Learning Management Systems

Canvas Adds Mobile App to Improve Parent Engagement

• By Joshua Bolkan
• 11/17/16

Instructure has launched a new mobile app for its Canvas learning management system (LMS), the Canvas Parent app, designed to give parents or guardians a new tool to more easily monitor their students' progress.

The new app allows parents to view student courses and grades, look at assignments and events or set up alerts for specific student activities, such as course grades crossing a low or high threshold, grades on specific assignments, missing assignments and more. Teachers can also use the app to communicate directly with parents.

"Parents who want information about their children's education and how to support them are always wondering about their progress, current assignments, due dates and grades," according to a news release. "Typically, these parents have to contact teachers directly, peruse assignment planners or wait to receive scheduled report cards to answer these questions. Some parents will log in to and navigate an LMS, which can prove inconvenient. Canvas Parent removes these obstacles by providing an intuitive, easily accessible app that establishes a continual flow of essential information."

"Canvas Parent is designed to lower the barriers to parental engagement," said Hilary Scharton, senior director of Canvas K–12 product strategy at Instructure, in a prepared statement. "It's simple to set up, easy to use and provides relevant and actionable information. From over a decade of research, we know that getting parents more involved in their children's schooling increases student achievement. We want to help parents engage with and encourage their children in a way that only well-informed parents can."

The app is available for Android and iOS devices.