US Education Technology Pioneer Instructure Launches Canvas Virtual Learning Environment in the UK

-- University of Birmingham and Henley Business School among first to adopt innovative Canvas virtual learning environment

LONDON, March 26, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. education technology innovator Instructure today announced it is bringing its Canvas virtual learning environment (VLE) to the UK with the opening of a London office and the appointment of a dedicated sales and customer success team. The team is already working with the University of Birmingham, Henley Business School, Condè Nast College of Fashion & Design and Wolsey Hall Oxford and will be responsible for helping UK institutions to improve the overall educational experience.

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Canvas runs on a multi-tenant, native cloud architecture, hosted in Ireland on industry-leading Amazon Web Services, with a 99.99 percent uptime guarantee. Canvas provides institutions peace of mind, knowing their information is safe and secure.

The entrance into the UK builds upon Canvas by Instructure's success in the U.S. where institutions launched Canvas as an alternative to the decade-old technology offered by traditional VLE providers. Over 11 million teachers and students are already using the software in North America, where Instructure has signed contracts with more than 600 higher ed and K-12 institutions.

"Canvas is a modern VLE that helps lecturers and students by making teaching and learning easier," explains Kenny Nichol, Instructure's director of sales, EMEA. "We achieve record adoption rates as we offer a flexible platform that is actually embraced and used by instructors and students."

The speed of the University of Birmingham's implementation and adoption of Canvas is testament to its reliability and ease of use. The VLE was up and running in just five days, and within two months of deployment, instructors had already put more than 4,600 courses online — more than in the lifetime of the previous platform. More than one-third of Birmingham's students are also currently using smartphones or tablets to interact with course content.

"Academics who wouldn't touch the old system are now using Canvas with ease, and because there are no barriers to adoption, our staff are significantly pushing the boundaries," adds Joe Berry, e-Learning manager for the University of Birmingham's College of Social Sciences.

The groundbreaking cloud-based Canvas platform allows teachers to build creative multimedia "mashups" using tools like Vimeo and YouTube. It also gives students the choice to receive personally tailored course alerts through text, Twitter or Facebook and facilitates "learning-on-the-move" through smartphone apps. 

Canvas was launched in 2011 as an open-source, user-friendly alternative to traditional virtual learning environments, allowing teachers to swiftly and easily integrate a vast education marketplace of third-party apps and multimedia features into their course content.

To keep learning, visit www.canvasvle.co.uk

About Canvas:
Canvas by Instructure is a technology company committed to improving education. Canvas provides 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 institutions to community colleges. To keep learning visit http://www.canvasvle.co.uk

Press Contacts:

Say Communications
Robert Hickling / Geraldine Fernandez
Tel: 020 8971 6400
Email: canvas@saycomms.co.uk

Instructure
Devin Knighton, Director of Public Relations
Tel: 001 801.722.8187
Email: devin@instructure.com

Copyright © 2014, 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.