Instructure helps educators offer a better experience to their students. The application includes numerous features that enable educators to organize their lessons, interact with students and enhance their teaching style. Instructure includes a SpeedGrader feature that allows the educator to breeze through grading assignments. Users can also set and track learning outcomes, utilize video and live chat tools and integrate classroom calendars to mark significant events. Instructure also provides online testing capabilities that allow the user to create questions or take them from a bank of questions provided by the application. Users can also enhance courses by embedding videos, photos and audio. The application also gives users the ability to create groups for teams, clubs or a specific interest that gives them more options beyond classroom interaction. Educators can also monitor student activity and course progress through user friendly reports that are provided in real time.

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Instructure was founded in May of 2008 by Brian Whitmer and Devlin Daley. The application was intended to improve the capabilities of educators offering online courses. The pair created Canvas, a simplified software system that offered open technology for educators. Instructure has raised funding from OpenView Venture Partners, EPIC Ventures, Eric Schmidt’s Tomorrow Ventures and Tim Draper.

Instructure gives educators a number of helpful tools to improve the way they handle their online classrooms. The application covers everything from faster assignment grading to test taking and live chats. The user can get a better perspective on the progress of their virtual classroom and those who attend it through Instructure reports and other progress monitoring tools.

Instructure was created to give educators a better, flexible way to manage and organize their classrooms. The application looks professional and clean, but it seems a little on the bland side in terms of color and design. In reality, this style choice works rather well considering the many different subjects Instructure can help teach. For the most part it is user friendly and takes minimal time to learn (although there are quite a few unique features for new users to try).

Visitors can get started by clicking the blue “Try Canvas Instantly” button found on the Instructure homepage. Clicking the button takes the user to the dashboard where a pop up box appears with the registration form. The form requires a name, email address, school or organization name, the user’s position at school and their phone number. After entering the Captcha code, the user can click the grey “Register” button at the bottom of the form to finish.

New users can create an account and receive seven days of instant access to Canvas for free. This helps the user determine if Instructure (which uses Canvas) is a good fit for their purposes. The site hints at a membership fee, but does not openly list the rates on the site. Even after creating an account and logging in, the user is not presented with membership pricing. New users should contact Instructure to get a quote for their specific needs.

Instructure can help many educators provide a better experience for their students. The application offers many time saving features as well as great organizational options. Instructure can help students and educators interact and monitor their learning progress effectively.

• Set up live chats for instant interactions
• Create groups for specific topics or clubs
• Utilize the SpeedGrader to quickly complete assignment grading
• Create online tests and quizzes with custom questions or preset questions
• View real time reports covering student activity and course progress

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