Blog

Launched in 2020 with $2.6 million in funding from the Business + Higher Education Roundtable (BHER), supported by the Government of Canada, the multi-year partnership between BHER and Riipen has focused on engaging and connecting leaders in Canada’s academic and industry sectors to build a sustainable work-integrated learning (WIL) ecosystem for Canada’s future workforce. To date, the partnership has created over 12,000 student experiences, and brought 1,212 new employers and 61 new higher education institutions across all 10 provinces into the Canadian WIL ecosystem.

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

In the summer of 2021, The @ Company (The At Company) partnered with Riipen to deliver a number of highly successful internships. The students that participated in these internship programs built three mobile applications, two that are preparing to launch and one that is already available on the Apple App Store. We sat down with The @ Company team to explore how their internship programs have evolved over time and their approach to working with students.

Riipen and Pocketed make the perfect match - our free platforms make it easy for you to find talented interns and finance them in one easy go. Win-win!

Renewed for another school year starting September 2021, RBC Future Launch and Riipen will support the delivery of 10,000 more work-integrated learning experiences at 30 post-secondary institutions across Canada.

Another year has come and gone, bringing with it both challenges and triumphs. December 13, 2021 marked the 8 year anniversary of Riipen (and 5 years of running our marketplace platform)! As the end of 2021 draws near and we all begin to look ahead to 2022, we invite you to join us in reflecting on the exciting milestones and initiatives we were able to achieve this year.

Passionate about creating social impact, Christine Wincentaylo is a student in MacEwan University’s Bachelor of Social Work program. Through a Riipen Level UP project, Christine was able to develop skills relevant to her field of study while gaining clarity on her career goals and interests.

Riipen, the world’s largest online marketplace for work-integrated learning (WIL) experiences, is proud to announce Rural Roots, a collaborative program in partnership with Alberta-based Rural Development Network (RDN) to connect rural businesses and non-profits across Canada with post-secondary learners to advance their labour market and workforce skills through short-term virtual WIL projects.

For the third edition of our Product Coffee Break live webinar, held on October 20, we invited educators to join us to learn more about recent product updates, upcoming releases, and the latest Riipen news - including the celebration of an important milestone. We also had a fascinating discussion with Kris Hodgson-Bright, Digital Communications and Media instructor at Lethbridge College, who spoke about his experience using Riipen and the wonderful collaborative work his learners have done over the past few semesters.

Selina Wang, a 4th-year Computer Science student at the University of Saskatchewan, and Rajanbir Singh, a 4th-year Honours Computer Science student at York University, were two of the student developers working on MiTravel Level UP projects. Having both received glowing feedback from the employer, we spoke with Selina and Rajanbir to hear how they amazed MiTravel and about their experience working with them.

Team Riipen is thrilled to announce that we have hit a huge milestone: 100,000 learner experiences delivered! 🎉We want to thank all of the educators, employers, and learners who are a part of the Riipen community for your contributions, feedback, and support. We couldn’t have done this without your dedication, commitment, and passion!Join us as we look back on this amazing journey, celebrate all that we have achieved, and look to the future!

Learn how Mesh AI hired a skilled full-time employee through her proactive contributions to their Level UP project.

This summer, we invited educators to join us for our quarterly Product Coffee Break to learn more about the latest Riipen news and product feature releases. We also answered some great questions from educators on their experience using the Riipen platform. For those who did not get to join us, we have recaps and highlights of the session here! 

As the world begins to reopen, will placements stay virtual? What are the long-term impacts of the pandemic and what does this mean for the future of cooperative learning? We speak to CourseCompare about their latest study to try and answer these pressing questions.

Through Riipen, educators can introduce their students to experiential learning and organizations can source creative ideas from students. One organization that recently tapped into the power of students is the Canadian Congenital Heart Alliance, a Canadian non-profit organization that has raised awareness of congenital heart disease since 2004.

Educators joined Riipen's Product and Marketing teams for a webinar on the latest platform news and updates. This is a recap of what happened during the webinar and what's in store for the coming months.

Today, Riipen hosted a panel of Ontario business and education leaders to discuss Ontario’s workforce strategy moving out of the pandemic. The panel highlighted the importance of providing opportunities for reskilling to keep up with the changing demands of the workforce and the critical role that work-integrated learning will play in the province’s post-pandemic economic recovery.

Riipen launches Innovative Work-Integrated Learning program Level UP. Federal Government investment will support over 6,000 Canadian students, including students living in remote, rural communities and students from underrepresented communities.

The Women's Economic Council used Riipen to source student help on improving the organization’s website. The results of the project and ease of communication with talented students they were matched with amazed her. We sat down with Serah Gazali to learn how the IT Graduate students at Capella University provided a comprehensive solution to making their organization’s website more accessible.

A student survey conducted at Arizona State University reveals how experiential learning adds to student career preparedness and employability while facilitating the transition from post-secondary education to the workplace.

This week, we spoke with Bibi Bacchus, an Early Childhood Education (ECE) student at Mohawk College. Bibi found working on a teaching project with Abacus Uxbridge Inc. gave her valuable experience with learning how to interact with children in a virtual setting.

With thousands of short-term projects available to Canadian students through Level UP, many students are experiencing working in their area of study for the first time. Samira Sayamanesh, an Accounting and Finance student at Seneca College, was excited to share how Level UP helped her build confidence in her own abilities by giving her the opportunity to work with an employer directly.

Since the launch of the Level UP program in late January, over 6000 students have signed up and are at various stages of the program. We had the opportunity to speak with, Tyson Bilton, a student at the University of Calgary working towards his Honours degree in Finance, Bachelors in Commerce. For his Level UP project, Tyson worked as a Marketing Strategist for the HSBC Social Innovation Academy.

From disruptions to the status quo that made students question what the future of work and learning could look like to the magnification of existing social inequalities, this pandemic has changed student perceptions on how to best prepare themselves for the world. We discuss Cultural Intelligence, and why it is the key aptitude required for students to thrive in our contemporary and globalized world.

MiTravel Founder & CEO, Annie Lo, has had the unique opportunity to use Riipen as both a student user and an employer partner. Annie’s first interactions with Riipen were working on in-class projects as a student. She has since graduated and founded two ventures, including MiTravel which aims to launch later this year. Returning as an employer partner, Annie discusses her experiential learning experiences on Riipen from both a student and employer perspective.