{"id":13371,"date":"2019-07-11T16:35:47","date_gmt":"2019-07-11T20:35:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.elearninginside.com\/?p=13371"},"modified":"2019-07-11T16:42:34","modified_gmt":"2019-07-11T20:42:34","slug":"instructure-eyes-adaptive-personalized-learning-but-ceo-dan-goldsmith-says-theyll-follow-their-communitys-lead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.elearninginside.com\/instructure-eyes-adaptive-personalized-learning-but-ceo-dan-goldsmith-says-theyll-follow-their-communitys-lead\/","title":{"rendered":"Instructure Eyes Adaptive Personalized Learning, But CEO Dan Goldsmith Says They\u2019ll Follow Their Community\u2019s Lead"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the course of the three days at InstructureCon 2019, the makers of the Canvas learning management system (LMS) delivered a \u2018state of the platform.\u2019 Upper management discussed numerous new features, recent acquisitions<\/a>, and described their outlook going forward. Many attendees, however, were interested to hear more about rumblings of the company\u2019s expanded data analytics, AI capabilities, and predictive modeling, which have been developed in a working project known as DIG. The effort was announced<\/a> at the last earnings call. eLearning Inside <\/i>sat down with Instructure CEO Dan Goldsmith for comment. <\/span><\/p>\n

Goldsmith began by describing how Instructure\u2019s general strategy is to listen to its stakeholders and education community, and respond accordingly.<\/span><\/p>\n

“We view our organization as as supporting player.”<\/h2>\n

\u201cOne of the themes we have talked about this conference is the connection between the core of teaching and learning and the operations of simplifying teaching and learning extending to student success,\u201d Goldsmith said. \u201cOne of the interesting elements of student success is it being individualized. With adaptive and personalized learning, I think it\u2019s inevitable that we, as an educational community, need to think about ways of driving personalized learning and personalized growth experiences. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re seeing that across the board in how colleges award admittance to their organizations. We see it as individuals move into the professional world and take on careers. We\u2019re seeing more personalization throughout grade school as well. In terms of Instructure, we view our organization as a supporting player in the move toward that personalized journey.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Instructure already has powerful analytic capabilities. The question the company is currently looking to answer is if and how to use that data with the student experience. <\/span><\/p>\n

The company has not yet spoken explicitly about DIG, and how it may be put to use. In the investor call, Goldsmith merely said that DIG is a platform \u201cbased upon machine learning and artificial intelligence\u201d that could deliver \u201cnew insights and predictive modeling.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Instructure
Instructure SVP of Product Mitch Benson displays new grading features on Canvas.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Instructure Is Developing DIG, But A Few Details Remain Unknown<\/h2>\n

But during the interview, Goldsmith never walked away from the potential of employing adaptive, personalized learning. He viewed it as a feature that may well become a reality across the board. <\/span><\/p>\n

He also spoke about its potential to aid learners. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI attended an education conference a few months ago,\u201d Goldsmith said. \u201cThe theme was very much about remediating the skills gap and creating more of this idea of, \u2018How do we produce individuals that are more prepared to take on jobs in the marketplace?\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut the general tone of the way they were thinking about it was \u2018pushing skills into humans.\u2019 It was almost this idea that there are these generic human vessels that we need to arm with skills based upon a job market. At Instructure, we think about it very differently. We think about it as understanding the individuals, their paths, their passions, and what their interests are. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are a piece in an ecosystem and, ultimately, the scaffolding that should be wrapped around an individual. I think that as we take on more of that mindset, it\u2019s enabled by adaptive and individualized learning, and that will lead to individual success in that individual\u2019s definition.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

There Will Not Be a Simple Opt-Out<\/h2>\n

Stakeholders have previously expressed concern regarding Canvas\u2019 data collection practices, which are necessary to power an adaptive learning experience. <\/span><\/p>\n

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I’m not at InstCon this year (though I was last year; it was a ton of fun!), so I submitted questions for the Thursday engineering panel, and I am hoping to get answers: I’m very concerned about new Instructure emphasis on AI, data-mining, and algorithms: https:\/\/t.co\/in9KUHWfjr<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/6OXVzUxOS5<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Laura Gibbs (@OnlineCrsLady) July 8, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n