We report increased ionization and electron heating induced by interaction of an injected electron beam with the ionospheric plasma. Just after the end of each beam injection pulse, the thermal electrons are found to be heated up to 2 eV. The variation of the temperature after a beam pulse is shown to be related to the gradient of temperature across magnetic field lines. The scale length of the gradient is independent of the beam energy but is a function of both the beam pitch angle and current. The radial extent of the disturbed region across the B-field is also studied as a function of the beam parameters and of the altitude, and is shown to extend up to 50 m. Higher current beam injections are accompanied by a substantial amount of ionization. Resulting plasma densities can reach more than 5 times the background value.