Global search enhancement

We’ve enhanced Global Search (that search bar that appears in the top navigation bar across the platform) to deliver a smarter, role-based experience tailored to each user type showing the most relevant results first and respecting portal context. While previously a user could access marketplace content through this search bar only, they can now search across both their own content and marketplace options simultaneously.

Search by user type:

• Employers: Open experiences, My Projects, My Matches, My learners, Learner applications, Portals
• Educators: Open projects, My Experiences, My Matches, Companies
• Learners: My Projects (Teams), My Applications, My Experiences, Portal Experiences, Portals
• Guests: Open projects, Open experiences, Companies, Portals

New typeahead search that makes finding content faster and more intuitive:

• As you start typing, results start displaying in a dropdown.
• Results are grouped by category (Projects, Experiences, Teams, etc.) and show the top matches for quick scanning.
• You can click a result to go directly to it, or select “See all results” to view the full search page.
• Filters let you focus on a specific type of content, displayed inline in the search bar. Only one filter can be active at a time, and clearing the search resets the filter.
• Recent searches appear when the input is empty, showing up to five of your most recent searches. Click any to run it again.
• The dropdown closes automatically when you select a result, click outside, or press Esc.

We’ve also completed a major upgrade to search under the hood to make search more consistent, relevant, and reliable across the app.

Payments for team-based projects

Payments have been updated to support teams with multiple learners, ensuring that calculations and workflows reflect total payments across all team members, including pending invitations. Payment-related calculations, including deposits and wallet reserves, now account for total team size rather than assuming a single learner. Updates also clarify learner responsibilities during final submission and adjust notifications to reflect team-based completion and payment outcomes. These changes create a more accurate and scalable payment system for team-based projects while reducing manual intervention.

Milestone enhancements

Educators can now require milestones to be completed individually even on team-based projects, allowing more flexible assessment of learner contributions. Learners are clearly informed when a milestone requires individual completion through the team page and updated reminder emails, ensuring expectations are clear. Progress tracking is updated to reflect individual completion, including submission views, team tracker counts, and milestone completion status per learner.

Educators can also enable binding deadlines in Experience Settings and choose to include milestones in deadline checks using a nested “Include milestones” option, with existing grace periods applying.

Improvements

• Meeting activity now shows the creator. Meeting-related system messages in chat now include who created, updated, or cancelled the meeting, providing clearer context and improving collaboration visibility.
• Easier access to closed projects from empty states. When no projects are shown in the learner experience matches page, a “View closed projects” link will appear if applicable, allowing learners to quickly apply the filter and explore additional opportunities.
• Experience page headers have been redesigned to better highlight the primary call to action and provide clearer context based on user type, experience state, and settings. An AI-generated summary is now included in the header, providing a concise “at-a-glance” overview of the experience, which is automatically created on publication and updated when key content changes.
• Observer access to team conversations. Guest observers can now view the All teams + Employer conversation for teams they are assigned to observe. Access is available directly from the team page via the “View conversation” option, ensuring observers have visibility into team communications. This improves transparency and oversight without requiring additional permissions.
• Aligned project page meta information with project setup. The project page meta information now displays “Estimated hours to complete”, matching the total hours entered in the project wizard and resolving the previous mismatch where it was shown as hours per learner. Meta information on the experience, match request, and match pages will continue to display hours per learner as before.
• Updated survey view page layout. The survey “view” page now displays meta information in a layout consistent with other survey pages, making it easier for admins to review key survey details. Fields such as creator, target, frequency, and display timing are now more clearly structured, with dependency information shown only when relevant.
• Posts now appear in activity notifications. Published posts will now generate in-platform activity notifications that mirror email content, ensuring users can stay informed directly within the platform. Notifications are scoped to the correct audience and appear in the activity feed alongside other updates.
• Exit portal option always available. Employers will now see the Exit Portal option even when portal pass applications are disabled, ensuring they can always leave a portal access screen without getting stuck.
• Improved post-submission navigation. After submitting a final deliverable, learners are now redirected back to the team page instead of a separate submission page, helping them stay oriented and continue their workflow more easily.
• Improved match request sorting. Match requests on project and experience pages are now sorted by status and most recently updated, making it easier to prioritize and manage active requests.
• HeyMilo integration. Portal admins can enable HeyMilo in portal settings, and experience admins can enable it within their experience and add a HeyMilo milestone from the milestone creation flow. Learners accessing this milestone are redirected to complete a HeyMilo video interview, and upon completion, the milestone is automatically marked as complete with a generated PDF assessment. This creates a more integrated workflow between external assessments and Riipen milestones.
• Application shortlisting. Employers can now shortlist applications using a star icon on pending applications to track candidates for further review without changing their status. Shortlisted applications are labeled and can be filtered within the applications table, making it easier to organize and prioritize candidates. Link to Help Article
• Private notes on applications. Employers can add private notes directly on applications to capture observations and context during review, and these notes are also visible to experience admins for better collaboration. Link to Help Article
• Improved message read behavior. Messages in the Message Center are no longer marked as read when previewed, and will only be marked as read when a user actively selects or interacts with them, improving accuracy and reducing confusion.
• Application status now visible in the Projects tab. Experience admins can now see whether project applications are open or closed directly in the “Application due at” column, making it easier to quickly understand which projects are still accepting learner applications.
• Learner view of matched projects. Improved the learner experience by showing only matches open to applications by default. The “View all” button now reflects the number of open matches, and the match search page includes a filter to optionally view closed projects.
• Team and application counts added to “My learners.” Employers can now see counts on the Teams and Applications tabs, making it easier to track learner activity and engagement.
• Pending application badge added. The My learners tab now shows an orange badge when learner applications are pending, helping employers quickly identify items that need attention.
• Team milestones can now be edited or deleted. Users with the appropriate permissions can edit or delete team-level milestones directly from the milestone page, making it easier to adjust timelines as projects evolve.

