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.