Latest News from the Riipen team

What's new in March 2025

Emily avatar
Shared by Emily • April 16, 2025

New features & Improvements

  • The Experience > Learners table has been updated to show key metrics about each learner including number of completed agreements and surveys, and the number of teams they have joined.
  • The Experience > Teams table has been updated to the team activity tracker which shows detailed progress information about each step for each learner and can be exported to CSV.
  • As an employer, I should see an informational banner on the team applications page explaining what’s next
  • As any user I can now select any item from the worklog and can leave a comment on it. Users will be notified by email when a comment is left.
  • Employers will now receive a daily email notification summarizing new and edited work log entries from that day. The frequency can be updated to ‘Weekly’ in the user settings.
  • Updates to the employer feedback wizard language to improve clarity and conciseness.
  • The "Propose changes" form in the match request wizard has been updated to reduce length of the page and improve clarity.
  • New fields for a match such as payment information, proposed dates and maximum teams are now separated into a new step of the match request wizard in order to ensure they are highlighted.
  • Educators can now select which conversation types are enabled for their experience, enabling any (or none) of the following options: Team-only; Project admin(s) + team; Project admin(s) + all teams.
  • The Project admin(s) + All teams conversation type is new and allows employers working with multiple teams on a single match to communicate with them all simultaneously.
  • Payment setup step for learners: Learners in experiences requiring a payment account will now see this as a step on the team page before "Start Project."
  • Tasks in the team page are better distinguished through icons identifying overdue and locked steps.

What's new in February 2025

Emily avatar
Shared by Emily • April 16, 2025

New features & Improvements

  • As an educator, when duplicating an experience I should be able to pick my portal and set dates
  • As a user, I should see a warning notice in every auto-created conversation, reminding me to keep all communication on Riipen.
  • As a learner, clicking the LTI link in my LMS should redirect me to my team page if I am already a member of a team for that experience.
  • Update language and link of calendar sync task for clarity
  • Educators can now create a default match request intro message for an experience. This is editable under the automated messages section of the experience settings > match requests section.
  • Learners on experiences that use Stripe integration for payment now receive a task in their dashboard prompting them to set up their payment account.
  • The display of answered questions for survey admins has been improved.
  • The header banner disappears in the marketplace when you are viewing content on mobile, to provide a better browsing experience.
  • Bulk actions are now available on invitation tables, allowing users to select multiple invitations and re-send or delete them in bulk.
  • Popular survey templates are now identified with a tag in the survey template search page.
  • As a learner, I should be able to see which members of my team have completed a mandatory survey
  • As a learner, I should see an informational banner on my team's application page informing me of next steps
  • Finish & submit button on feedback wizards allows a user to submit feedback on first step of wizard
  • Text updates in feedback wizards to provide more guidance

What's new in January 2025

Emily avatar
Shared by Emily • April 16, 2025

New features & Improvements

  • As a learner, I should be prompted to add my LinkedIn profile upon sign-up as an optional field
  • The experience wizard now includes a field for educators to provide submission instructions for learners for the final deliverable. This field previously was available only in settings.
  • Companies can now verify themselves directly, not only in the process of matching with an experience. Global verification can be accessed through the company settings tab and reduce time in matching with experiences that require verification.
  • Learners no longer need to select the time that work was completed when filling in the work log, only the date and duration.
  • Educators of a single experience can now view replies to portal-level surveys for that specific experience, through experience settings.
  • The match request page was modified to improve clarity of navigation and consistency of view between employers and educators.
  • As part of the above, educators and employers can propose changes to project content in-line within the match request page.
  • Payments can now be made directly via Stripe from portals to learners on paid experiences.
  • Achievement descriptions have been updated for all achievements.
  • Portal administrators can now view all achievements earnable by members of their portal, including those issued by Riipen.
  • Educators and employers are now notified in batched emails about changes to match requests on their experience, on a daily basis, when activity exists.
  • All application tables can now have applications sorted by recency.
  • Employers can now access resumes of learners they worked with in the company talent pool.
  • Company admins now receive a task prompting them to complete the company profile.
  • Users can now leave comments on milestone submissions and final deliverable submissions. Team members and employer contacts are notified of new comments.
  • Educators can add milestones for specific teams via the Add milestone button on the team page.
  • As a learner, I should see default text in the ‘Context for learners’ panel if my educator hasn't customized this.
  • Increase maximum file upload size and update hints for final submissions and milestone submissions.
  • Add a tooltip to the "Causes" section on both the project page and the project wizard to explain its purpose.
  • As a user viewing a team page, I should see the ‘Completed’ tasks automatically expanded once the final submission has been completed.

