Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
This is Chris Redgrave for Zions Bank Speaking on Business.
The world of higher education is changing rapidly, especially with the growth in online education. E-learning is exploding in today's education and business environments. Over 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies now use some form of educational technology. Universities nationwide are also finding it an integral component for their educational programs. Instructure, a Utah original based in Salt Lake City, is an important name in the world of e-learning technology.
Instructure has produced a learning management system called Canvas currently used by over 800 institutions around the world. Instructure CEO Josh Coates says Canvas is software that teachers use as an additional tool to help teach their students. The online platform includes everything a student would need for class, like slides, readings, homework assignments and other relevant course material. There's also a messaging system students can use to communicate with each other or their professor.
So, when the teacher talks about homework and requests it be turned in online, students have a way to see the assignment and submit it electronically. They can also participate in discussions, post questions and receive course announcements in one convenient online location. Canvas is an interactive program that can accomplish just about anything that can be done in a traditional classroom setting.
Instructure's coverage area is global, although it has a stronger hold in the U.S. where 75 percent of Ivy League schools use Canvas. Harvard just switched to Canvas a couple months ago. Other big customers include Washington, Auburn, the University of Texas and many community colleges. In Utah that includes all public higher education institutions like the U of U, Weber, Westminster, USU and many more. Word of this learning management system has taken off. This is because Josh says the higher education world is connected so once somebody finds out about it, they can't wait to share it.
To give you an idea of the scale of this business, Instructure launched in 2011. Today the company has more than 13 million teachers and students on the system and employs over 400 people.
For Zions Bank, I'm Chris Redgrave, speaking on business.
Instructure 6330 S. 3000 East, Ste. 700 Salt Lake City, UT 84121 800-203-6755; www.instructure.com
