Academic Partnerships and Instructure, Creator of Canvas, Form Strategic Partnership to Empower the Next Generation of Online Learning at Leading Universities

DALLAS, Nov. 28, 2012  /PRNewswire/ -- Academic Partnerships, which offers comprehensive support to universities in the development and marketing of their superior online courses and degree programs, today announces a strategic partnership with Instructure, the company behind Canvas – a learning management system (LMS) used by 275 educational institutions. Through this strategic partnership, all of Academic Partnerships' current and future university partners will be able to utilize the Canvas platform free of charge, in all of Canvas' available languages, to help streamline the online delivery of high quality educational content.

The alliance means that the ever growing number of students seeking online education will have access to Canvas' widely lauded learning platform. Canvas is focused on enabling the individual student and teacher to transform the education experience by providing a learning platform with intuitive design, flexible pedagogy, integrated multimedia, deep social network integration and more. Instructure is constantly improving the Canvas platform by integrating feedback from students and teachers, building on the company's philosophy that users are charting the future of learning. 

With the recent announcement of the Canvas Network, institutions now have increased flexibility to define the structure of their online course offerings, whether in an open format like that of massive open online courses (MOOCs) or full, tuition-based degree programs. In turn, these enhanced Canvas capabilities will be extended to Academic Partnerships' universities as they advance their online course delivery beyond a "one size fits all" model to a more flexible academic experience tailored to their students' needs.  

"One of the most rapidly developing trends in higher education is the delivery of quality university instruction to students around the world," said Randy Best, founder and chairman of Academic Partnerships. "Technology is fueling this advancement and we are thrilled to join efforts with Instructure to offer Canvas, the most advanced and intuitive learning platform available today, at no cost to our partner universities and their students."

This announcement comes on the heels of a dramatic change in higher education. Enrollment in online courses and degree programs are outstripping the growth of traditional on-campus instruction 10 to 1 (Sloan Consortium). Demand for online courses and degrees accessible via an advanced and flexible learning platform is growing at a rapid pace. 

"We're joining up with Academic Partnerships at a time when students around the world have unprecedented access to the best professors, the best schools and the best programs online," said Devlin Daley, co-founder and chief technology officer at Instructure. "Through the reach of Academic Partnerships' partner universities, we'll be able to bring our innovative learning platform and the Canvas Network to improve the educational experience for exponentially more students."

Academic Partnerships helps universities remain highly competitive and cutting edge as they serve 21^st century students throughout their states and beyond. Through its partnerships with some 40 leading public institutions, Academic Partnership brings these universities' high-quality degrees such as nursing, education and business online.

About Instructure
Instructure is a technology company committed to improving education. Instructure provides instructors and students modern tools and resources to empower the learning experience. Founded by graduate students in collaboration with educational institutions, Instructure provides Canvas - the open, easy-to-use, cloud-native learning platform. For more information: www.instructure.com.

About Academic Partnerships 
Dallas-based Academic Partnerships partners with universities to deliver students full degree programs online. The company was founded by social entrepreneur, Randy Best, an 18-year veteran of developing innovative learning solutions to improve education. Academic Partnerships helps universities increase access to high-quality education by providing the technology, student recruitment and faculty support necessary to serve online students. Academic Partnerships is guided by the principle that the opportunities presented through distance learning make higher education more accessible and achievable for students in the U.S. and globally. For more information, please visit http://www.academicpartnerships.com.

SOURCE Academic Partnerships