Entrepreneurs and Leaders
PRnewswire | August 02, 2023
Instructure, the leading learning platform and maker of Canvas, today announced enhanced and expanded Instructure Learning Platform solutions, further demonstrating the company's ongoing commitment to innovation in edtech and its mission to make teachers' work easier and improve student success. Today the company unveiled enhancements centered around core teaching and learning, advanced analytics, lifelong learning and platform integration during InstructureCon 2023, the company's annual user conference held July 26-28 in Denver.
Core Teaching and Learning
To better support millions of educators and learners using Canvas around the world, Instructure showcased continued innovation to their core teaching and learning solutions, all designed to save educators time, personalize learning experiences for students and simplify complex tasks for administrators. Today, AI-assisted course templating was announced, giving educators and instructional designers the power to quickly create elegant page layouts using dynamic methods, making courses both more engaging and intuitive. This latest release, soon available in beta, joins the growing list of new functionalities specifically designed to improve educator efficiency and reduce administrative tasks, such as bulk publishing for modules, enhanced Gradebook filters, Course Pacing and the ability to submit assignments on behalf of students. Students also gain a more personalized, equitable experience from Canvas solutions with tailored in-context support, like the beta AI-powered right-and-wrong answer rationale and integration of AI writing tutor Khanmigo, made available through the just-announced partnership with Khan Academy. These tools give instructors supplemental AI-powered tools to support students in and out of the classroom. "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."
Advanced Analytics
Building upon the rapid adoption of the new data pipeline for Canvas Data 2 and the recently released Canvas Admin Analytics, included in Canvas LMS, Instructure also showcased new advanced analytics solutions now available in beta. This allows administrators to personalize the way they see and interact with their data in a fraction of the time. Injecting conversational AI into Instructure analytics products empowers educators to ask deeper questions of their data using everyday language. This results in more timely, actionable insights to drive better outcomes for students.
Lifelong Learning
In response to rapidly evolving labor markets and growing demand for alternate educational paths, Instructure's new streamlined offering of Canvas LMS, Canvas Credentials and Canvas Catalog provide institutions with a turnkey solution to diversify course offerings, attract new learners and drive continued institutional growth. As an evolution of this offering, today the company previewed innovative work in credentialing and learner records. Instructure is launching a learner passport in beta designed to empower learners to carry stackable, verifiable evidence of the competencies acquired throughout their learning journey. "We believe the future requires a portable, shareable record to show the skills and achievements an individual mastered with either employers or institutions," Vijiasingam said. "We know that learners are looking for alternative paths to employment and education and this gives them the power to pursue their own unique learning journeys."
Platform Integration
To realize the company's mission of delivering the most comprehensive, seamless learning platform on the market, Instructure showcased new deep integration between their solutions, like Canvas LMS and assessment management system Mastery Connect, and a seamless learning experience across Canvas LMS, Canvas Catalog and Canvas Credentials. This cohesive platform experience is strengthened by a foundation of data brought to life by advanced analytics. As part of the platform, the Instructure Community, edtech's largest online community, now has PandaBot, an AI-powered chatbot available to all community members. "Whether educators and learners are using Instructure products or other educational technologies on the Instructure Learning Platform, they deserve an experience that puts teaching and learning front and center," said Steve Daly, Instructure's Chief Executive Officer. "Removing the barriers between these solutions allows everyone to navigate freely so they can focus on the content of their education and not the tech. Today we shared our vision of what a cohesive platform experience could and should look like–and our strategy to get there."
ABOUT INSTRUCTURECON
InstructureCon 2023, Instructure's professional learning event for educators and edtech users, with a 2023 theme of Making Moments, features prominent keynotes from Deepak Chopra, Arianna Huffington and Dr. Jordan Nguyen. With more than 130 sessions from fellow educators and inspiring thinkers, InstructureCon addresses some of the most impactful edtech insights and tips on resilience, wellness and self-care for educators. This year's InstructureCon event takes place July 25-28, at the Gaylord Rockies Resort and Convention Center in Denver.
ABOUT INSTRUCTURE
Instructure is an education technology company dedicated to elevating student success, amplifying the power of teaching, and inspiring everyone to learn together. Today the Instructure Learning Platform, comprised of its flagship product Canvas LMS and several products serving K-12 and higher education, supports tens of millions of educators and learners around the world.
Read More
Education Technology
Businesswire | July 10, 2023
YuJa, Inc., a leader in ed-tech solutions, has introduced a number of new and exciting features across its portfolio of higher education offerings, which include the flagship YuJa Enterprise Video Platform, YuJa Panorama Digital Accessibility platform, YuJa Engage Student Response System, YuJa Verity Test Proctoring, and YuJa Himalayas Enterprise Archiving Platform.
“Our goal is to continually innovate to meet the evolving needs of our customers,” said Nathan Arora, Chief Business Officer at YuJa, Inc. “With these new features, updates, and enhancements, we aim to empower educators and institutions with innovative tools that foster engaging learning environments and enable seamless collaboration. We are dedicated to supporting the ever-changing landscape of higher education and ensuring our products remain at the forefront of educational technology.”
