Swinburne partners with Instructure to offer advanced learning system

Swinburne has announced a partnership with education technology company, Instructure, to offer a new and improved learning management system (LMS).

Swinburne has joined with universities such as Harvard, Stanford, Yale and Berkeley, to introduce Instructure’s teaching and learning system, Canvas.

All coursework will be accessible to students and staff via Canvas by semester 1, 2019. The new system will support the university’s Future Ready Learners strategy.

Swinburne Vice Chancellor, Linda Kristjanson, has emphasised the importance of new learning practices and of encouraging future-ready learning students.

“One of the key pillars of Swinburne’s vision is the creation of Future-Ready Learners,” Professor Kristjanson says

“These are learners who are confident and enterprising and who create social and economic impact.

“This requires Swinburne to transform its approach to learning and the student experience and become a leader in employability and business creation outcomes.”

Swinburne Pro Vice Chancellor (Education and Quality), Professor Chris Pilgrim, will oversee the implementation of Canvas over the next 18 months.

Professor Pilgrim says he is confident that Canvas will be a perfect fit for Swinburne teachers and students.

“Canvas is a constantly evolving digital platform and a keystone of how Swinburne is transforming its approach to teaching and learning,” he says.

“Creating a graduate who is ready to make an immediate and positive contribution to an evolving market requires a learning platform that can flex with innovation and disruption.”

Troy Martin, Vice President, APAC, Instructure said, “Forward looking institutions such as Swinburne University recognise that technology is key to delivering a meaningful learning experience which prioritises knowledge and skills that can be used beyond the classroom. Because Canvas is a cloud-native platform, it means that continuous updates without system downtime keeps Canvas modern relevant and up to date for all users, delivering an exceptional user experience. We are pleased to partner with Swinburne to help deliver the Future Ready Learners strategy.”

When selecting a new LMS, Swinburne was tasked with addressing challenges such as increasing competition due to globalisation of education providers and a diverse cohort of students with more complex lives and higher expectations.

The ability for students and academics to access Canvas from any device and the social and collaboration features of the platform made it a natural choice for Swinburne.

Instructure[1]  currently has over 20m users globally.  Canvas is used in Australia by the University of Sydney, RMIT, the University of Adelaide and the University of Canberra.

Canvas was tested by Swinburne in July of this year, and will run in phases throughout 2018 with a scheduled transition date of all coursework by semester 1, 2019.

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