This March, we launched our first New and Next APAC webinar for 2025, a new quarterly series designed to keep you up to date with the latest developments across Canvas. From improved workflows to AI-powered tools, the session covered what’s available now and what’s just around the corner.
If you weren’t able to attend, you can watch here or keep reading. Whether you're an educator, learning designer, or administrator, here’s a clear look at what’s changing, what’s coming, and how it can support your work.
Let’s dive into the key updates, organised across six product themes.
Improving everyday workflows
Focused on removing friction from day-to-day tasks with smarter workflows and time-saving features
Scaffolded discussions
You can now create structured discussions with multiple due dates—for initial posts and follow-up replies. These checkpoints appear in students’ to-do lists, supporting deeper, more reflective engagement across time.
New Studio library UI
A refreshed, modern design makes it easier to:
- Sort, filter, and pin videos
- Archive or delete media
- Share video content, including quizzes and comment, across your entire institution—coming soon
Enhanced rubrics
- Upload/download rubrics via CSV
- Share rubrics across courses without needing to duplicate entire assignments
- Bulk export rubric data directly from the gradebook
Account-level default grading schemes
Admins can now apply custom grading schemes (e.g. “Competent/Not Yet Competent”) as the default at the account or sub-account level—no more manual selection course-by-course.
Differentiation tags— coming soon
Teachers can privately group students with custom tags (e.g. “Support” or “Advanced”) to personalise modules and assignments, without relying on admins to create sections.
SpeedGrader enhancements—coming soon
Backend improvements will boost SpeedGrader’s performance and load times, especially when marking at scale.
Innovating for the teaching and learning experience
Tools and integrations designed to support meaningful, tech-enabled learning design
Google Gemini integration
Canvas now supports Google’s AI-powered Gemini assistant through a dedicated LTI:
- Available to institutions using Google Workspace for Education
- Enables lesson planning and content creation support
- Built with security and privacy in mind (data is not human-reviewed or used for training)
Intelligent Insights: updates and upcoming features
Already in use by many institutions, Intelligent Insights continues to evolve:
- Drag-and-drop dashboards (pinboards)
- Custom KPIs, chart exports, and presentation mode
- Contextualised messages for students, collaborative pinboards, predictive analytics, and improved AI query handling—coming soon
Block editor (beta)
A no-code content builder to create beautiful, responsive Canvas pages:
- Use templates or drag-and-drop content blocks
- In beta now—available to all Canvas customers upon release
- Tabs, accordions and more layout options are on the way based on user feedback
AI-powered translation—coming soon
Learners can translate inbox messages and course discussions into their preferred language. Institutions can disable this feature where appropriate (e.g. language instruction courses).
Empowering the lifelong learning journey
Updates to Canvas Catalog and Credentials
Catalog and Credentials integration
Learners can now see which badges and learning pathways are tied to a course, what they’ve earned, and what’s next. It’s all synced automatically, reducing admin work and supporting more strategic course marketing.
Salesforce integration for Catalog
Custom user fields (e.g. enrolment reason or location) collected in Catalog can now sync with Salesforce for reporting and lead generation.
Open Badges standard update—coming soon
Canvas Credentials will soon support the latest version of the Open Badges Standard by 1EdTech, enhancing portability and compliance with global standards.
Partnering through a complex and changing education landscape
Compliance and accessibility were front and centre with a focus on video and multimedia
New Canvas media player
Built using Canvas Studio tech, this player:
- Adds auto-captioning for accessibility
- Adapts video quality to suit different devices and connection speeds
- Features a modern design for a better user experience
Available to all Canvas customers, no extra steps required.
Strengthening an open and effective learning ecosystem
Improving infrastructure, integrations, and admin tools
Improved API documentation
- Developer portal now features AI-powered search
- Easier to find the right API code snippets and documentation
- Part of Instructure’s investment in a more robust Developer Hub
Impact by Instructure updates
- Cleaner interface and improved navigation
- More targeting options (e.g. by course or term)
- Integration with Catalog and Credentials, including pop-up guides to support badge creation and adoption
If you want to learn more…
You can watch the full recording here. For questions about how to best use new or updated features to meet your goals, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager or Customer Success Team.
We’ll be back in June with more updates, insights, and ways to get involved. We can’t wait to keep evolving Canvas with you!