Exploring the Ed-cosystem at InstructureCon 2024

At InstructureCon this year, educators, administrators, and edtech trail blazers made the trek to Las Vegas to set out on a learning expedition like no other. Together, we shared moments of discovery, adventure, and connection that we don’t want to soon forget. If you’re like us and want to reflect on the journey, or if you couldn’t join us and want to get a recap of the event, we’ve got you covered. 

Read on to discover all that InstructureCon 2024 had to offer.

• Nearly 3,000 attendees - our largest conference yet!  
• 62 partners 
• 250 sessions
• Over 2,000 mentions of #INSTCon24 on social media 
• Thousands of Panda hugs 
• Three days, countless adventures

"When you join the Instructure community, you're not just joining a company that makes great products, but you're joining a whole family of people, not just fifteen hundred employees at Instructure, but two million in our family that's there to help you be successful in your implementation of technology." - Steve Daly, CEO of Instructure, Opening Keynote at InstructureCon

Meaningful AI & Innovation

AI is here to stay. Over the three days in Vegas, we heard countless sessions on how today’s educators are mindfully collaborating with AI to make a difference in their classrooms. 

We made exciting product announcements to support educators that bring AI into Canvas meaningfully.

• Intelligent Insights: This AI-powered tool for Canvas LMS transforms data into actionable insights, enhancing teaching and learning experiences.
• AI Nutrition Labels: These provide clear, comprehensive information about data policies and language models, enabling informed decisions about AI usage.
• Khanmigo Teacher Tools: A popular AI-assisted content generation tool integrated directly within Canvas LMS.

Sal Khan stopped by to show off the templates, assignments, and collaborative innovation coming to Canvas with Khan Academy.
 

We’ve expanded our ecosystem with around 50 new AI-focused partners to offer a wide range of flexible and user-friendly AI tools for various educational needs. It's not just about cool tech - we aim to make learning more accessible for everyone. 

However, our focus on innovation goes beyond AI. At InstructureCon, we made 13 product announcements, including improvements to core teaching and learning functions (such as the much-applauded Block Editor) and features supporting edtech effectiveness and lifelong learning.

We also announced the Canvas Apps Page, a new central hub within Canvas LMS for discovering and managing LTI tools. This feature simplifies tool installation and management with detailed listings, recommendations, and configuration resources, making your edtech decisions more innovative and efficient.

As we look to the future of education, we're excited about the potential these innovations hold. We're eager to see how educators will leverage these new tools to transform their teaching practices and enhance student learning outcomes across diverse educational settings.

Supporting the Learner's Journey

Understanding that the educational landscape has evolved and been extended by people living longer lives and having longer careers, we shared our vision for the lifelong learning experience. From the moment learners enter grade school, they embark on an endless journey of learning, upskilling, and reskilling. They need reliable tools that facilitate flexible, multimodal learning. Attendees learned how a cohesive ecosystem of educational tools and technology provides learners with a seamless experience.

To this end, we announced our progress on an updated Portfolio and Learner Record solution named Journey that leverages Canvas Credentials, Parchment, and recent addition Scribbles. This solution, which will be in beta in the first half of 2025, brings portfolios and credentials into one learner view, allowing learner achievements to be housed and recognized by both institutions and employers.

Increased interest in badges and credentials for career readiness and advancement has created a growing need for institutions to scale their credentialing programs, which is why we were thrilled to share updates that help educators deliver more flexible, personalized lifelong learning experiences in digital credentialing, such as: 

• Accessible pathways
• Removed badge requirements
• Removed course copy and blueprint
• Interoperability and compliance with OB 3.0 and CLR 2.0 industry standards

Attendees also heard about updates in Canvas Catalog that will be available by the end of the year, which will make lifelong learning initiatives more scalable and interoperable with CRMs.

Finally, we were delighted to welcome keynote speaker Mary Murphy, award-winning researcher and author of Cultures of Growth, to discuss how we all can shape our behavior to inspire cultures of learning, innovation, and success. She shared that anytime two or more people are together, there is a mindset culture present: either a fixed or growth mindset. And we must question if we know what that mindset culture is and how it's affecting us. 

Murphy explained how a fixed mindset holds that things like talent, intelligence, and ability are relatively fixed – you either have them or you don't. Whereas a growth mindset holds that talent, intelligence, and ability can be grown with good strategies, help from others when we're stuck, and persistence.

This inspiring conversation, shared between Murphy and Melissa Loble, our Chief Academic Officer at Instructure, encapsulates the dynamic for teaching and learning we strive to help learners experience everyday. 

The Power of the Ecosystem & Community

As we continue reflecting on our time together, another theme remains abundantly clear: the power and potential of the Instructure ecosystem and community. 

Canvas LMS has long served as the hub for teaching and learning; the Instructure Learning Ecosystem stands as the hub for innovation and connection. We’ve always been intentional about bringing in the right tools to serve our 7,000 customers across higher education, K-12, and the corporate world in over 100 countries. 

The Instructure Learning Ecosystem is designed to support learners everywhere through:

• An open set of products and services
• A robust, integrated partnership network 
• An engaged, collaborative customer community

InstructureCon showcased each of these areas of the ecosystem.

In breakout sessions, we heard from customers, partners, and our internal teams about how to foster a whole, tech-enabled educational experience by incorporating the finest solutions directly into learning. We aim to create an environment that adjusts to the distinct needs of teachers, students, and learners everywhere.

As a testament to our belief that we’re better together, we also announced The EdTech Collective. We partner with visionary providers to bring in advanced technologies and broaden academic horizons, ensuring teachers have the right tools for effective instruction. Our partners are essential to a flourishing educational ecosystem. 

We also heard customers asking, answering, and collaborating in real life. We love seeing everyone come together and are excited to see these conversations continue online in the Instructure Community, which now has over 2,000,000 members.

Figuring it Out: Together

InstructureCon concluded with a fireside chat between Ryan Lufkin, Instricture’s VP of Global Academic Strategy, and Jimmy Chin, a National Geographic photographer, Academy Award-winning film director, and New York Times Best-Selling author. The two discussed the importance of passion, resilience, and continuous learning to fuel personal and professional growth.

Thank you to everyone who joined us in Las Vegas for an ed-venture filled with learning, excitement, and connection with the best community in edtech. Watch the videos of our recorded keynotes and super sessions to uncover the latest product updates and gain valuable insights from education professionals.

If you’re already counting down the days until InstructureCon 2025 like we are, sign up for updates and be the first to know when registration opens. In the meantime, keep exploring, learning, and embracing the power of the ecosystem. 

We hope you can join us in Spokane next July!