Ready for What's Next: LJMU's EdTech Team at CanvasCon Europe 2026
The EdTech team had a presence at CanvasCon Europe 2026 in London on 2 and 3 November. It's Instructure's main European conference, where universities, colleges and edtech specialists meet to look at where digital education is going. This year's theme was "Future-Ready Education in the Making", and the question running through both days was what it really means for institutions to be ready for what comes next.
Why we go
Canvas is at the heart of how LJMU students learn and how our staff teach. Going to CanvasCon lets us see what's coming before it arrives and ask questions directly. We also learn from other institutions facing the same challenges. It means we can plan ahead, share good practice and make sure LJMU gets the most from the platform.
Day one: AI, policy and people
The opening session, led by Instructure's Henry Clifford Jones and Melissa Loble, set the scene. It covered how policy, globalisation and AI are reshaping education. It also looked at what institutions need to thrive, from better experiences for learners and staff to data people can act on, and AI that frees up staff time.
The opening keynote came from Professor Sue Turner OBE, an expert in AI governance and ethics. She called AI in education a "wicked problem" with no single fix. Protect assessment too tightly and students may not be ready for work. Adopt AI too quickly and you take on risks people aren't yet prepared to manage. Her practical advice included redesigning assessment, building AI literacy that brings "shadow AI" into the open, and helping staff experiment responsibly.
One of the highlights was a student panel chaired by Professor Martin Bean CBE AM. Focused on how students talked about how they already use AI, where they draw their own lines, and what they want universities to understand. It was a useful reminder that students need to be part of these conversations.
Day two: the Canvas roadmap
Instructure's product leaders opened day two with a live look at how Canvas is changing. Two developments stood out for us.
The first is a set of interface changes designed to make Canvas cleaner and easier to use for students and staff. Small improvements to navigation and layout can make a big difference when you use a platform every day.
The second is a new kind of AI-supported assessment. Students work with an AI bot that has been set up by their lecturer, and they're assessed on how they engage with it: how they question, reason and build their understanding. It moves the focus from the final answer to the learning process, which links closely to the assessment redesign Sue Turner spoke about.
UK HE Canvas User Group
The next day, the team joined the UK HE Canvas User Group. The smaller setting allowed for more detailed discussion of the roadmap with colleagues from across the sector and with Instructure. We compared notes on priorities and raised the questions that matter most to UK universities.
What's next
We'll be looking closely at how these developments could support teaching and learning at LJMU, and we'll share updates as plans take shape. Look out for more from the EdTech team soon.