What's new in December 2024

Emily avatar
Shared by Emily • April 16, 2025

New features & Improvements

  • The portal switcher was moved to a more prominent place in the main navigation menu. Users with access to multiple portals now see a "Switch portal" menu item, while users with access to only one will see Access portal or Exit portal depending on their current workspace.
  • Automated message responses which can be configured in experience or project settings now support rich text, allowing users to (for example) add a link to a meeting-booking page in an auto-response.
  • The user menu on mobile has been updated for clarity to better distinguish between links of different types.
  • The calendar now adapts to mobile views to show a user a list view on mobile.
  • Imports now display a more useful error message for incorrect or missing start/end dates
  • As an employer, when I click the “Accept” option on a team application, I now see a confirmation modal where I can choose to close my match to new applications or keep it open.
  • As an employer, I see an "Edit" link next to the open/closed state on the match page so I can more easily change application settings.
  • In the Settings tab of a Match, employers now get an explanatory message when their match is closed to applications and cannot be re-enabled.
  • The "Optional details" section of wizards is now a collapsible area. It is expanded by default on draft projects/experiences, or when content exists within the section. Collapsing empty optional sections by default helps pages feel shorter and more manageable when editing.
  • New filters added on user and company profile pages
  • All tasks now have criteria for automatic deletion if no action is taken by the user.
  • All icon buttons that were missing tooltips now have tooltips.
  • A user whose account is created via import now can accept the Terms of Service on the same page where they set their password. This removes an extra step for them after signup.
  • The custom question creation component has been updated so that "question type" is visible even in the collapsed version.
  • When duplicating an experience, invalid surveys attached to it are not duplicated.
  • Team page task panels now have icons to indicate when a description or attachment is present.
  • As a learner, I should not see the Worklog and Feedback tabs on the team page until I have started the project
  • "Sender" is now an in-line filter above the match request table



What's new in November 2024

Emily avatar
Shared by Emily • December 03, 2024

New features & Improvements

  • The team page has an updated look, separating tasks into completed, upcoming and overdue sections for clarity.
  • As an educator, I can now set a maximum size for a team under Experience Settings > Participants.
  • Setting teams to be “Individual” now changes the UI for creating teams, starting projects, applying to projects and the team page itself in some minor ways to reflect that no other team members exist.
  • Maximum pending applications per learner: As an educator, I can limit the number of pending applications a learner can be part of at a time. This is primarily a PPD use case, allowing programs to prevent learners from "over-applying" to projects and inundating employers with applications that can't all be accepted.
  • A company profile now has a representation field to capture tags mostly related to diversity and inclusion, including Women-Owned, Black-Owned, Public Benefit Corporation, and many others. We can add tags as needed. This is also an optional field in the project wizard's company step.
  • Scale improvement for multiple choice questions: a user creating a survey can now copy-paste a list from another source into the option field of a multiple choice question and it will automatically create up to 200 options from that list.
  • First step of sign up wizard shortened and visually improved for all users. (No changes to required fields.)
  • Emails about project closure in the marketplace have been updated to further clarify there is no impact on applications or teams.
  • In the match request wizard, when selecting a project or experience from the dropdown you can now see a date related to the content (close date, for experiences; updated date, for projects) to help you distinguish between similarly-named items,
  • When an existing user has a membership created via an import, they now receive a distinct notification email alerting them of this.
  • As an educator, when I allow teams or projects to set the dates in my experience, I can now set date ranges that teams or projects must conform to. This extends on the existing “maximum start date” and “maximum end date” feature to allow educators to provide minimum dates as well.
  • As an educator with admin access, I need to be able to differentiate between my pending match requests and the portals pending match requests. A user by default sees only their experiences' match requests and can filter to view all portal match requests if they choose.
  • As a learner, I shouldn't have the worklog sidebar component until kickoff is complete for the current team
  • Add matches count column to Portal > Companies table.
  • Tasks on the team page that are for employers are now labelled to make it clear.
  • Work log entries should be sorted by Date of work by default
  • "User" filter on work log should be inline on the page, not in the advanced filters modal.
  • As a learner, if the experience assignment type is self-assign, the button on the match page should say 'Join project' rather than 'Start'.

