Over the past year, New & Next has become a key part of how we communicate product updates—giving our customers clearer visibility into what we’re delivering, what’s coming next, and why it matters. That commitment was on full display during our November 2025 New & Next Showcase, the first of its kind, which brought together more than 3,000 registrants and generated hundreds of live questions for our executive team. The level of engagement reinforced how important timely, transparent updates are to our community, and we remain committed to partnering with our customers and delivering just that.
As we enter the new year, we’re evolving New & Next to better meet customers where they are. Clear communication isn’t just about what we share—it’s also about how and when we share it. Rather than running the same webinar format every quarter, we’re introducing a more intentional cadence that balances deep, executive-led conversations with flexible, self-serve updates. April and October will feature our New & Next Showcase series, like what we delivered in November, as executive-led webinars to highlight major initiatives and take community questions in real time. January and July will provide asynchronous, blog-based updates designed to be easily accessed and reviewed on your own time. Please direct any follow up questions within the comments below.
This post is our first asynchronous New & Next update. Below, you’ll find a full list of recent releases and upcoming enhancements across Instructure products—part of our ongoing commitment to keeping you informed in a way that’s transparent, predictable, and built around how you prefer to stay up to date. We’ll have our next New & Next Showcase in April, and will provide more updates then.
Let's dive in!
IgniteAI
IgniteAI is here! Instructure is delivering on the promise of human-centric AI tools that we announced last year at InstructureCon and at November’s New & Next Showcase. Now is your chance to start exploring these features at no additional cost to see how trusted, in-context AI can strengthen teaching and learning across your institution.
Available now:
Coming next:
- IgniteAI Agent expanded availability: We plan to expand access to US & LATAM educators by the end of February, and additional regions by the end of March.
- IgniteAI Grading Assistance for SpeedGrader: Instructors will be able to move through open-ended assignments faster while staying firmly in charge of final decisions. Coming at the end of Q1, Grading Assistance will draft feedback and suggested scores, giving instructors a clear starting point they can review, edit, and personalize. The result is more timely, consistent feedback for students and more time for instructors to concentrate on teaching and support.
Be sure to tune in to the new New & Next Showcase in April (date to be announced soon) to get more details on the availability and pricing of all IgniteAI features.
Free access to Insights for Discussions, Generator for Rubrics, and Agent for Admins available through June 30, 2026 for customers in the United States; extended through September 30, 2026 for customers in all other countries.
Canvas Updates
Before diving into the latest updates below, be sure to explore our end-of-year product resources. These are designed to give you a clear, visual summary of everything we delivered with and for our customers in 2025, so you can quickly see what’s new, what’s improved, and how it supports your goals.
With our most recent improvements to Canvas, institutions gain greater clarity into course productivity, control over their technical ecosystem, and trust at scale, all ensuring learning and assessment work reliably without disruption. And Canvas Career is now generally available to help institutions and organizations deliver scalable, skills-based programs that compete in the non-degree space—built on the trusted Canvas foundation!
Available now:
Coming next:
- Course Accessibility Checker: The Accessibility Checker will offer course-level identification, remediation, and validation of accessibility issues across Canvas-created content. It helps streamline accessibility compliance with live on-demand reports, basic remediation guidance, and previews for select content. There are releases planned for both February and April. See feature overview page for more details.
- Enhanced Rubrics GA & enforcement date: In late March Enhanced Rubrics will be released to GA and enabled on by default unless customers opt out. Please review the upcoming March release notes (published in February) for more details and instructions for opting out ahead of GA, as well as for details on a future enforcement date.
- Peer Review Improvements: The existing Peer Review experience is being improved at the end of Q1 with clearer grading structure and improved review assignment logic, based on long-standing customer feedback. Instructors will be able to assign points and set a due date specifically for peer reviews, and Canvas will distribute reviews more evenly using an updated allocation engine. These updates reduce manual instructor effort while creating clearer expectations and a more consistent, engaging peer review experience for students. More details to come.
Mastery Updates
(North America Only)
We’re constantly improving Mastery to help districts make better decisions with clearer data and stronger tools. Late last year we released a variety of updates to make Mastery Connect more accessible, usable, and to provide better controls for administrators. Now our team is focused on building and delivering new products and features with actionable insights and research-validated forecasts later this year.
Available now:
- Item Bank expansion | Blog post
- Predictive Assessments are now available in 40 states for the 2026-2027 school year to help districts accurately predict whether or not students will be proficient on state end-of-year exams with up to 90% accuracy. | Web page
Coming next:
- Curriculum Map updates: Later in Q1, we’ll be updating the Curriculum Map Index to enhance assessment delivery, content creation, and tracker management for large districts.
- Accessibility updates: Mastery Connect will be fully accessible in April, backed by a conformant VPAT.
Parchment Updates
The Parchment suite of products, now including Parchment Digital Badges (formerly Canvas Credentials) continues to support institutions in providing learners with verifiable, comprehensive records of their learning achievements. This quarter, updates to the Parchment learner account experience will help learners more efficiently and demonstrably show their holistic story of achievement.
Available now:
- Data Automation: Did you know that customers can streamline their time-consuming transcript evaluation into just seconds with industry-leading accuracy? Parchment Receive Premium + Data Automation uses adaptive AI to help you automate transcript data extraction and seamlessly ingest it into your CRM, SIS, or admission system for expedited admissions decisions and reduced administrative burdens. Find out more here.
Coming next:
- Parchment Learner Dashboard redesign: In late Q1, Parchment will offer learners unified access to all earned credentials and future opportunities in one space, allowing them to easily order, manage, and present their achievements as well as discover new pathways to grow. This will also include key accessibility updates for the learner experience in Parchment. Read more about the update here.
Canvas Studio, Intelligent Insights, Canvas Catalog, and more
- Canvas Studio updates, available now
- Intelligent Insights updates, available now
- Intelligent Insights updates, available March
- Ask Your Data will have access to an expanded set of data including: extended weblogs, new quizzes data, and LTI launch data.
- Canvas Catalog updates, available early February
- Auto-enroll all required courses | Blog post
- Section-Based Listings | Blog post coming soon
- LearnPlatform updates, coming next
- A new, fully-accessible design is coming in late Q1/early Q2, backed by a conformant VPAT.
- Instructure Roadmap, coming next
- Look out for an exciting announcement this March on the next chapter of the Instructure Roadmap that we publish in our Community!
Stay connected to New & Next
Looking ahead, our next New & Next Showcase will take place in April—a live, executive-led event where we’ll dive deeper into our most impactful initiatives (registration details coming soon). This asynchronous update format will return again in July following our InstructureCon customer conference in Louisville, Kentucky, giving you another flexible way to stay informed. In the meantime, we encourage you to explore the linked resources, review release notes, connect with your Customer Success manager or request a demo of any products that piqued your interest, or comment on this post!
Thank you for your continued engagement, feedback, and energy—you play a critical role in helping us build thoughtful, effective products that support educators and set all learners’ potential into motion.
