2021 is quickly approaching a close! Our company and our customers have, once again, had quite a busy year. This month’s newsletter focuses on all of the new and existing resources you have as an Impact customer. Our monthly webinar focuses on the role of the Customer Success Manager and how to get the most out of your strategic planning meetings.
We have also included documentation about our Impact Community Page! 2022 will bring the end of life for the EesySoft website, so we want to make sure that all of our users are well versed in the new system.
Our featured campaigns include everything to get your start of term off to the right track and to start preparations for the examination. We have seen quite a few requests for academic integrity messaging so we have highlighted those as well!
The Impact Content team has been hard at work creating new release notes and creating a huge upgrade for our Canvas customers. We hope you all have a restful holiday season and look forward to serving you in 2022!
Do you have any questions or suggestions for topics to be covered in our Impact Newsletter? We would love to hear from you. Please email Annelise.EwingGoodman@Instructure.com.
-- Dr. Annelise Ewing Goodman
December CSM Webinar: Understanding the Role of Your CSM
Each Impact customer has the opportunity to work with an Impact Customer Success Manager (CSM). This webinar describes what a CSM does and how to get the most out of your meetings!
Video Link:
As mentioned in the webinar, here are CSM best practices. Understanding the Role of Your Impact Customer Success Manager
Featured Campaigns
Start of Term:
Midterms:
Reminder of Available Academic Student Support and Assessment Support for Instructors
End of Term:
Academic Integrity For End Of Semester Assessments
Content Team Update:
The Canvas Master is getting an update! Read here to learn more about what you can expect from our Content Team.
BB Updates: Updates Coming January 2022!
Impact Crew
Featured Blog: My First Months at Instructure
By Toshiro Polak, Director of Product
When Impact (formerly EesySoft) was welcomed into the Instructure family last July, no one on the team could quite anticipate the amount of change, excitement, and enervation that comes with a marriage between companies. As I look back at Impact’s inaugural months at Instructure, I can’t help but flashback to my first day in High School. I am reminded of those first hesitant steps into the entrance hall with my back slumped over from the weight of my Kipling backpack - filled to the brim with textbooks, dictionaries, and (yes) an atlas - as I take in the social order that was established long before I got here. I try to avoid eye contact as I walk past groups of seniors who from my vantage point might as well be grown adults, cool kids with their pearly white sneakers, and edgy goths who I thought only existed on MTV. This is what it feels like to transition from a scrappy Dutch scale-up to an American EdTech juggernaut. Everything appears bigger, faster, more dynamic, but also more complex.
Our team of fewer than 40 individuals (that I joined as employee #6) was entering a workforce of 1000+ strong. The comfort of knowing all of your coworkers’ names and faces was dissipating. This sense of a changing “vibe” was compounded by the members of a historically very connected squad being absorbed into their respective business units within the broader organization. For all of us, even those who have been in their role for years, it felt like starting a brand new job.
During my first weeks as Product Director, I found myself having to consult the directory on a daily basis to keep track of the ever-growing mental map of new Instructure peers that I would cross paths with. Getting to engage with so many intelligent humans with wide-ranging interests, professional and personal experience in such a concentrated stretch of time has been intense, but incredibly energizing. I got to pick the brains of the product leaders for Canvas, Studio, Portfolium, Catalog, and MasteryConnect to understand how they identify market needs, foster connections across functional areas, and bridge the gap between product and engineering. I also benefited from the perspective of those who ended up at Instructure in a similar fashion as I did. It helped me appreciate that there is no guidebook that ensures a frictionless merger, only a commitment to transparent communication and positive effort by all parties involved. It took some time navigating this initial feeling of discomfort to eventually discover we are all still profoundly together as an Impact family. We are still the same passionate, sometimes unruly, and always kooky bunch that loves engaging with the education community and building beautiful products.
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Customer Spotlights