Highlighted feature introductions and updates are listed below.
YuJa Enterprise Video Platform
A number of Enterprise Video Platform improvements were implemented. Highlights include:
The need for third-party cookies has been eliminated, which simplified product use and enhances the privacy and security for institutions as they access the Video Platform from within their learning management system.
A new umbrella system infrastructure has been deployed to support systems of higher education with multiple campuses or institutions using a single Video Platform instance. Administrators can manage system-level deployment and designate sub-administrators at an individual college level.
A new client-side Microsoft Teams app complements the cloud-side Teams integration, which creates a streamlined video-sharing workflow between Teams and the Video Platform.
YuJa Panorama Digital Accessibility Platform
YuJa Panorama Digital Accessibility Platform has a long list of new features to help streamline accessibility across institutions. Some accessibility enhancements include:
A new gradient reader helps reduce unnecessary eye movements and increases the reader’s focus by providing a guiding color gradient to facilitate a smooth shift between lines of text.
YuJa Panorama provides “How-to-Fix” guides to help instructors fix accessibility concerns. Now, guides can now be edited with new text, images, and links, and each issue is now accompanied by both a video tutorial and a link to web content accessibility guidelines.
The Alternatives Formats Menu has an updated UI and minimized steps to view a preferred format.
YuJa Verity Test Proctoring Platform
Among the top updates to the YuJa Verity Test Proctoring Platform include the following:
YuJa Verity users can now monitor third-party assessments across all learning management systems, which provides secure testing environments within the Verity LTI app.
A new lockdown app has been launched. The app works seamlessly with Verity Live Proctoring to ensure students can’t end recordings during an assessment and enforces strict measures to prevent common methods of bypassing proctor settings.
Instructors can now create custom profiles for their proctoring settings, which can be applied to upcoming proctored tests.
YuJa Engage Student Response System
The YuJa Engage Student Response System also saw a host of new and updated features, including:
A new mobile application for IOS and Android has been introduced to their respective app stores to provide on-the-go access to polls and results for both students and instructors.
Surveys have been updated to seamlessly integrate with the gradebook and new question types have been added.
Gradebook results can be manually adjusted within YuJa Engage, which allows instructors to tailor the grading process to better align with individual student progress and ensure accurate evaluation of academic performance.
ABOUT YUJA, INC.
YuJa is a leader in ed-tech solutions. Our platforms provide organizations of all sizes with the tools to educate, engage, inspire and collaborate. We serve learning enterprises within all sectors, including higher-ed, K-12, government, healthcare, non-profit and corporate. We have legal headquarters in Delaware with primary U.S. offices in Silicon Valley, California, and Canadian offices in Toronto.
Read More
Education Technology
PR Newswire | September 12, 2023
Meazure Learning, a premier provider of full-service test development and delivery solutions for higher education and professional testing, announced today the acquisition of Examity, a leader in online proctoring for academic and credentialing programs. The acquisition allows Meazure Learning to expand its global footprint and strengthen its position as a leading provider of secure, user focused exam administration solutions.
Meazure Learning and Examity share a common commitment to creating the most innovative testing solutions and providing an exceptional client experience. The combination of the companies' extensive expertise in the higher education and credentialing verticals paired with industry-leading secure proctoring technologies and global operational footprint gives Meazure Learning the opportunity to bring a new level of proctoring scale and flexibility to testing programs around the world. By combining these strengths, the company seeks to set a new standard in exam security and provide a better user experience for its clients and test takers.
"I am thrilled at the opportunity Meazure Learning's acquisition of Examity will bring to our clients and the broader industry," said Jim Holm, CEO of Examity. "Examity clients will now have access to leading test development and psychometric services, exam delivery solutions, and a global network of test centers in addition to the powerful combination of our proctoring technologies."
"The acquisition of Examity goes beyond combining the resources of two companies," said Tim McClinton, CEO of Meazure Learning. "Unifying our two companies can position us to set a new standard for security, scalability, and innovation in the testing industry. In addition to the business opportunities created through this transaction, Meazure Learning and Examity share an inherent culture of excellence that makes us a good fit to move forward together. Our teams have been, and will continue to be, maniacally focused on our clients, providing exceptional service and building long-term relationships founded on integrity and innovation."
About Meazure Learning
Meazure Learning provides secure, reliable, and convenient test development, administration, and delivery solutions for academic and professional credentialing programs. The tech-enabled services company combines human expertise with end-to-end software solutions to provide its suite of services and achieve the optimal testing experience. With remote, test center, hybrid, and event-based delivery capabilities, it adapts to the unique needs of each exam program and test-taker. Meazure Learning empowers its clients, test-takers, and industry leaders through its mission to move people forward in their educational, professional, and personal lives. To learn more, visit Meazure Learning at meazurelearning.com.
About Examity
Examity was founded to meet the needs of colleges, employers, and certification providers looking to ensure integrity. Since its founding ten years ago, Examity has partnered with hundreds of institutions and certification programs worldwide to provide a cost-effective and flexible online proctoring and learning validation solution. For more information, visit examity.com.
Read More