• Project settings interface updates. The project settings pages now include updated section headers, improved form layout, clearer text, new tooltips, and improved inputs; especially within the Marketplace tab to make project configuration easier to navigate.
• Match request acceptance page improvements. Updates include clearer headers, a pending status indicator, conditional display of custom questions, a simplified layout, and a fixed accept button to improve the acceptance workflow.
• AI project generation formatting improvements. The AI project generation prompt has been updated to produce more consistently formatted project content.

Navigation menu updates

We’ve improved the navigation menu to make it easier to find and access portals, companies, and marketplaces.

• Portal & company nametags: “Portal content” and “Company content” text headers are replaced with compact nametags for a cleaner, more intuitive menu.
• Collapsible sections: Employers can expand and collapse the Company Content section and, for admins/educators, the Portal Content section. Sections will remain open/closed as you navigate.
• Switchers relocated: Company and portal switchers are now placed within their respective sections for easier access. For portals, this is intended to help users better understand the purpose of the Switch Portal action.
• Marketplace links: Dedicated links for “Match with Experiences” and “Match with Projects” have been added to the navigation menu based on user type and context.

Expanded use of tab counts.

We’ve updated tab counts across projects, experiences, and match pages to give a clearer view of totals and pending items:

Project & Experience pages

• Matches tabs: Now display a count of matches for the project or experience. Counts automatically update if matches are cancelled.
• Requests tabs: Show the number of pending requests if any exist; otherwise, display the total count. Pending counts are highlighted with an orange badge for visibility.

Project page:

• Learners tab: Displays a count of teams, and if pending applications exist, shows a combined badge for both teams and pending applications.

Match page

• Applications tab: Counts now reflect pending applications first; if none are pending, the total number of applications is displayed.

These updates make it easier for users to see outstanding actions and overall activity at a glance, improving workflow efficiency and visibility across projects and experiences.

Improvements

• Kickoff email update. The project kickoff confirmation email is now also sent to the user who created the kickoff (previously only sent to other team members).
• Invite reminder timing update. The pending invite reminder email is now sent 2 days before invite expiry (previously 1 day), giving recipients more time to respond.
• Improved match request sorting. The user match requests page is now sorted by state (with pending requests shown first) and then by recently updated. This makes active and actionable requests easier to find.
• Minimum deposit threshold. Deposits are only processed when the calculated amount is $10 or more; if the deposit is less than $10, no charge is taken.
• AI project evaluation update. The project evaluation prompt has been updated to be less strict about combining different academic disciplines in a single project, allowing employers to create projects that involve multiple roles or skill areas (such as business analyst, web development, and UX/UI) without being blocked by the AI evaluation tool.
• Learner view experience page improvement. Learners who are members of an experience can now use a “View projects” button at the top of the experience page. Clicking it scrolls directly to the Projects section, making available projects easier to find and reducing the need to scroll.
• Standalone deposit page updates. The deposit page now includes a row linking to the associated learner or team application.
• Conversation membership updates. Membership in “All Teams” and “All Teams + Employer” conversations now syncs when teams are reactivated after being incompleted. Any members of reactivated teams are automatically added to existing team or match conversations, ensuring all active team members are included and up to date.
• Match request page updates. The “Accept request” pages for experiences and projects now include a Pending status pill below the header to maintain consistency across match request pages. The page header text has also been updated to “Confirmation required: Accept request”, providing clearer guidance to users before confirming a match. Additional changes are coming to this page in the next two weeks to increase the prominence of the required action.

