strategic offering will vastly boost a counselor’s ability to provide guidance to all their students who will benefit from near-peer and expert advice delivered using Mytonomy’s video-based micro-learning technology.
“In addition to processing millions of college applications per year, XAP’s tools have been foundational for thousands of counselors in assisting students across the country to prepare for college and career. Our partnership with Mytonomy will now offer our customers an even greater set of modern capabilities to further enhance the student/parent experience and provide counselors with extraordinary leverage so they can focus on the unique challenges facing students as they plan for the college experience,” said Peter Knepper, CEO of XAP Corporation.
With XAP’s customer base of statewide clients, post-secondary institutions, and thousands of individual districts and schools, millions of students can benefit from Mytonomy’s existing expert and “near peer” video content that has been sourced and vetted by thousands of students and educators nationwide. Playlists can be created in seconds stringing together multiple videos creating student or group specific content at the school, district and state levels. “Mytonomy’s platform enables each school or district to create their own localized content libraries and private video communities with hands-on support from XAP, making this a win-win proposition for all involved,” said Vinay Bhargava, Chairman and Co-Founder of Mytonomy. Educators, students, and working professionals can also contribute advice on preparing for college, choosing a major and picking a career providing a new set of alumni engagement tools for those interested in sharing their wisdom.
Analytics will also be included as part of the combined XAP/Mytonomy product offering. These valuable tools will enable counselor to track important metrics such as viewership (i.e. “Which members of our junior class watched the FAFSA playlist?”) and can help determine which videos are accessed and how messages resonate with viewers. Mytonomy video content is viewable on any mobile device and can be shared on school social media venues, or be texted out to students directly for watching on the go keeping pace with how students access content today.
In their personal digital world, and as a growing trend in learning, students gravitate to video sites and use them to answer “how-to” questions; Mytonomy allows educators to reach students “where they are” and facilitates “near-peer mentoring” at scale. Students have praised the short form videos as helpful and effective. Counselors using Mytonomy as part of their curriculum have reported significant boosts in pre/post college knowledge tests, and general awareness of important topics. Parents appreciate student access to contemporary tools.
“As I wrote in my recent Huffington Post op-ed, increasing school counselor time is important and the proven way to impact college access and success. Mytonomy’s digital tools can free up counselors from repetitive content delivery and build counselor capacity. They lay a solid college knowledge foundation down for students, so they know what questions to ask their parents and educators. Students can learn, build social capital, and deal with sensitive topics, through the privacy of an online video experience,” said Vinay Bhargava, Mytonomy Chairman and co-founder.
About Mytonomy
Mytonomy (www.mytonomy.com) is a near-peer advising platform for college and career. College students and professionals contribute video tutorials giving insights and advice on topics ranging from college admissions to career success, with a special focus on first-generation college going students and the STEM fields. The company is backed by NewSchools Venture Fund, Kapor Capital, and the Social Venture Fund at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.
About XAP
XAP (www.xap.com) is an industry leader in providing students and adults with online tools to explore careers and discover, plan, and apply to colleges and universities. XAP’s products are used by thousands of K-12 institutions and colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.
For more information about XAP’s services, please contact Matt Stevenson, Head of Sales at 424-750-3915.
