Instructure Reveals Major Product Innovations Across Four Strategic Areas

Enhancements to the Instructure Learning Platform are centred around strategic areas of core teaching and learning, analytics, platform integration and lifelong learning, with AI-infused incorporation thoughtfully throughout 

Instructure, the leading learning platform and maker of Canvas, today announced enhanced and expanded Instructure Learning Platform solutions, further demonstrating the company’s ongoing commitment to innovation in edtech and its mission to make teachers’ work easier and improve student success. Yesterday, the company unveiled enhancements centred around core teaching and learning, advanced analytics, lifelong learning and platform integration during InstructureCon 2023, the company’s annual user conference held on July 26-28 in Denver. For more information, visit here. 

Core Teaching and Learning 

To better support millions of educators and learners using Canvas around the world, Instructure showcased continued innovation to their core teaching and learning solutions, all designed to save educators time, personalise learning experiences for students and simplify complex tasks for administrators.   

Today, AI-assisted course templating was announced, giving educators and instructional designers the power to quickly create elegant page layouts using dynamic methods, making courses more engaging and intuitive. This latest release, soon available in beta, joins the growing list of new functionalities specifically designed to improve educator efficiency and reduce administrative tasks, such as bulk publishing for modules, enhanced Gradebook filters, Course Pacing and the ability to submit assignments on behalf of students. 

Students also gain a more personalised, equitable experience from Canvas solutions with tailored in-context support, like the beta AI-powered right-and-wrong answer rationale and integration of AI writing tutor Khanmigo, made available through the just-announced partnership with Khan Academy. These tools give instructors supplemental AI-powered tools to support students in and out of the classroom. 

“This work underscores our continued commitment to build the extensibility and advanced capabilities of Canvas products, while also promoting simplicity for both educators and learners,” said Shiren Vijiasingam, Instructure’s Chief Product Officer.” With the introduction of AI capabilities into our core products—both with our own innovation and that of our strategic partners found in our beta emerging AI marketplace—we aim to meet the immediate and future needs of our community with substantive improvements that help to drive best practice in pedagogy and curriculum.” 

Advanced Analytics 

Building upon the rapid adoption of the new data pipeline for Canvas Data 2 and the recently released Canvas Admin Analytics, included in Canvas LMS, Instructure also showcased new advanced analytics solutions now available in beta. This allows administrators to personalise the way they see and interact with their data in a fraction of the time. 

Injecting conversational AI into Instructure analytics products empowers educators to ask deeper questions about their data using everyday language, resulting in more timely, actionable insights to drive better outcomes for students. 

Lifelong Learning 

In response to rapidly evolving labour markets and growing demand for alternative education paths, Instructure’s new streamlined offering of Canvas LMS, Canvas Credentials and Canvas Catalog provides institutions with a turnkey solution to diversify course offerings, attract new learners and drive continued institutional growth.   

As an evolution of this offering, today the company previewed innovative work in credentialing and learner records. Instructure is launching a learner passport in beta designed to empower learners to carry stackable, verifiable evidence of the competencies acquired throughout their learning journey. 

 “We believe the future requires a portable, shareable record to show the skills and achievements an individual mastered with either employers or institutions,” Vijiasingam said. “We know that learners are looking for alternative paths to employment and education and this gives them the power to pursue their own unique learning journeys.”  

Platform Integration 

To realise the company’s mission of delivering the most comprehensive, seamless learning platform on the market, Instructure showcased new deep integration between their solutions, like Canvas LMS as well as a seamless learning experience across Canvas LMS, Canvas Catalog and Canvas Credentials. This cohesive platform experience is strengthened by a foundation of data brought to life by advanced analytics. As part of the platform, the Instructure Community, edtech’s largest online community, now has PandaBot, an AI-powered chatbot available to all community members. 

“Whether educators and learners are using Instructure products or other educational technologies on the Instructure Learning Platform, they deserve an experience that puts teaching and learning front and centre,” said Steve Daly, Instructure’s Chief Executive Officer. “Removing the barriers between these solutions allows everyone to navigate freely so they can focus on the content of their education and not the tech. Today we shared our vision of what a cohesive platform experience could and should look like–and our strategy to get there.”