Empowering Educators: Key Takeaways from the Canvas LMS Customer Discovery Session at InstructureCon

[NikkiWhang]

Last week approximately 2,000 Canvas LMS users traveled to beautiful Spokane, WA for our annual InstructureCon event. During the week, we were granted an opportunity to sit down with several of our K12 and Higher Education users for a Customer Discovery Session (CDS). The CDS was split into two aligned but distinct tracks: one focused on K12 and the other on Higher Education. This structure allowed us to surface unique perspectives, workflows, and challenges across both segments. Together, these sessions provided a comprehensive understanding of the varied needs we're uniquely positioned to address for our customers.

We're pleased to share a summary of our key learnings from the day, which are now shaping the future development of these areas.

Content Management and Distribution Workflows 

Insights

Educators are striving to build engaging, standards-aligned courses while juggling a wide array of tools and workflows. Though content creation practices vary widely across institutions and segments, there is strong consensus that collaboration in the content creation process, whether with colleagues or even students (for some of our Higher Education customers), is essential. The K12 CDS participants also identified a desire for Canvas to support educators in extracting and analyzing module-level insights so that their content management processes are informed with data. 

Today, many institutions rely on external tools for course design and planning, as these are often better suited for formal collaboration, version tracking, and iterative feedback. However, this approach leads to inconsistencies and added complexity, especially when educators have to manage multiple tools to complete a single task.

Opportunities

There’s a clear opportunity to support these collaborative workflows within Canvas in a more consistent and seamless way. By improving in-platform tools for planning, editing, and versioning content, Canvas could reduce educators’ dependence on external tools, streamline course design processes, and ensure a more unified experience across institutions and teams. 

Course Accessibility 

Insights

Accessibility remains a top priority for both Higher Education and K12, with educators looking to the LMS for increased support in surfacing gaps in course content. Further, a key need is for teachers to more easily understand why accessibility features like alt text or proper formatting are important. There was a mutual desire for accessibility tools in Canvas to help with this education. 

When presented designs for our upcoming course-level accessibility checker, CDS participants gravitated towards the ease of use of the prototype including: an overall course score gauge and visualization, sorting and filtering flexibility, and the potential for AI-powered tools like alt text generation. 

Opportunities

Through advancements towards a course-level accessibility checker, Canvas has an opportunity to empower educators to not only identify and fix accessibility issues but also to understand the importance of these changes during course development.

Educator Dashboard

Insights

We also shared early concepts for an educator-focused dashboard and invited participants to explore and iterate on the designs with their own ideas. The potential of a role-specific dashboard was met with enthusiastic feedback (literally, there were cheers) and viewed as a possible gamechanger for simplifying day-to-day workflows. One CDS participant noted, "I’m incredibly excited about this. This is a gamechanger for us. I didn’t know this could be possible. We have looked at and started using [a third party tool] which is similar to this in concept, but not as smooth as this. This will make a huge difference day-to-day."

Participants especially valued quick access to student performance data (e.g., logins, course participation, grades), streamlined grading workflows directly from the dashboard, and visualizations of grade distributions.

Opportunities 

While the overall vision resonated strongly, it became evident that preferences varied widely regarding which elements should be visible and how they should be organized. One takeaway was consistent: flexibility is essential. Customization must remain at the core of any educator dashboard to truly add value based on the diverse needs of instructors.

AI Grading Solutions

Insights

CDS attendees explored AI-powered rubric creation and grading assistance features. One CDS participant noted, “The AI is coaching the teacher on how to be a better grader” which is a sentiment that is aligned with Instructure’s vision for these tools: they’re designed to supplement and support educators’ expertise, not replace them. Instructors remain fully in control of student scores and feedback, using these features as a first pass or starting point in the grading process.

Opportunities

The discussion around AI in these areas sparked thoughtful dialogue and enthusiasm alongside important cautions. While there was excitement for the potential to utilize AI to help automate tasks like rubric generation and grading for teachers, there was also a strong desire to ensure educators understand how the tools work and have the proper training prior to gaining access. We had discussions on important safeguards that could be built into AI tools, and with AI practices still being so new and under development, K12 and Higher Education users alike were both clear on their desire for as much transparency as possible. 

In Conclusion

As we reflect on the valuable input gathered during the Customer Discovery Sessions held at InstructureCon, one theme resonated across both K12 and Higher Education participants: dialogue with our customers will remain foundational, especially as it pertains to AI-enhanced development. Attendees expressed appreciation for our open approach, noting that clarity around how AI tools function, along with educator-centered safeguards, is essential to building trust and adoption. 

These sessions reaffirmed the importance of not only listening, but maintaining a steady feedback loop and ensuring that educators stay in the driver’s seat. We’re grateful for the discussion and collaboration from our community and look forward to continuing this journey together.