Extempore found a way to continue to build their core product functionality without sacrificing auxiliary features like interoperability: They chose Edlink as their integration partner.

Listen to the conversation with Sam Slagle, Product Owner at Extempore as he talks about his experience with Edlink. You'll also hear from Ryan Clay, a Client Success Manager at Edlink.

Jump in! We’ll cover:

  • Who is Extempore
  • What issue Extempore needed to solve with integrations
  • Why Edlink was able to solve this issue for Extempore
  • What Extempore gained from working with Edlink
  • Extempore’s future plans with integrations

Download a PDF version about Extempore’s experience partnering with Edlink here.

Enjoy:

R: Hello my name is Ryan Clay and I am a CSM at Edlink.

S: My name is Sam Slagle am the Product Owner at Extempore.

R: 0:11 - Who is Extempore, what is their product, and what problem did they need to solve?

S: Extempore is an all-in-one cloud-based assessment and practice platform for language learning. Allowing teachers to easily assess speaking, reading, writing, and listening for their students. Once submissions are received teachers can grade and provide feedback for students to review anytime within the platform and track progress over time.

One improvement we wanted to make over 2022 is to streamline onboarding, implementation, and LMS integrations for districts which is where Edlink came in.

R: 0:47 - What issues did Extempore anticipate for itself, if it built these integrations in-house?

S: The time to implement was a definitely concern. Test and provide the range of support for the different LMSs while still being able to focus on our core product would have definitely been a challenge without a partner like Edlink.

R: 1:08 - What made Edlink stand out as an integration partner for Extempore?

S: The time to implement a single API that applies to all LMS integrations while offloading the support of these integrations so that we can stay focused on our core product.

R: 1:23 - Why did Extempore decide to choose to onboard schools and implement at the same time, and during back-to-school?

S: So our schools and districts requested a deeper level of integration that wasn’t previously offered on our LTI 1.1 integration. So this allowed us to start roster integrations to provision accounts, classes, and student enrollments. While we finished up the assignment and grade syncing by the time teachers were ready to start providing assessments to students.

R: 1:52 - What resources was Edlink able to provide during all of this to help make Extempore’s integration and onboarding ready for schools?

S: Edlink provided us with crystal clear development documentation, a dedicated slack channel for when we had questions, and a client success manager (Ryan Clay) to help onboard districts when once the integration was ready.

R: 2:14 - Since connecting to Edlink’s Unified API, what providers and functionality does Extempore use?

S: We use ClassLink, Schoology, Canvas, Blackbaud, OneRoster, SFTP, Microsoft Teams, SSO, Rostering, Content Integration, and Grade Passback.

R: 2:33 - How has Edlink impacted Extempore’s product roadmap for the next quarter? Or year?

S: Edlink has taken the need for us to support these deeper integrations on our own. So that’s given us more time to deliver value within our actual platform.

R: 2:49 - Since connecting to Edlink, how have users been impacted by Extempore’s new integration access/packages?

S: Previously teachers need to create their own accounts and classes. After that, a link needs to be shared to students in order to get them enrolled with each class. With Edlink teacher accounts and students are provisioned automatically. And students are automatically enrolled. This means the first time teachers log in all they need to do is create an assessment to start using Extempore. Students will see the assessment within the LMS and be able to access it immediately through the SSO since the accounts are already provisioned and enrolled in the correct classes.

R: 3:27 - Do you see Extempore continuing to work with Edlink in the future?

S: Absolutely! Beyond simplifying the onboarding process compared to our LTI 1.1 integration Edlink’s API makes all of the steps seamless from assessment syncing, grade syncing, and the SSO for both instructors and students.

If you’re interested to learn more about Edlink’s client resources,  here’re other articles we’ve written.

Edlink’s Client Stories - Our Collection of Client Articles

Start Integrating Today