• Text blocks in surveys. Survey creators can now insert text blocks alongside questions to introduce sections, provide instructions, or add non-question content. Text blocks are informational only and do not require a response, helping surveys feel clearer and more guided.
• Signature approval emails: Users now receive a confirmation email when their signature is accepted. The email serves as a receipt and includes agreement details, date signed, and a link to view the agreement or uploaded file.
• Clearer exit from portals: On the Portal access required page, employers now see a clearer Exit portal button alongside Request access, making it easier to leave the portal and avoid getting stuck.
• Survey response task timing: Survey response reminder tasks now appear 4 days before the due date (instead of 14), making reminders more relevant and timely.
• Grace period for automatic team incompletion: Automatic jobs that mark teams as incomplete (for example, due to missing work logs or binding deadline rules) now include a 3-day grace period for newly activated teams. Teams activated within the last three days will remain active even if they meet incompletion criteria, giving learners time to get started and set up required activity. Once a team has been active for three days or more, existing incompletion rules apply as usual. This change helps prevent teams from being marked incomplete before they’ve had a fair chance to begin work

New Feature - Team Resources and Resource Pinning

Team resources & pinned resources. Resources can now be added directly to teams and pinned to keep important materials front and center.

• Add resources to teams: Users with team edit permissions can add resources directly from the Team page > Resources tab.
• Pin key resources: Resource creators and editors can pin resources to highlight them. Pinned resources always appear at the top of lists and stay pinned everywhere they appear (team, project, experience, or portal).
• Only pinned resources appear in the team page sidebar.
• Pinned resources are shown in kickoff, team, and match conversation details for quick access.

Experience talent pool updates

If the Experience talent pool (Learners tab) is enabled by the Experience admin, and an Experience has more than 10 learners, a “View all” button appears on the Learners tab, linking to a searchable marketplace-style interface.

• Invite learners to projects: Employers can invite learners to join or apply to their project directly from the learner preview or profile by clicking ‘Invite learner', selecting a match, and optionally adding a custom message. Invited learners receive an email with a direct link to the match, the custom message, and the application deadline (if applicable). This first version of “invite to project” allows employers to invite only learners who are already members of the experience.

• Bookmark learners: Employers can bookmark learners for later if they are not ready to invite them. The bookmark icon appears on both the profile preview and the full profile pages.

Employer dashboard: Grouped tasks

The employer dashboard now combines all related tasks into a single task item, to help focus the employer on their most important next required action.

• Pending match requests: Displays the next expiring pending match request; “Review requests” button links directly to the request if there’s only one, or to the filtered match request page if multiple exist.
• Draft match requests: Shows the most recently created draft match request; “Complete requests” button links to the request or the filtered drafts page depending on count.
• Pending applications: Highlights the next expiring pending application; “Review applications” button links to the application or to My Projects > Applications > Pending if multiple exist.
• Open projects without a match: Lists published projects with 0 matches or pending requests; “Match with experiences” button links to the experience marketplace.
• Existing tables for pending applications and match requests have been removed from the dashboard.

Application page updates

The application page has been redesigned to make key information easier to access and review:

• Application details section: Replaces the old Overview section; includes applicant, recipient, introduction message, resume, and proposed timeline (if dates are set by teams).
• Team members sidebar: For non-individual applications, team members are now displayed in a sidebar to reduce vertical scrolling.
• Screening questions UI: Updated to match the latest designs; all inputs, checkboxes, and options are shown in a disabled state, displaying the answers provided.
• Section order: Reorganized to highlight the learner’s application details and experience first.
• Header subtitle: Displays “Team/Learner name from Experience name” for context.

