Instructure Announces Release of AI Features, K-12 and Higher Ed U.S Access to

Major product innovations for the Instructure Learning Ecosystem support the lifelong learning journey with a focus on AI and enhancements to insights and edtech effectiveness 

SALT LAKE CITY, July 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Instructure, the leading learning ecosystem, announced major AI innovations, partnerships and significant core LMS enhancements to increase educator efficiency and improve student success at its annual InstructureCon conference. Product innovation is focused on key areas: AI, insights, edtech effectiveness and the lifelong learning journey. The company also announced the launch of a standalone product, Instructure Intelligent Insights.

From responsible integration of AI tools that enhance learning through personal connection to a more cohesive user experience with Canvas serving as the hub of all teaching and learning, the innovation announced by Instructure is designed to power a lifelong learning journey and turn education into opportunities. At InstructureCon 2024, new AI product announcements included features developed directly within Instructure products, a number of well-tested partner integrations, including Khan Academy’s Khanmigo Teacher Tools and updates that enable partners to develop context-aware AI experiences within Canvas.

“We’re excited to announce substantive innovations to the Instructure Learning Ecosystem, with a strong focus on Canvas built in close partnership with our customers,” said Shiren Vijiasingam, Instructure’s Chief Product Officer. “We started with equitability in mind, addressing use cases that would help create a more level playing field for all learners while honoring the expertise of the educator.”

A Rich Landscape of AI Content Generation
Instructure leverages internally developed tools and those of its network of over 1,000 partners to help educators harness the power of AI. One such area is AI-assisted content generation, with an ever-growing landscape of available tools. One way the company will meet the rapidly growing educator demand for AI-assisted content generation is by announcing the upcoming availability of a Canvas integration with a teacher favorite, Khanmigo Teacher Tools.

• Khan Academy: Khanmigo Teacher Tools
  Instructure announced the seamless integration of Khanmigo Teacher Tools, directly within Canvas and available later this year for all customers in the United States. Khanmigo simplifies AI for teachers and generates high-quality, trustworthy outputs they can modify and co-edit with AI support. This integration includes access to over 20 tools in Canvas—helping educators plan lessons, generate questions, draft newsletters, write letters of recommendation, prep substitutes and more. By accessing Khanmigo from Canvas, educators can smoothly transition between planning, grading and student communication all within Canvas.

Updates to Move AI Beyond Content Generation 
Beyond content generation, Instructure also announced holistic updates that go even further in supporting institutions by partnering with them to develop their AI policies and plans, accelerate teaching and learning practices and implement their own transformative AI solutions. The company is making its new AI tools freely available for Canvas customers and working with AWS to safely, securely and efficiently scale to its community of tens of millions of educators and learners at more than 7,000 organizations around the world.

“With the LMS at the center of teaching and learning, Instructure is uniquely positioned to support institutions on their full AI journey,” said Vijiasingam. “Not only can we connect our customers with a vast ecosystem of integrated content and efficiency tools, but we can also accelerate key learning experience workflows and help them transform to a future where AI is a core part of everything they do.”

Tools that Prepare Institutions to Adopt AI

• Nutrition Facts 
  Instructure has published “AI nutrition fact” labels on all first- and third-party AI tools that integrate with its products, providing an unprecedented level of transparency into the LLMs and data policies of the tools in use. Nutrition facts on third-party AI tools are available on the Emerging AI Marketplace, giving institutions greater decision-making capability in service of safe technology use.

• LTI Certification
  With the upcoming launch of the Instructure Certified LTI Apps program, Instructure announced its plans to enable integration partners to set themselves apart, meet integration best practices–including those for AI data privacy–and provide safe, seamless experiences with tools inside of Canvas.

AI Tools that Scale and Enhance Teaching and Learning

• Discussion Summaries
  Educators can create customizable summaries of long and complex discussion threads, a feature especially useful for large-format classrooms.

• Translation of Inbox Messages and Discussions 
  Educators can leverage real-time, context-sensitive translation of content across 100 languages, an ideal feature for students who may not speak the language of instruction or for students who aren’t fluent in the course language.

• Smart Search
  Smart Search allows users to search across Canvas course content while returning results that recognize the relationship between concepts—for example, searching for “guitar” will return results about violins because they’re both stringed instruments.

Tools that Enable Institutions to Adopt and Create Their Own AI Solutions

• Smart Search API
  The Smart Search API vectorizes Canvas course content so that LLMs or third-party AI tools have the context…