Instructure Offers Platform Innovations in 4 Areas to Assist Teaching and Learning

Instructure announced several enhancements to its Canvas learning platform at its annual conference in July. The new capabilities serve teaching/learning, analytics, lifelong learning, and platform integration, the company said.

The new solutions in each of these four areas include:

Teaching and Learning:

  • AI-assisted course templating to create course page layouts (soon available in beta);
  • Module bulk publishing, improved gradebook filters, course pacing and assignment submission for students;
  • Right-and-wrong answer rationale; and
  • Integration of AI writing tutor Khanmigo (from partner Khan Academy);

Admin Analytics (available in beta now) for administrators:

  • Three separate dashboards with single and compound filters (overview, course, and student);
  • Ability to export data; and
  • Conversational AI using everyday language;

Lifelong Learning:

  • Canvas Credentials for course credentialing and learner records, including offering a learner passport in beta for a portable, shareable record of stackable, verifiable education and work-related competency evidence; and
  • Canvas Catalog for diverse course offerings;

Platform integration:

  • Integration between Canvas LMS, assessment management system Mastery Connect, Canvas Catalog, and Canvas Credentials; and
  • Addition of AI-powered chatbot PandaBot for the Instructure Community.

"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."

To learn more, visit the company blog page.

About the Author

Kate Lucariello is a former newspaper editor, EAST Lab high school teacher and college English teacher.

Featured

  • Hootsuite

    Beyond the Feed: How Higher Ed Turns Social Media Into a Measurable Enrollment Engine

    More than half of prospective students research programs on social media before visiting a university website, and nearly half will skip applying to a school that looks inactive online. Hootsuite, the all-in-one social OS platform trusted by more than 2,000 higher education institutions, helps campus teams turn everyday posts into measurable outcomes, from applications to alumni giving.

  • A glowing digital brain with neural connections and light trails

    AI Giants Warn It May Be Time to Slow Down

    For years, leaders in the artificial intelligence industry have warned that increasingly capable AI systems could eventually become dangerous, all the while continuing to race to build them. Now, their sentiments have changed.

  • lock icons, shields, and glowing data paths

    Research Studies Suggest AI Is Accelerating Familiar Cyber Attacks

    Research released around the recent Black Hat USA 2026 conference suggests that artificial intelligence is increasing the speed and scale of cybersecurity activity without replacing the attack methods defenders already face.

  • digital brain with network connections

    Microsoft Moving to Internally Developed AI Models in Office Apps

    Microsoft is reportedly using its own in-house artificial intelligence models to handle some workloads in Excel and Outlook, offering new evidence that the company is moving its AI strategy beyond model development and into large-scale cost reduction.