Improvements

1. Company talent tab. The Company > Talent tab now displays learners as cards instead of a table, sorted first by profile completeness and then by average feedback score from highest to lowest, making it easier to browse top performers.
2. Direct message visibility. Educators will only see the Message CTA on a learner/employer’s profile if they are an active member of an active portal, preventing unnecessary messaging options for inactive users.
3. Survey response export update. Survey response CSVs now include the survey title both as a column in the export and in the filename, making it easier to identify which survey the responses belong to.
4. Improved Individual team naming. The individual team creation wizard now guesses a learner’s first and last name from their email address if the user doesn’t yet have an account. Additionally, team names can now be edited in team settings for individual teams, making it easier to manage and personalize them.
5. Team page task CTAs improved. Team page tasks now display a single primary “Start” CTA for actionable tasks, with all other tasks using secondary or tertiary CTAs like “View details” or “Edit” where applicable. This makes it clear which task requires immediate action, highlights tasks that can be reviewed or edited, and helps learners and employers navigate and complete their tasks more efficiently.
6. Team tracker simplified for individual learner experiences. For experiences with a team size of 1, the team tracker now shows only the “Learners” option. The toggle between “Teams” and “Learners” is removed, making the interface simpler and easier to navigate.
7. Updated company created page flows. New employers now see context-specific versions of the company created page based on subdomain, portal pass status, and permissions. Custom portal instructions are displayed in a modal where applicable, helping employers understand next steps clearly and avoid dead ends.
8. Worklog restrictions for future dates. Learners can now only log work for days that have already occurred. Worklog entries for future dates are blocked, ensuring accurate tracking of completed work.
9. Extend application expiry dates: Employers and experience administrators can now extend the expiry date for team applications directly from the application page. An “Edit” link appears next to the current expiry date; clicking it opens a modal where the admin can add a number of days to extend the application. This makes it easier to manage timelines without needing to recreate applications.
10. Automated application reply: Employers can configure an automated message for incoming applications via the Applications tab in match settings. These messages appear in the application chat and are sent automatically whenever a learner or team submits an application. This saves time for employers managing multiple applications.
11. Undo application acceptance: Employers can now reverse their acceptance of a pending application if two-sided acceptance is enabled. This action immediately releases any deposit that was reserved for the application. After undoing acceptance, the application remains in the pending state, and the employer can either accept or decline the application again as needed. This provides flexibility for employers to manage applications while ensuring deposits and application states are handled correctly.
12. Video option for milestones: Rich text editor in the milestone creation form now supports embedding videos.
13. Video conferencing integration task: New users now receive a task prompting them to integrate their preferred video conferencing tools, improving meeting setup efficiency.
14. Project wizard company step: The Company step now includes clearer field names, helpful tooltips, and guidance for logos.
15. Feedback impact information: Feedback emails to employers and educators now include brief explanatory text highlighting the benefits of providing feedback, including increased visibility in recommendations, improved credibility in the marketplace, and better future matches.
16. Automatic incompletion for inactive teams: Educators can configure experiences to automatically mark teams as incomplete after a set number of days without a work log. Teams receive warning notifications before incompletion.
17. Team-created milestones in team tracker: A new column in the Team Tracker shows the count of team-created milestones and how many have submissions, making progress easier to track at a glance.
18. Video resources: Resource creators can now add videos as a resource type, and embedded videos display directly on the resource page for viewers.
19. Match request confirmation emails: Educators and employers now receive confirmation emails when they submit a match request. This provides assurance that the request was successfully sent, gives a record for tracking, and can be managed via notification settings.
20. Chat archiving improvements: Archiving a chat now keeps you on the same page, so you can continue managing other chats without losing your place.
21. Avatar upload guidance: Users uploading avatars on their user, company, or portal profile pages now see a hint recommending a square PNG (e.g., 512×512) for best results.
22. Request match in new tab: Clicking “Request match” from a marketplace now opens the request in a new tab, so users can continue browsing projects or experiences without losing their place.
23. Wizard headers: Wizards now text headers to clearly indicate the current task the user is completing, with consistent styling across all wizards.
24. Calendar integration reminder: New users now receive a reminder task to sync their calendar when they first sign up, helping them stay on top of project timelines and deadlines.
25. Team page guidance: A banner now appears on active, not-yet-started team pages to prompt kickoff, with copy that adapts based on assignment type, individual vs. team work, and the user viewing the page. It includes next steps for the viewer and is automatically removed once kickoff is created.
26. Streamlined application flow: Application accepted success screens for learners and employers have been removed since new addition of team page banner provides additional guidance.
27. Learner milestone notifications: Learners now receive an email when a new milestone is created for their team, with due date details, a direct link to the milestone, and notification preferences available in User Settings.
28. Navigation updates: “My Achievements” has been removed from employer and educator main navigation menus to focus on main content. Achievements will still be available to view on user profiles.
29. Experience admin notes now included in closed-flag emails: Learners will now see experience admin notes directly in the Closed flag email, making it easier to understand context and actions without needing to view the flag in-platform.
30. Marketplace filters: New minimum and maximum project hours filters have been added to both project and experience marketplaces.
31. Main contact now included in match and request emails: Educators and employers now see the main contact for the project or experience in the created match and created match request emails, making it easier to know who to reach out to and reducing confusion when receiving multiple requests from the same portal or company.
32. Deposit information added to cancelled application emails: Employers now see details about their deposit when a learner cancels an application or it expires for paid in-platform projects. If a deposit was collected, the email explains that the funds are no longer reserved and are available in the employer’s wallet to use toward other payments or to withdraw.
33. Improved UI for survey settings: The Sentiment threshold field is now nested under Sentiment flags enabled, with updated text and a cleaner UI for easier readability.
34. Improved UI for Conversation type settings: Hint text has been moved to tooltips, the Team + Employer checkbox text has been updated, and subtext for Sentiment flags enabled has been clarified, all with a streamlined interface for better usability.
35. Payments settings streamlined for experience admins: In the Experience Settings > Payments tab, the “Enable payments to be issued to learners for completing projects” option is now automatically set and uneditable when In-platform payments are selected. For manual payments, the setting is shown as a nested field, allowing admins to enable or disable it. This makes the payment setup clearer and prevents conflicting configurations.

New “All Teams (Learners only)” conversation type

• A new conversation type lets all learner teams in a match chat together without the employer, supporting peer collaboration across teams.
• Admins can enable this in Experience settings > Features > Conversations. Available conversation types now include:

• Team-only
• Team + Employer
• All teams + Employer
• All teams (Learners only) (new)

Defaults remain unchanged, and updates only apply to newly created matches. A new notice also reminds admins to enable no more than two conversation types at a time.

