In the photo, Rubin Software Developer Austin Makohon shows Virginia Beach high school students proposed updates to Emerge, our online curriculum, to gain their feedback.

With every Zoom “raised hand” and comment in the chat, Rubin efforts to strengthen our Emerge employability skills curriculum came into better focus.

Thanks to feedback on April 6 from high school students within Virginia Beach City Public Schools, the Rubin team gained new ideas for:

• a smarter, more intuitive site navigational structure
• simpler instructions for classroom assignments
• easier way to see what lessons they have already completed

The Rubin team, alongside a group of software developers based in Serbia, takes the student insights into account as we build “version 2.0” of Emerge to be ready by the start of the 2022-2023 academic year.

“We are proud of the impact Emerge has on thousands of students nationwide for college and career readiness,” said Danny Rubin, the founder of Rubin. “Still, we are determined to take Emerge to the next level, smooth out user experience issues and make our platform the best it can be.”

Other planned changed to Emerge include:

• a fresh design for the log-in screen
• the addition of QR codes for Emerge digital badges (so people like employers can snap the QR code and find information about the skills obtained through the badge)
• enhanced middle school curriculum for email etiquette and interview skills

More to come in the months ahead!