Emily Foote, ’10, has been named vice president of Instructure, a Utah-based company that acquired the microlearning startup, Practice, that she and Professor Karl Okamoto originally launched in 2011 under the name ApprenNet.
Foote is now vice president of customer engagement at Instructure, making her responsible for sales of Practice and collaborations with the company’s Customer Success team.
Practice is used by businesses and organizations to create scalable methods for employee teams to practice skills and receive individualized and timely feedback through peer-to-peer video assessment and coaching.
The startup grew out of the LawMeets model pioneered by Okamoto that uses deal-making simulations to strengthen law students’ negotiating skills.
Foote said that Practice and Instructure have similarities and differences. Both companies were launched in the higher-education environment and expanded to address needs in the corporate sphere. But while Practice was a private company, she noted, Instructure is publicly traded.
Also, Foote explained, Practice is a learning tool, while Instructure’s first product, Canvas, was designed for course development and learning management.
Foote’s new role will allow her to focus her attention differently.
“As a founder of Practice, I had a large scope of responsibilities,” she said. “The benefit of joining a larger company is that they have a legal team and an IT team. That will take some responsibilities off my plate to help me focus on what’s key to moving the business forward.”
The Practice team will remain in Philadelphia, expand and move into new quarters at WeWork, a shared workspace at 16th and Market streets.
“It’s an awesome company,” she said. “We’re all really lucky.”
Foote graduated cum laude and received awards from the Center for Forensic Economic Studies and the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project.