When enabled, a learner-only group chat is automatically created and kept in sync as teams and members are added, completed, cancelled, or removed. Educator access follows existing experience settings.

Improvements

• Team page guidance: A banner now appears on active, not-yet-started team pages to prompt kickoff, with copy that adapts based on assignment type, individual vs. team work, and the user viewing the page. It includes next steps for the viewer and is automatically removed once kickoff is created.
• Streamlined application flow: Application accepted success screens for learners and employers have been removed since new addition of team page banner provides additional guidance.
• Learner milestone notifications: Learners now receive an email when a new milestone is created for their team, with due date details, a direct link to the milestone, and notification preferences available in User Settings.
• Navigation updates: “My Achievements” has been removed from employer and educator main navigation menus to focus on main content. Achievements will still be available to view on user profiles.
• Experience admin notes now included in closed-flag emails: Learners will now see experience admin notes directly in the Closed flag email, making it easier to understand context and actions without needing to view the flag in-platform.
• Marketplace filters: New minimum and maximum project hours filters have been added to both project and experience marketplaces.
• Main contact now included in match and request emails: Educators and employers now see the main contact for the project or experience in the created match and created match request emails, making it easier to know who to reach out to and reducing confusion when receiving multiple requests from the same portal or company.
• Deposit information added to cancelled application emails: Employers now see details about their deposit when a learner cancels an application or it expires for paid in-platform projects. If a deposit was collected, the email explains that the funds are no longer reserved and are available in the employer’s wallet to use toward other payments or to withdraw.

• Survey settings UI improvement: The Sentiment threshold field is now nested under Sentiment flags enabled, with updated text and a cleaner UI for easier readability.
• Conversation type settings UI improvement: Hint text has been moved to tooltips, the Team + Employer checkbox text has been updated, and subtext for Sentiment flags enabled has been clarified, all with a streamlined interface for better usability.
• Payments settings streamlined for experience admins: In the Experience Settings > Payments tab, the “Enable payments to be issued to learners for completing projects” option is now automatically set and uneditable when In-platform payments are selected. For manual payments, the setting is shown as a nested field, allowing admins to enable or disable it. This makes the payment setup clearer and prevents conflicting configurations.
• Table style and usability improvements. Tables across the platform now have a cleaner visual design with improved hover states, and clearer visual cues indicating rows are clickable.
• Marketplace visibility warning for projects. Projects that are open but not visible in any public or private marketplace now show a clear warning on the project page, with a direct link to marketplace settings.
• Stricter work log date validation. Learners can no longer submit work log entries dated before their team’s kickoff date. This helps ensure accurate tracking and supports program compliance.
• Improved “Find experiences” CTA behaviour for learners. The ‘Find experiences’ CTA is now shown more consistently on the My Experiences page, including when learners haven’t joined any experiences yet, making it easier to discover opportunities.
• Clearer draft experience reminder email. The “Publish your draft experience” email has been updated with clearer language, reflecting that most experiences require review before publishing and guiding educators on next steps.
• Updated “Teams” to “Learners” in the employer view. Employers managing individual or team-based projects will now see clearer, more accurate terminology throughout the interface. In the user menu, My Teams is now My Learners, and other places where teams of 1 may exist now use Learners terminology.
• Automatic learner member request approval. Experience admins can now automatically approve learner member requests. In Experience settings > Members > Learners, enable “Accept member requests automatically” to approve all learner requests without manual action.
• Improved application emails. Employers now receive more detailed information about a learner’s work and education experience directly within the email, specifically when the team work type is set to Individual.
• Wizard ‘back’ button.The Back button in all wizards has been moved to the bottom left-hand side for consistent placement and improved usability.
• Learner certificates in teams tracker. A new certificate column is now visible in the Learner view of the Teams tracker if certificate awarding is enabled. The column with the certificate link is also included in CSV exports.
• Payment processing fee transparency. Tooltips and relevant text now display the actual processing fee wherever previously it only stated “plus applicable taxes and fees.”
• Company properties via Forest admin. Riipen Admins can now add key-value properties to companies via Forest Admin.
• Single project import wizard improvements

• Cleaner layout: simplified text and headers; added informational notice with help link.
• New contact input: select existing company members or add a new email.
• Silent import option: suppresses notifications during import.
• Automatic creation: missing companies, portal passes, users, memberships, projects, and matches are now created automatically.
• Capitalization preserved: company names now retain the user’s input instead of converting to lowercase.

