Instructure Announces Canvas App Center

SALT LAKE CITY, April 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Instructure today unveiled Canvas App Center, which allows individual teachers, administrators, and students to install third party apps with one click on the Canvas platform. The App Center will offer more than 100 apps, including WordPress, Khan Academy, Dropbox, Evernote, and an arsenal of other useful apps. Instructure will make the Canvas App Center available to its customers at InstructureCon 2013, its annual user conference.

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"We are all about tearing down the walled garden that has plagued the LMS market," said Brian Whitmer, co-founder and chief product officer. "Third party integrations have existed, but they've required the IT department to make them work. With Canvas App Center, anyone – even students – can install an app in a single click and start to personalize the learning experience."

Today, more than five million teachers and learners from 350 educational institutions use Canvas as their learning management system for traditional, tuition-based courses as well as for MOOCs.  Instructure developed the Canvas App Center to provide users with a flexible platform to personalize their learning experience. In addition to providing a simple way to find and install apps, Canvas App Center enables users to rate the apps and write reviews. It also includes an algorithm that recommends apps based on the user's role, institution, and previous app installments.

"We recognize there are different approaches to teaching and that both the learner and the teacher need a platform that allows them to define the educational experience and pull in any needed tools," said Devlin Daley, co-founder and chief technology officer. "The Canvas App Center will be intuitive so that teachers can experiment with new apps that can engage students and enhance the learning process."

While many of the apps are free, a few apps work after users have a contractual relationship with the particular vendor that created the app. Instructure does not collect commissions or revenues from the installment or use of any apps. It remains a neutral partner and is focused on the business of making a platform for education.

"It is really hard to integrate new teaching and learning tools into the campus online ecosystem in an agile fashion," said Tom Lewis, director of Academic and Collaborative Applications at the University of Washington, which will be piloting the App Center until InstructureCon. "The Canvas App Center not only makes this possible in a quick, secure, and effective manner, but it allows the UW to offer innovative new tools to faculty and students at a speed that rivals the consumer marketplace, a rare thing indeed for higher education."

Instructure will unveil Canvas App Center and make it immediately available to all its customers at its annual user conference, InstructureCon. In the meantime, anyone can integrate the apps into any learning management system manually through Instructure's open library of LTI extensions available at www.edu-apps.org.

About Instructure:
Instructure is a technology company committed to improving education. We provide instructors and students with modern tools and resources that empower and simplify the learning experience. Instructure offers Canvas- the open, easy-to-use, cloud-native learning management system- as well as Canvas Network, an index of open, online courses by educators everywhere, from Ivy League to community colleges. To keep learning, visit www.instructure.com.

Copyright © 2013, Instructure, Inc.  All rights reserved. Instructure, Canvas and their respective logos are registered trademarks or trademarks of Instructure, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Other brands and names may be claimed as the property of others.

Contact:
Devin Knighton, Director of Public Relations
(801) 722-8187  |  [email protected]
Twitter: @devinknighton  |  www.instructure.com

SOURCE Instructure