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Canvas Network

canvas.net

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Spec score 9.1 #6 of 67 in MOOC Platforms

What it is

Canvas Network offers free professional development courses made by educators for K–12 and higher education educators. Subjects include teaching methods, technology skills for educators, student performance analysis, and leadership. Anyone with an email address can enroll, but learners need a separate Canvas Network account, even if they use another Canvas instance. Materials become available on or after the course start date; courses begin according to U.S. Mountain time. Learners can work through activities at their own pace, though an instructor may invite them to synchronous activities. Instructors or sponsoring institutions may provide completion certificates, but Canvas Network does not issue them. It also does not charge eligible institutions to offer courses. Powered by Canvas LMS, the service is available on the web, Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, and Windows. Its Android and iOS apps support course access, assignment submission, discussions, and grade viewing, though not every Canvas feature is available in the apps. Offline learning is available. Course settings may hide an individual course after it ends.

Spec sheet

What it does
Canvas Network is an educator-focused catalog of free, open professional-development courses powered by Canvas LMS.Read 15 Oct 2026 · instructure.com
Purpose
Canvas Network provides free, open professional development courses built by educators for educators.Read 9 Oct 2026 · instructure.com
Audience
The courses support K–12 and higher education educators and focus on professional development.Read 9 Oct 2026 · community.instructure.com
Free plan
YesRead 23 Sep 2026 · instructure.com
Integrations
Canvas states that it integrates with more than 1,000 external tools and partners.Read 15 Oct 2026 · instructure.com
Mobile apps
Canvas Student supports grades, assignments, calendars, messaging, discussions, videos and quizzes; separate Teacher and Parent apps are offered.Read 15 Oct 2026 · instructure.com
Support
Course-specific help is provided through instructor materials or discussion forums, with Canvas Guides available for platform questions.Read 15 Oct 2026 · instructure.com
Headquarters
Salt Lake City, Utah, USARead 28 Sep 2026 · canvas.net
Founded
Instructure’s company timeline states it was founded in 2008 and launched Canvas in 2011.Read 15 Oct 2026 · instructure.com
API authentication
Canvas API applications authenticate with OAuth2, with bearer tokens recommended over query-string tokens.Read 15 Oct 2026 · canvas.instructure.com
Blueprint courses
Blueprint courses let institutions centrally distribute curriculum and push updates across courses.Read 15 Oct 2026 · instructure.com
Canvas Data
Canvas Data provides raw event-level files for custom dashboards, advanced queries and institutional data warehouses.Read 15 Oct 2026 · instructure.com
Certificates
Canvas Network does not issue certificates; individual instructors or sponsoring institutions decide whether to provide them.Read 15 Oct 2026 · instructure.com
Company headquarters and size
LinkedIn lists Instructure headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah, with 1,001–5,000 employees.Read 15 Oct 2026 · linkedin.com
Company legal name
Crunchbase identifies the maker as Instructure, Inc., an education-technology company acquired by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.Read 15 Oct 2026 · crunchbase.com
Course access
Course materials become available on or after the course start date, and courses begin on that date using U.S. Mountain time.Read 9 Oct 2026 · instructure.com
Course eligibility
Anyone with an email address can enroll, and learners must create a separate Canvas Network account even if they use another Canvas instance.Read 9 Oct 2026 · instructure.com
Course offering
Canvas Network does not charge eligible institutions a fee to offer a course on the platform.Read 9 Oct 2026 · community.instructure.com
Course timing
Course materials become available on the stated start date, which is based on U.S. Mountain time.Read 15 Oct 2026 · instructure.com
Course topics
Topics include teaching techniques, educator technology skills, student performance analysis, and leadership skills.Read 9 Oct 2026 · community.instructure.com
Course visibility
Individual course settings may hide a course after it has ended.Read 9 Oct 2026 · instructure.com
Developer keys
Canvas developer keys issue OAuth2 client credentials and can be scoped to selected API endpoints by administrators.Read 15 Oct 2026 · cofi.instructure.com
Enrollment
Anyone with an email address can enroll, but Canvas Network requires a separate account from other Canvas instances.Read 15 Oct 2026 · instructure.com
Gradebook
Canvas Gradebook supports entering marks, managing assignments, weighting grades and organizing progress data.Read 15 Oct 2026 · instructure.com
Learning format
Participants may review materials and complete activities at their convenience, although instructors can schedule optional synchronous activities.Read 15 Oct 2026 · instructure.com
Learning schedule
Learners can complete activities at their convenience, though an instructor may invite them to synchronous activities.Read 9 Oct 2026 · instructure.com
Licence
The public Canvas LMS codebase is open source under the GNU AGPLv3 licence.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com