• Team activity tracker usability improvements. The activity tracker now has a fixed height and scrolls independently from the page, with the top header row staying visible as you scroll. This makes it much easier to track progress and compare teams when working with long lists.
• Employer dashboard project & match layout refresh. The Employer dashboard has been redesigned with new nested project and match cards, replacing the “Latest experiences matched” and “My projects” tables. Employers now see up to three recently updated projects with nested matched experiences for each, along with quick-access “Create project” and “View all projects” CTAs.
• Improved failed payment notifications. Employers and portals are now notified when a payment fails due to a missing or expired payment method, in addition to standard payment failures. New email messaging clearly explains whether the failure was caused by an expired card or no payment method on file, helping prevent silent payment issues.
• New experience availability notifications. Employers are now notified when new experiences become available within portals where they have previously matched, helping them discover new opportunities earlier.
• Invoice visibility by user type. Invoices now display only the items relevant to the viewer’s role. Learners, project/experience admins, and Riipen admins each see a tailored invoice view, reducing confusion.
• Invoice download from email. Invoice notification emails now include a “Download” button that generates a PDF in a new tab for easy saving and printing. The existing “View invoice” button remains unchanged for a full in-platform view of the invoice.
• Improved “Incomplete team” email notifications. Learners now receive different email versions depending on why their team was marked incomplete and who controls the dates. When teams control the dates and a team is marked incomplete due to missed deadlines, the email now includes a CTA to request a date change, giving learners a clear next step to recover from missed deadlines.

Improvements

• Modified project wizard: The project wizard now requires only Details and Company info at minimum; all other steps can be skipped unless the employer chooses further customization.
• Automatic portal access for new companies on certain portals: On portals where applications auto-accept and no portal access screening questions exist, any newly created company now automatically receives portal access without redirecting to a success screen.
• Portal pass terminology update: “Portal pass” has been updated to “Portal access” throughout the platform and help content for clearer, more user-friendly language.
• Observer permissions: Observers can now comment on team milestones and submissions, allowing them to guide teams through projects.
• Survey dates adjust with experience changes: When experience start or end dates are modified, survey instances tied to that experience will automatically adjust to align with the new dates. Completed surveys remain marked as complete, while incomplete surveys update to reflect the new dates.
• Team page ‘Overdue’ section: The “Overdue” section has been removed from team page tasks. All tasks marked as upcoming or overdue, will now appear under a single “To do” section for a cleaner, simpler view.
• Imported match requests create membership and company affiliation automatically: Match requests created via bulk match request import now automatically create the company and memberships required for the request.
• Expanded recommendations email logic. Employers now receive recurring recommendation emails for open projects created in the last 30 days (previously limited to 1–5 days), improving match visibility.
• Onboarding wizard field regrouping: The user onboarding wizard now features clearer grouping and improved labels: Profile fields reorganized for better flow; More descriptive question-style labels added; A tooltip added to the phone number field clarifying privacy.
• Custom learner instructions for date-setting: Experience administrators can now add custom text for learners on the “Set dates” step of the application wizard when teams control project dates and the assignment type is ‘By application’.
• Match request wizard: Updated “Getting Started” and "Select" steps - “Getting Started” step: has been redesigned to make it easier for users to select or create a project/experience.

• Updated tabs on experiences: The learner view of tabs on the experience page has been updated to show ‘My projects’ in lieu of a ‘Teams’ tab and now shows the count of all teams the learner belongs to.
• Updated match page tabs: The Match page now displays Teams and Applications as top-level tabs rather than sub-tabs. The tab counts previously shown on sub-tabs are now displayed on the top-level tabs for easier visibility. The Teams tab is now labeled “Learners” if the experience has a team size of 1.
• Set work log limits for experiences: Experience administrators can now set maximum hours per entry and maximum hours per day for learner work logs. These settings ensure that learners comply with the intended experience requirements.
• Set minimum teams per match: Experience administrators can now set a minimum and maximum number of teams per match in the Experience wizard under Project work organization. This appears as a nested fieldset below the Individual/Team selection. This ensures that employers align with the educator’s intended team structure while providing flexibility during matching.
• Improved expiry logic for auto-closing: Projects and experiences will no longer close due to expired requests they responded to, only requests they haven’t responded to.
• New tasks and events layout: Users now see an updated layout of tasks and events on the dashboard. The sections are visually separated from other content and take up less vertical space, making them easier to scan and interact with.
• Application closure display: Educators, employers, and admins now see how applications were last closed on a match. Closure reasons display directly beside the Applications closed status pill.
• Match requests page filter addition: When filtering match requests by the "Pending" state, a new "User pending" filter appears. This lets you view requests specifically awaiting action from the employer, the educator, or both parties.

New features & Improvements

• As an educator, I can now choose to generate my experience content with AI.
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• 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.
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• 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.
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• 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).
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• As the creator of an agreement, I can now choose to require either a digital signature or a manual one.
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• 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.
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• Employers can set a maximum number of requests or matches for their project, causing it to automatically close when that max is reached.
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• 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
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• As an educator, I should only be able to request to join an experience if I am a member of the experience's portal
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• As an employer, I should only be able to request to join a project if I am a member of the project's company
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• 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.
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• Add match compatibility percentage pill to match created emails
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• Tasks and events view in user dashboard are condensed to two columns to save vertical space
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• Visual improvement to team page “benefits” component

New features & Improvements

• As an educator or employer, I can now cancel a match directly from the match page if no teams are assigned.
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• 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.
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• 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.
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• 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.
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• When I create a new project template as an experience admin, it now automatically links to the corresponding experience.
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• Survey reminder notifications are no longer sent for cancelled teams.
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• 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."
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• 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.
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• Portal administrators can now invite companies to a department. Portal members can filter companies by department.
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• 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.
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• 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.
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• 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.
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• As an educator, I now have the option to add learners via magic link

We are thrilled to announce that Riipen 2.0 is launching April 20, 2023, and we can't wait for you to experience it. After listening to your feedback and conducting dozens of user interviews, we have updated and improved the platform to better serve your needs.

