Riipen Product Update - February 2022

Riipen's Product Team is constantly striving to develop innovative features and to make improvements to the platform based on the feedback we receive from our users, in order to provide them with the best possible experience. This past quarter was no exception, as we introduced a variety of new and exciting features and enhancements.

Watch our latest Product Update Webinar:

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Here’s a look at the innovative platform updates made in the last quarter: 

Subcategories

Our users informed us that they wanted greater control when searching for projects, courses, and internship programs in the marketplace. To achieve this, our team consulted with recommendation engine experts, and our users can now search for content by subcategory, making it easier to find relevant content, and they will be asked to select up to 5 subcategories when creating new content, allowing for more refined and higher quality recommendations.

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Request decline reason

The main reason our users have told us as to why they let requests expire is that they find this option easier than having to decline a request. However, this process leaves the other party hanging, and results in there being little to no data regarding the reasoning behind unsuccessful requests. The new platform improvement allows users to provide a reason for why they are declining a request from a selection of reasons, as well as write custom messages to the other party. 

School pass optimization

The school pass optimization was quite an undertaking by Riipen’s Product Team as Riipen users shared with us that they wanted to be able to easily invite their network of employers to Riipen. The school pass also provides a lot of value to Riipen to diversify our sources of companies. The colossal work carried out on the platform was structured in 5 stages:

1. Make it easy to track sent invitations: After an invitation is sent, a user can now view all pending invitations. On the “Company” tab of a school portal, a new “Invites” sub-tab has been added showing the email address the invitation was sent to, the name of the company, and the date the invitation was sent. 
   

2. Better access to school passholder data: Users can now sort by individual columns, search by keyword, filter by industry/location and view the number of projects, company location and date the school pass was created.
   

3. Customized sign-up experience for school pass invitations: The employer sign up experience is now customized to show the school prominently as a separate step during sign up and prompts them to create a project for the institution. During the onboarding process users can see the school that invited them and the option to view the school’s content.
   

4. Facilitate invitation of employers at scale: Users can now send a unique “magic link” to an unlimited number of employers, and when signing up, employers are automatically granted a school pass and are taken through the new customized school pass sign up experience.
   

5. Easy re-engagement of current school passholders: Through the existing Invite Company process, educators may now select a company who is already signed up and has a school pass with your institution and can still invite them to a course and/or create a draft project for them.

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What's to come at Riipen

At Riipen, we are continuously developing and improving our platform features. Here is a sneak peek at some of the exciting improvements that will be made to the platform over the next few months:

• Team Creation & Invitation Wizard: To make the signup process smoother and easier for learners, educators will be able to send invitations to students to join their course and/or create multiple teams of students all while reducing the necessary workload and saving time. 
  

• Prioritizing Preferred Content: Users will have access to prioritized "recommended" content by default when searching the platform, based on their preferences. Educators and employers will also have better insight into the level of responsiveness of users when submitting requests. 
  

• Student Participation Report: Educators will be able to access their students’ project participation data via a student participation report available for each project on the platform or a downloadable file.

Strategic projects

Riipen's Strategy Team also works tirelessly to build partnerships that will enable an ever-increasing number of learners to be better prepared for the future of work. Here are the latest projects and initiatives that the Strategy Team have been working on:

• Riipen x Shopify_Student Commerce Builders: Student Commerce Builders is an exclusive 8-12 hours/week, 12 week program internship opportunity only available via Riipen where learners develop a book of accounts of 12 Shopify businesses, owning their transition to Shopify, and get granted a membership to the Shopify Student Community. The program also provides unique career opportunities like early access to full-time role applications and industry-leading certifications.
  

• Level UP: In 2020, Employment and Social Development Canada, Government of Canada launched the Innovative Work-Integrated Learning fund to create 10’s of 1,000’s of new WIL opportunities across Canada. Level UP is a unique work-integrated learning program with a $12.25 million investment from the Government of Canada to create 6,125 fully virtual experiences for students through the completion of 80-hour projects each, with a $1,400 stipend. We are pleased to report that over 70% of the students participating in the program so far are from underserved communities.
  

• Arizona AERO: AERO is Arizona’s B2B project marketplace, funded by the Advancing Entrepreneurship grant from Wells Fargo, for 20, 40 or 80 hour virtual or in-person project engagements helping small businesses turn their operational challenges into structured projects, and collaborate with talented problem solvers eager to offer their expertise and build their visibility. This project was made possible with the partnership of Arizona’s Small Business Development Center (AZSBDC), Arizona Procurement Technical Assistance Center, Wells Fargo, Maricopa Community Colleges and Riipen. All participants of AERO are or become SBDC clients, providing them access to funding and counseling resources.

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The Product Team hosts a Riipen Product Update Webinar several times a year to give exclusive first looks at new features and upcoming product updates. If you missed our most recent session, check out the links below!

• WATCH: Riipen Product Update Webinar Recording
• DOWNLOAD: Riipen Product Update Presentation Deck
• DOWNLOAD: Riipen Product Update Q&A

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As part of our continuous improvement process, we are always interested in hearing from our users. To make a feature request, provide feedback or to report an issue on our platform, access our Feedback Portal, or send our Product Team an email at product@riipen.com.

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