Limit: Capterra complexity and cost
Capterra reviews cite learning curves, too many clicks, inconsistent course layouts, notification overload and cost concerns for smaller schools.Read 15 Oct 2026 · capterra.com
Limit: G2 navigation and support
G2 reviewers repeatedly mention navigation that can be unintuitive, limited customization, features behind paywalls and slow or poor support.Read 15 Oct 2026 · g2.com
Limit: Trustpilot complaints
Trustpilot complaints repeatedly describe login loops, slow or blank pages, confusing navigation, incorrect notifications and outage-related frustration.Read 15 Oct 2026 · trustpilot.com
Limit: TrustRadius grading and media
TrustRadius reviews report difficult grade-column manipulation, challenging batch grading and glitchy video tools, with Canvas Studio sold as an add-on.Read 15 Oct 2026 · trustradius.com
Mobile access
Canvas apps for Android and iOS let students access courses, submit assignments, participate in discussions, and view grades, though not all Canvas features are supported in the apps.Read 9 Oct 2026 · community.instructure.com
Mobile requirements
Canvas mobile apps require Android 9 or later and iOS 18 or later.Read 15 Oct 2026 · community.instructure.com
OpenAPI
Canvas documents a generated OpenAPI 3.0 specification usable with Swagger, Postman and code generators.Read 15 Oct 2026 · canvas.instructure.com
Platform
Canvas Network is powered by Canvas LMS.Read 9 Oct 2026 · instructure.com
Platform coverage
Canvas runs on Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android and other devices with modern browsers.Read 15 Oct 2026 · instructure.com
Praise: Capterra organization
Capterra reviewers commonly praise centralized assignments, grades, communication and course organization.Read 15 Oct 2026 · capterra.com
Praise: G2 usability
G2 reviewers repeatedly praise Canvas for intuitive navigation, broad features, mobile access and integrations.Read 15 Oct 2026 · g2.com
Praise: TrustRadius workflow
TrustRadius users praise frequent updates, mobile SpeedGrader, the WYSIWYG editor and broad course-management capabilities.Read 15 Oct 2026 · trustradius.com
Rating on Apple App Store
4.7 out of 5 from 2.8 million ratingsRead 15 Oct 2026 · apps.apple.com
Rating on Capterra
4.6 out of 5 from 4,338 reviewsRead 15 Oct 2026 · capterra.com
Rating on G2
4.5 out of 5 from 1,839 reviewsRead 15 Oct 2026 · g2.com
Rating on Gartner Peer Insights
4.1 out of 5 from 115 ratingsRead 15 Oct 2026 · gartner.com
Rating on Google Play
4.5 out of 5 from 224,000 reviewsRead 15 Oct 2026 · play.google.com
Rating on Trustpilot
1.5 out of 5 from 56 reviewsRead 15 Oct 2026 · trustpilot.com
Rating on TrustRadius
8.5 out of 10 from 305 reviews and ratingsRead 15 Oct 2026 · trustradius.com
Release process
Canvas publishes regular release notes and deploy notes, with deploys occurring every two weeks and beta testing before production releases.Read 15 Oct 2026 · community.instructure.com
REST API
Canvas exposes a REST API for reading and modifying LMS data from external programs and scripts.Read 15 Oct 2026 · canvas.instructure.com
Security and compliance
Instructure’s Trust Center lists SOC 2 Type II, SOC 3, ISO 27001, GDPR, FERPA, PCI and other security or compliance materials.Read 15 Oct 2026 · trust.instructure.com
Self-hosting
The Canvas LMS repository provides installation guidance, including quick-start and production-start instructions.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com
SpeedGrader
Canvas SpeedGrader lets instructors grade submissions, annotate documents and leave contextual comments in one workspace.Read 15 Oct 2026 · instructure.com
System requirements
Instructure recommends current or previous major Chrome, Firefox, Edge or Safari releases, JavaScript and cookies enabled, a computer five years old or newer with at least 1 GB RAM, and at least 512 kbps internet.Read 15 Oct 2026 · community.instructure.com

Plans and prices

Canvas Network courses Free Course prices and certificates vary by course; instructors or sponsoring institutions issue any certificates Read 9 Oct 2026 · instructure.com
Canvas Network free courses Free Free, open professional-development courses for educators · course-specific certificates may be offered by instructors or sponsoring institutions Read 15 Oct 2026 · instructure.com

Every Canvas Network plan and price →

Strong points and limits

Strong points

  • Free plan for Canvas Network courses
  • Topics include teaching, technology, analysis, and leadership
  • Activities can be completed at learners’ convenience
  • Offline learning is available
  • Android and iOS apps support assignments and discussions

Limits

  • A separate Canvas Network account is required
  • Course materials open on or after the start date
  • Canvas Network does not issue certificates
  • Mobile apps do not support every Canvas feature

Who it suits

Canvas Network suits K–12 and higher education educators seeking professional development courses. Learners who want certificates should check whether an instructor or sponsoring institution offers one.

Verdict

Canvas Network combines free educator-focused courses with a broad range of listed platforms and flexible activity schedules. Certificate availability depends on the instructor or sponsoring institution, and course visibility may change after a course ends.

Where Specifiction places it

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