Riipen 2.0 maintains the features that you love from the current platform within a new and more intuitive interface. We have reevaluated and enhanced every area of the platform and added new features based on your feedback to make your experience even better.

What to expect

During the launch on April 20 there will be minimal, scheduled downtime, and once it's completed, you will be able to access the platform at the same URL you always have. All of your existing data will be updated to the new format, ensuring that your access remains unchanged and all of your content and projects in progress are unaffected.

Post-launch, our top priority will be actively gathering feedback to make continuous ongoing improvements to Riipen 2.0. As you navigate the new site, automated tours and pointers will help all users find new features and identify how existing ones have changed.

What's new

Improved navigation and usability

The new left-hand sidebar provides quick access to your personal content, the marketplaces, and your portal or company. To help you find content faster, a global search feature is available in the top navigation.

To simplify the user interface, courses and internship programs are now merged into a single content type called experiences which has the features of both.

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Customization

It is now possible to customize your portal to align with your brand's look and feel. With Riipen 2.0, each portal has its own unique subdomain - eg. yourschoolname.riipen.com - allowing portal administrators to customize the primary logo, color usage, and terminology.

In Riipen 2.0, we've prioritized offering customization features throughout the platform. For instance, with the addition of custom roles for portal, company, project, and experience members, users can invite others with limited access to only the features they need.

We know that our customers value the ability to tailor their feedback surveys to include the questions that are most relevant for them, which is why we are excited to offer customized feedback surveys for employers upon completion of a project.

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Project management

In the last two years, we've made significant improvements to project management features in Riipen 1.0, including the ability for educators to add document templates to milestones and for learners to add their own milestones to teams.

In Riipen 2.0, we have taken these features a step further by adding some of the most frequently requested features from our learners and employers. For instance, we've integrated Zoom and Google Meet into the meeting invitations sent from messages, and now teams can set their own project dates when enabled by educators.

We're always looking for ways to enhance learner-employer collaboration, and we have exciting plans for further extensions to these features post-launch.

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Matchmaking

In Riipen 2.0, we have added features that were specifically requested by our customers to enhance the matchmaking process. Educators can now propose projects directly to companies for them to accept or decline, and in the match-making process, educators and employers can negotiate the project's content to ensure that it is tailored for each match.

Additionally, requests now require acceptance from both parties to ensure users can send requests with the security that they have the opportunity to confirm or withdraw their request later.

A new feature for both parties is the ability to extend the expiry date on a request if you need more time to evaluate it.

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Private marketplace and portal pass functionality

When invited by an educator, employers can sign up to thatschoolname.riipen.com instead of app.riipen.com, providing a platform experience that is tailored by the institution that invited them.

On the educator side, Riipen 2.0 offers improvements to the way portal passes are granted. Educators can now have employers answer screening questions during their portal intake process, ensuring they are the right fit for the portal. Additionally, educators can grant portal passes in bulk, saving them time.

For educators, a private marketplace featuring projects exclusively from their portal pass holders is now available in parallel to the open marketplace.

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Reports

We are excited to announce that reporting has been given a major upgrade in Riipen 2.0! We understand that our users require detailed and insightful reports to inform their decision-making, which is why we have powered our new reporting functionality with Metabase. This tool enables us to provide more comprehensive and detailed standard reports in each portal, and allows portal administrators to create custom reports that are unique to their needs. These custom reports can be saved in your portal and updated in real-time, providing the latest data insights.

An updated set of help articles launches on help.riipen.com on April 20 detailing all changes and how to navigate them.

You spoke, we listened.

Riipen, the leading work-based learning platform, is excited to announce the launch of Riipen 2.0 this Spring. Our enhanced platform is a direct result of extensive feedback from our community of users, beta testing, and exclusive access to a sandbox. With Riipen 2.0, you can experience key user-driven enhancements that promise to elevate your experience in the most impactful and efficient way.

Over the past five years, thousands of employers of all types and sizes have partnered with academic institutions and student talent through Riipen to accelerate the growth of their businesses. With Riipen 2.0, our employers will access innovative features providing higher flexibility, customization, branding, reporting, control over their processes, focused navigation of the platform, new integrations, and much more.

What does it mean for you?

