1. What is the WGU Academy Digital Marketing & E-Commerce Certificate?
The WGU Academy Digital Marketing & E-Commerce Certificate is a four-course, skills-based program designed to equip learners with foundational digital marketing competencies. Students gain hands-on experience with industry-standard tools such as HubSpot, Shopify, Google Ads, and Mailchimp. The curriculum covers key areas including SEO, content marketing, email marketing, marketing automation, and web analytics. This certificate prepares learners for entry-level roles in digital marketing and e-commerce, such as marketing coordinators or social media specialists. Additionally, it serves as a stepping stone for further education, offering guaranteed admission into WGU's School of Business degree programs upon completion.
2. How does the Riipen project enhance the WGU Academy Digital Marketing & E-Commerce Certificate experience?
WGU Academy is partnering with Riipen, the leading platform for real-world, work-based learning, to give students an accelerated path into today’s digital marketing and e-commerce industries. Through the Riipen project, learners apply the skills gained in their certificate coursework by completing a hands-on project for a real employer. This partnership ensures that every graduate of the program leaves with practical, portfolio-ready experience — helping bridge the gap between education and employment.
Learners complete a real-world, project-based experience on Riipen as the final, for-credit component of their certificate. As an employer, you’ll propose a project, and up to 5 learners will each complete their own version of the requested deliverable independently.
3. What kinds of projects can I post?
Sample project categories include:
Digital content creation and campaign analysis
Marketing automation through HubSpot
E-commerce site analysis and improvement planning (e.g., Shopify)
SEO/SEM strategy development
Social media marketing asset design
Email marketing segmentation workflows
Riipen provides project templates to make setup easy.
4. How are learners prepared for this project?
All learners have completed foundational coursework in the WGU Academy Digital Marketing & E-Commerce Certificate program. They are trained in marketing strategy, analytics, SEO, e-commerce, and digital communications. This is a capstone-level experience; learners are expected to apply what they’ve learned to solve real business challenges.
5. How long will the project last?
Learners complete the project over 4–8 weeks, within a 2-month window following their coursework. You’ll receive deliverables by the final due date, and each learner works independently.
6. What kind of deliverables will I receive?
You will receive up to 5 unique versions of your requested deliverable—one from each student who self-assigns to your project. This may include marketing plans, digital assets, performance reports, or executive summaries.
7. What’s the time commitment for me as an employer?
Plan to spend 3–5 hours total on:
Posting your project
Introducing students to the specific priorities of your project
Responding to occasional student questions
Providing structured feedback within 5 business days of project completion
7. What’s expected of me in terms of mentorship?
You’ll be asked to:
Be responsive to student questions during the project
Provide guidance where needed
Submit a structured evaluation using Riipen’s feedback form at the end
Your feedback directly contributes to the learner’s final grade and professional development.
8. Will I be hiring or supervising these students?
No. This is not a job or internship. It’s a non-paid, academic capstone project that students complete independently. You are not entering into an employment relationship. However, if you’re impressed by a student’s work, you are of course welcome to hire them after the project ends.
9. What does it cost to participate?
Participation is free for employers. WGU Academy and Riipen manage the platform, matching, and project administration.
10. Who can participate as an employer?
We welcome employers of all sizes and industries across the U.S., especially those with real-world marketing challenges and a desire to support learner development.
11. How do I sign up?
Riipen will provide access to a private WGU Academy employer portal where you can create an account, post a project (with or without a template), and approve learner self-assignments.