This Year at EDUCAUSE: A Recap from Instructure

Last week, we joined thousands in San Antonio, Texas for the 2024 EDUCAUSE Annual Conference and it was nothing short of amazing. While nothing compares to the in-person experience, we hope this snapshot of what we learned at EDUCAUSE will serve as inspiration and motivation for your educational planning heading into next year.

With over a dozen options to choose per time block, the conference kicked off with sessions, allowing participants to immediately dive into topics like AI, data governance, cybersecurity, partnerships, innovation in teaching, and technology. Oh, and did we mention

AI? Institutions large and small shared their perspectives and learnings on AI, making it the frontrunner of topics – so let’s start there.

The AI Elephant in the Room

From adoption and literacy to best practices and future implications, the topic of AI was impossible to miss at EDUCAUSE. Presenters from academia and industry shared countless schools of thought, many that centered on questions like:

• Are institutions adapting fast enough as it relates to adopting, teaching and defining AI best practices?
• Who in higher education is leading the way in AI usage, educators or students? And who should be?
• What are the greatest risks associated with AI – cheating, data integrity, tool dependency – and how can institutions be proactive about mitigating risks?
• What AI tools are best: productivity tools, embedded tools, or custom tools?
• How do colleges and universities create a culture of AI literacy among students, educators and those in leadership?
• In what ways can AI help increase educator bandwidth and support, save on resources/funding, and free up time for more meaningful efforts?
• How can educators integrate AI and competency based education to enhance teaching and learning?
• With growing adoption of AI in the workforce, should AI mastery be taught as a core skill for students?

During EDUCAUSE, as part of a new series of candid conversations, our very own Ryan Lufkin, VP of Global Academic Strategy and Zack Pendelton, Chief Architect gathered industry experts and thought leaders from multiple institutions, including Arizona State University, Penn State World Campus, University of California, Los Angeles, and Western Carolina University to discuss the transformative potential of AI, exploring its current impact, future possibilities, and the ethical considerations it raises. Learn more about the progress we’ve made in our product portfolio and stay tuned for insights on how AI is shaping the way we work, connect, and innovate.
 

Re-Defining How We Do Data 

Another rising theme of EDUCAUSE was data and all the ways it should be harnessed and protected. Attendees presented and discussed how institutions are approaching rapid changes in technology that require, in many cases, a complete rebuilding of their digital infrastructures. Instead of assessing or integrating individual tools that work independently of each other, institutions are increasingly considering solutions that offer a cohesive framework for the engineers implementing them, the educators leveraging them, and the students engaging with them. 

Several questions around data that surfaced throughout the conference included:

• How well do institutions know their data and how can they create data warehouses and practices that make data more accessible to those who need it?
• How clean is your data? Can stakeholders clearly (and easily) trace where their data is coming from and who has access to it?
• Is your data digestible and actionable for users, especially educators needing to monitor student progress and decision makers responsible for budget allocations and reporting?
• What cybersecurity protocols are most effective and should they vary based on institution size?
• How secure is your data from cyber attacks and data breaches and how can existing resources aid in creating safer digital environments?
• How can institutions, especially smaller ones, create and empower data stewards – including students– to help with continuous improvement and bandwidth restraints?

Honing in on the importance of data intelligence in higher education, we held the Lunch & Learn session, Make Data-Informed Decisions at Scale with AI-enabled Analytics, where audience members could pose questions on the latest addition to our data and analytics portfolio: Intelligent Insights.
 

Positioning Higher Ed for More Industry Partnerships

The concept of streamlining efforts and resources seemed to resonate across the board, with partnerships bubbling up as a theme. Session presenters not only highlighted the need for more partnerships across academia and the workforce, but also for partnerships with more clearly-defined goals. What are the institution’s goals and how well do they align with the goals of the industry partners they’re evaluating?

Other partnership questions being considered were: 

• What are the best types of partnerships for higher education institutions? 
• How can academic and industry leaders create partnerships that are mutually beneficial for all parties involved, including students?
• How can multiple colleges and universities partner together to learn from and assist each other with unique goals?
• What’s the difference between vendors and partners and how should institutions approach each?
• How can industry partners assist higher education institutions with change management, modernization, and project management to better adapt to the rapid changes in education?

The appetite for learning together and working smarter, not harder permeated the discussions around partnerships, particularly the notion that partnerships must move from being one-off transactions to long-standing relationships. As a result, everyone involved is more likely to experience quality service that’s upheld by accountability.
 

2025 EDUCAUSE Top 10 | Restoring Trust

In an effort to identify the most important issues to address in higher ed for the year to come, EDUCAUSE released the Top 10 during the conference. The report emphasizes how higher education technology and data leaders and professionals will help address higher education’s great challenge: restoring trust in our sector.

Explore the Top 10 to learn how to build competent and caring institutions and, through radical collaboration, leverage the fulcrum of leadership to maintain balance between the two.

A Taste of Instructure in San Antonio

As EDUCAUSE enthusiasts, Instructure was thrilled to head south for the conference. We kicked off day one at the Hard Rock Cafe with our friends at IntelliBoard, where attendees could enjoy Happy Hour on a beautiful balcony overlooking the riverwalk and catch up with the Canvas community.On day two, more than 350 attendees joined us at The Alamo for a packed-out dinner reception sponsored in part by Zoom and AWS. 

Instructure extends a hearty thank you to everyone who took time to swing by our booth in the exhibit hall. We recorded a live InstructureCast episode, shared our recent research from The Lifelong Learning Report, and hosted 14 mini sessions on AI, partner integrations and What's Next & New for Canvas. For the latest AI best practices and resources, visit our AI Resources Hub. We hope you’ll join us again next year at EDUCAUSE 2025 in Nashville, Tennessee!