New terminology

To start, we've listened to your feedback and made significant changes to our terminology:

• Courses & Internship Programs: To simplify the user interface, “Courses” and “Internship Programs” are now merged into a single entity type, "Experience" (note that this vocabulary can be customized by each school), which allows educators to pick and choose which aspects of each experience they want to include. For example, a curricular experience with fixed start and end dates can now have students directly applying to work with companies.
• Students: “Students” are now called “Learners” to better represent project collaborators on the platform, i.e., students and lifelong learners as one single entity.
• Schools: “Schools" are now called “Portals”.

New Platform Navigation Features

We have also enhanced the navigation features on the platform:

Dashboard:

• The dashboard will display up to 5 pending match requests to improve visibility and facilitate request review and approval, and all pending requests will be found in the "Request Center".
• The dashboard will also present up to 4 "upcoming dates" or milestones, such as the start of an experience, the end of an experience, a project milestone, etc.

Platform Navigation:

• Employers will now navigate the platform as a member of one company at a time (if they have multiple companies on Riipen) and will be able to easily switch workplaces (or companies) and navigate through the platform as a member of that workplace (or company) via the sidebar.

Scope Negotiation:

• To ensure that expectations between educators and employers are better aligned before students begin work, we introduced scope negotiation as part of the match request process. As such, an educator may propose changes to an employer project, at which time, the employer can choose to accept or decline these changes before accepting the match.

New Propose Project Functionality

Educators can now directly submit a project to any company in the Riipen ecosystem that they would like to work with. If the company in question approves the project, it will automatically be accepted and added to the educator's experience.

Improved Messaging Functionality

Users will be able to archive conversations and send meeting invitations with videoconference links using Google Meet and Zoom integration. General UI improvements have also been made to make messages easier to navigate and conversations smoother.

Enhanced Employer-Student Feedback

With Riipen 2.0, employers will answer custom questions determined by the educators to ensure their feedback is more relevant to students and better reflects the type of work completed. Feedback will only be shared with the other party after both parties reply to ensure unbiased feedback.

What's Next?

We're always looking to improve our platform, and Riipen 2.0 is just the beginning. Soon, employers will be able to subscribe to new content notifications and be notified each time a new experience is posted that matches their filter parameters, and educators will be able to send mass updates to all employers and/or learners on their experience, allowing them to share their updates more efficiently. Additionally, users will be able to delete sent messages, and employers can add custom agreements to their projects that students will digitally accept, such as non-disclosure agreements or other required policies for their business.

What to Expect?

On April 20, 2023, during the launch of Riipen 2.0, there will be minimal scheduled downtime. Once it's completed, you'll be able to access the platform at the same URL you always have, and all of your existing data will be updated to the new format, ensuring that your access remains unchanged and all of your content and projects in progress are unaffected.

Our top priority post-launch will be actively gathering feedback to make continuous, ongoing improvements to Riipen 2.0. Automated tours and pointers will help all users find new features and identify how existing ones have changed.

Conclusion

Riipen 2.0 brings innovative features that give our users higher flexibility, customization, branding, reporting, control over their processes, focused navigation of the platform, new integrations, and much more. Our new platform is designed to elevate your experience and ensure that our experiential learning platform remains the leading platform in the industry. We're excited to see the impact Riipen 2.0 will have on your business.

If you have questions about how Riipen 2.0 may impact your experience, you can reach out to our Customer Success team at success@riipen.com.

We are thrilled to announce that Riipen 2.0 is launching April 20, 2023, and we can't wait for you to experience it. After listening to your feedback and conducting dozens of user interviews, we have updated and improved the platform to better serve your needs.

Riipen 2.0 maintains the features that you love from the current platform within a new and more intuitive interface. We have reevaluated and enhanced every area of the platform and added new features based on your feedback to make your experience even better.

What to expect

During the launch on April 20 there will be minimal, scheduled downtime, and once it's completed, you will be able to access the platform at the same URL you always have. All of your existing data will be updated to the new format, ensuring that your access remains unchanged and all of your content and projects in progress are unaffected.

Post-launch, our top priority will be actively gathering feedback to make continuous ongoing improvements to Riipen 2.0. As you navigate the new site, automated tours and pointers will help all users find new features and identify how existing ones have changed.

What's new

Navigation

For learners, the interface is transformed with the goal of streamlining and simplifying your experience. As it does today, your dashboard will show you your teams and experiences (previously called courses and internships) that you are a member of.

In the main menu shown on the left above, you will see the most essential pages for your own content, and your portal. Your portal is typically your college or university.

Switch portals

If you're a member of multiple portals (eg. your college and Level UP) you can switch between them by clicking on your user avatar in the top-right of the screen and selecting "Switch workspace."

New features

As you explore, you'll see some improvements such as the ability to send meeting invitations linked to Google Meet or Zoom through messages. Your educator can now access new settings that they may enable for you, including the ability to have teams set their own project dates, and the ability to have employers answer custom feedback questions.

An updated set of help articles launches on help.riipen.com on April 20 detailing all changes and how to navigate them.