What's new in October 2024

Emily avatar
Shared by Emily • December 03, 2024

New features & Improvements

  • As an educator, I can now choose to generate my experience content with AI.
  • As a learner, you can now see and log work from the team page's details tab. If your team's experience has work logs enabled, you will see a list of your recent work logs in the sidebar.
  • As an educator, you can now identify your experience as a repeat. This helps our internal team track metrics more accurately and better understand educator engagement on the platform.
  • Milestone and submission emails to learners now clearly explain the importance of making submissions before deadlines. The emails include the message: “Failure to submit on Riipen by the due date may prevent you from continuing with the project.”
  • As an employer I can flag a team or learner; as a learner I can flag an employer or all project admins. Flags are automatically reported to the experience administrator(s).
  • As the creator of an agreement, I can now choose to require either a digital signature or a manual one.
  • A survey creator can add restrictions on answers in surveys. A text answer can be required to contain or not contain certain text, have a minimum or maximum length, and follow a specific format. Number answers can be required to have a minimum or maximum value.
  • Employers can set a maximum number of requests or matches for their project, causing it to automatically close when that max is reached.
  • Copy changes in feedback wizard to clarify for employers that feedback is visible to learners only after they provide return feedback or 10 days elapse
  • As an educator, I should only be able to request to join an experience if I am a member of the experience's portal
  • As an employer, I should only be able to request to join a project if I am a member of the project's company
  • When creating a new import, a template link is now available from the import page.
  • An educator can now choose to import invitations to an experience, instead of importing members directly.
  • Add match compatibility percentage pill to match created emails
  • Tasks and events view in user dashboard are condensed to two columns to save vertical space
  • Visual improvement to team page “benefits” component

What's new in September 2024

Emily avatar
Shared by Emily • December 03, 2024

New features & Improvements

  • As an educator or employer, I can now cancel a match directly from the match page if no teams are assigned.
  • Experience page meta data sections have been updated for clarity to surface the most important properties of the experience to any viewer.
  • As an experience administrator, I can no longer change the start date of my experience if it has already passed and teams have started projects. However, I can still update the start date if no teams have initiated projects.
  • As a portal admin, the Project Template form now includes additional fields to better align with the information employers need to provide.
  • As a learner, I can now see the main project admin during the introduction step of the kickoff/application wizard.
  • The project name now updates automatically on the Matches and Requests tabs if a project name has changed after match request updates.
  • As an experience admin, I can now see suggested sample questions in the matchmaking wizard. These sample questions help guide educators and encourage the use of optional questions in the experience wizard.
  • When I create a new project template as an experience admin, it now automatically links to the corresponding experience.
  • Survey reminder notifications are no longer sent for cancelled teams.
  • As an educator, you can now attach files to experience updates.
  • The following details have been added to the survey export CSV file: project name, project ID, company name, company ID, experience name, and experience ID.
  • As a learner, you now have easier access to the Agreement signing button on all devices, so you can complete the process without confusion or unnecessary scrolling.
  • Employers can now see the status of their teams with their start and end dates on every project page. The information is displayed on the sidebar under "Your recent match" and "Teams."
  • As a portal administrator, you can now invite educators to a department and add them to multiple departments. Portal members can filter educators by department.
  • Portal administrators can now invite companies to a department. Portal members can filter companies by department.
  • As an employer, unresponsive matches are now automatically closed to applications.
  • Learners and employers are now redirected to a new tab when clicking the "Share on LinkedIn" button.
  • Users now receive both an email and a platform task notification when they receive feedback from a user they haven’t yet provided feedback to.
  • Experience administrators can now set instructions for payments.
  • The survey creation button text and confirmation messages have been updated for a clearer user experience: "Save & exit" now saves a draft of your survey; "Publish survey" confirms that your survey is published.
  • Experience administrators can now set instructions for learner work logs in the following location: Experience > Settings > Features > Enabled work logs > Instructions for learner work logs text field.
  • Experience administrators can now customize the text shown after final submission in the following location: Experience > Settings > Project Management: Participants > The final input.
  • As an educator, I now have the option to add learners via magic link

What's new in August 2024

Emily avatar
Shared by Emily • September 09, 2024

New features & Improvements

  • As an employer, I now receive a “Create Project” button in my sign-up email.
  • As an employer, I am now prompted to create new projects with an initial prompt as opposed to wholly from scratch.
  • As an employer, when creating a project, an automatic quality evaluation is conducted based on the content of my project. If the quality is high, the project creation can continue. If the quality is low, changes will need to be made before moving forward.
  • Improved wording in both the project wizard to improve understanding of what is required and Experience Wizard to:
  • Improved wording in both the experience wizard to improve understanding of what is required
  • As an employer or educators, I now see colored visual cues for compatibility scores on a match request page.
  • Team properties are now included in the CSV export for payments
  • As a portal administrator, I can now add custom email footers per user type.
  • As a portal administrator, I can also add custom footer content to my portal.
  • Dynamic automatic numbering has been added to survey questions.
  • Portal webpage links now open in new tabs

