I spent a couple of really interesting days at Instructure's CanvasCon, held on 2-3 November at Convene Sancroft near St Paul's under the theme "Future-Ready Education in the Making".A declaration of bias
I should say up front that I'm biased: I supported the introduction of Canvas into two Colleges in Scotland. ( it was great to catch up with Clyde and City of Glasgow Colleges) and many Association for Learning Technology colleagues at the event and I attended as a guest of Instructure.
I've worked with various LMS tools since the last century - anyone remember Lotus Learning Space ? and no the VLE is not dead, if you remember that short lived movement.
I believe that if you want a platform that will support your institution into the future, Canvas is the best choice. Other options exist, but they come with different price points, different development pain points and don't offer the same holistic approach to lifelong learning.
The pieces I value (over and above the high platform reliability) are:
- Open sharing of resources through Canvas Commons.
- Microcredentials and badges, built on the Open Badges 3.0 standard.
- A digital portfolio and certified qualifications that learners can take away after their formal learning ends.
- Delivering courses and support beyond the institution through Canvas Catalog.
- A sound platform for modelling good learning design and accessibility.
- How Instructure embraces and supports open standards Edu.Api, Open Badge Standard3.0 and many more.
One thing I'm unsure about is the new three-tier pricing model. I understand why AI isn't free and has to be paid for, but for many Colleges tier one will be as far as they can stretch. I'll be watching how this plays out for the FE sector.
Above all the conference was a great opportunity to polish up my product knowledge and network with the ever growing Instructure user base across UK and Europe.
Student voices open the conference
The opening session put students front and centre. They know they shouldn't outsource their learning to AI, but they feel teaching staff are still in denial and aren't modelling their own use of AI. What they want is:
- Worked examples of the best approaches for specific challenges
- Enough understanding to use different AI models economically and sustainably
Other delegates picked up the same thread. Several noted that AI shouldn't be treated as taboo, that assessment needs redesigning around authentic tasks, and that staff need time to learn. Access has to be open to everyone, not just those who can afford it. Sue Turner's keynote framed the question well: what does "No AI use" actually mean in practice?. Spoiler, that approach doesn't work.
During proceedings I ducked out to deliver a one hour online Workshop to Newham College London and all credit to staff there who are already tackling this AI challenge.
Product updates
The product session from Zac Pendleton and Joel Silvera was a useful one. The main threads were:
- Making learning more personal
- An improved block content editor
- The impact of IgniteAI across the platform, from learning design to student experience
- Better dashboards for tracking across all courses
- An improved accessibility checker
- New learner dashboards so students can track their own progress
The link between the IgniteAI agent and MCP servers particularly interested me. You can connect your preferred agent, such as Microsoft Copilot, and generate personalised experiences using only the information held in Canvas. That is a sensible approach to the data and privacy questions that worry so many institutions.
Parchment and the skills agenda
Kristie Lindell described developments at Instructure's Parchment, built around learner personas. Administrators can create pathways using the Open Badges 3.0 standard. Parchment now links to a global marketplace showing which skills are in demand, and the underlying framework will reflect ESCO and the developing European skills wallet. For anyone working in vocational education, this is where the skills and employer-recognition conversation is heading. Great too to see UK labour market and job opportunities appearing at back end of this system.
Partners worth a look
I didn't get round all the partner stands, but CidiLabs caught my eye. I particularly liked their tools for turning PDF documents into course materials, and their design plugins such as TidyUp and UDoIt. Some of their other tools could make them an alternative to Anthology Ally.
Feedbackfruits for moving on the oral assessment debate and EDF for supporting really large organisations moving from one platform to another. It was good to see a strong overlap with the vendors attending the ALT Conference in Cardiff two weeks ago.Free training: the On-Demand Training Portal
Alongside the product news, it's worth knowing what Instructure offers for free, especially given my worry about the pricing tiers.
The On-Demand Training Portal is accessible directly through Canvas. Instructure launched it for clients in EMEA and APAC through the LMS itself. All Canvas users except Free for Teacher users have access, and the free subscription level includes the Portal Walkthrough Course, Canvas Basics and Fundamentals of Accessible Digital Content.
What's in the free tier
- Canvas Basics: a course on the core features of Canvas. It replaced the older Canvas Field Guide course.
- Fundamentals of Accessible Digital Content in Canvas: launched in April 2025 and available in every tier, including the free one. It covers what digital accessibility means, checking accessibility in Canvas, best practices, and common mistakes.
Why it matters for Colleges: if tier one is as far as many Colleges can stretch, a free, structured route into accessibility and core Canvas skills is useful. It pairs well with the improved accessibility checker announced at the conference, and gives staff a low-cost way to build confidence before any paid AI features come into play.
Practice from the sector
Boston College, Lincolnshire (Peter Davis) gave a great example of cross-curricular recognition using credentials, badges and Canvas data. They created programmes recognising both staff digital skills and student digital progress. Competencies can be picked up automatically or awarded by staff for specific pieces of work. Canvas data feeds Power BI dashboards, including leaderboards for staff and students.
The award winners
- Innovative Technology: Prof. Uwe Stoklossa and the Carl Remigius Fresenius Education Group for NextGeneration 2.0, bringing secure, course-grounded AI to 18 institutions.
- Outstanding Course: University of Cambridge Advance Online for Creativity, Problem Solving and Design Thinking, with an impressive 94% completion rate.
- Transformative Programme: Gemma W. and Luke Westwood and the SAJE team at the University of Birmingham, who are rethinking assessment for nearly 10,000 first-year students.
Final Reflections
My overall impression is that Instructure takes a broader view than many competitors. It isn't narrowly focused on digital learning experiences, and increasingly contributes to discussions on lifelong learning, educational reform, credentialing and the future of work. It is out in front when it comes to working with global open standards.
It is getting itself into bigger, cross-cutting education themes, with products aligned to them. As colleagues noted, Canvas is evolving beyond being a place to host course content, with Canvas Next, IgniteAI and learning analytics all pointing that way.
The organisation undertands that too - next year's conference becomes Instructure Con a reflection that they manage a coherent set of tools to support lifelong learning. if you are new to all of this it is worth checking out Canvas Lite.As always, the networking was brilliant. I've come home with plenty of ideas, a growing list of things to explore, perhaps a set of challenges in some Colleges for our IT colleagues.
I had some useful side conversations around learning technologist access to AI tools and even simply powerBI. This does not bode well for possible discussion around MCP servers and or Edu.Api introduction into work flows.