What's new in July 2024

Emily avatar
Shared by Emily • August 08, 2024

New features & Improvements

  • As a portal admin, I can now add resources that will be applied to all experiences within my portal.
  • As an experience administrator, you can now add notes to teams.
  • As an experience administrator, you can now set surveys to be required for each individual learner in a team to complete.
  • As an experience administrator, I can now add resources to my experience.
  • As an educator, I can now select the experience level of my learners in the experience wizard.
  • As an educator, I can now see more project meta information in the match request email notification.
  • As an educator, I now see a success screen after I accept a match request.
  • As a project administrator, I can now add resources to my project.
  • As an employer, I can now set the difficulty level of the project.
  • As an employer, I can now set the hours of my project.
  • As an employer, as soon as I create a portal pass application I’m redirected to the portal pass application’s page now instead of the portal’s profile page.
  • As an employer, I will no longer see the number of projects wanted in the match request email notification.
  • As an employer, I am redirected back to the match request wizard after creating a new project.
  • As an employer, under the “My Projects” tab > projects table, I can now search by experience name.
  • As an employer, any new project will now have a main category pre-selected.
  • As an employer, any new project will now have sub-categories pre-selected.
  • As an employer, I now see a success screen after I accept a match request.
  • As an employer, I now see a success screen after I accept an application.
  • As a learner, I can now receive a task for completing a milestone.
  • As a learner, I am redirected to the team page after completing a survey.
  • As a learner, if I have signed all agreements on the team page, I am redirected back to the team overview page.
  • As a learner, I now see a success screen after I create a application.
  • As a learner, I now see a success screen after I accept an application.
  • As a learner, I now see a success screen after I start a project.
  • As a learner, I now see a success screen after I make a final submission.
  • As any user, I can now locate all my snoozed and completed tasks.
  • As any user, I can no longer accept mismatched invites to my user type.
  • As any user, I can now search projects and experiences by categories, skills, and industry types.

Bug fixes

  • Learners no longer receive milestone completion notifications for cancelled projects under the "Tasks" section.
  • The "Teams" section on the experience page now correctly shows the number of active and cancelled teams, avoiding any visual confusion.
  • As an employer, I no longer receive an error message when trying to view all recent matches.

What's new in June 2024

Emily avatar
Shared by Emily • August 06, 2024

New features & Improvements

  • Educators can import projects via single or multiple uploads (CSV) under the 'Matches' tab on the Experience page.
  • Portal surveys have been moved from portal settings to the main portal navigation menu
  • Employers now see a ‘My teams’ tab in the main navigation menu
  • As an employer, after completing a survey, I am now redirected back to the projects’ team page instead of staying on survey responses, so I can continue completing other surveys or sign agreements.
  • As an employer signing agreements during a match request, I am now redirected to the agreements page if there are remaining agreements to sign. I will be redirected to the match page if there are no agreements to sign.
  • Users can now book recurring meetings
  • Learners can now book meetings directly from a team page
  • The meeting page has updated designs aim to enhance user experience
  • Enhanced email notifications are now in place for booked meetings
  • Users can now receive SMS based notifications and manage them view their notification settings
  • SMS terms have been added to our Terms of Service and privacy policy
  • Users are prompted to add and manage phone numbers during sign-up
  • Educators can customize SMS notifications within their experiences
  • Learners can now view and access the benefits of completing a project from various areas including their team pages.
  • The benefits are: Feedback, Skills acquired, Endorsement and certificate
  • After completing a project, learners will have the skills associated with the project automatically added to their profiles
  • After receiving an endorsement, learners will have the skills associated with the endorsement automatically added to their profiles
  • After completing a project, learners can download a PDF certificate of their accomplishments
  • Learners can share certificates they receive on their LinkedIn via a post and/or add them to their LinkedIn profiles
  • Learners can share feedback they receive on their LinkedIn
  • Learners can share feedback they receive on their resume
  • Learners now have clearer options to join portals, experience, and start projects.
  • Teams are now blocked from setting their dates past the experience's maximum start and end dates.
  • Reminder notifications to provide feedback are blocked for incomplete and cancelled teams.
  • Users can now see the application due date in the timeline component on the right sidebar of both the match page and the experience page.

Bug fixes

  • Fixed an issue where the educators exiting the experience wizard would not save the experience as a draft
  • The 'created by' field now correctly uses any customized custom term where appropriate
  • When setting up an achievement to be awarded upon completing the a survey, you can now see the correct survey names instead of just 'yes' and 'no' options.