Canvas, the open online learning management system (LMS) from Instructure that makes teaching and learning easier, today announced the immediate availability of a new annotation feature in its mobile application. Canvas is the only LMS to provide this capability, which streamlines the process of distributing and completing digital assignments.

This new annotation feature allows work to be completed inside Canvas, reducing a 20+ step process to three steps. As schools become increasingly digital, teachers and students are often faced with many disparate online tools that can force convoluted, confusing processes for downloading and uploading. Providing students with the ability to annotate documents directly inside Canvas eliminates the need for a separate app, which in turn removes the cost for another digital annotation tool. Through this new annotation feature, teachers gain back hours of instructional time and students are able to focus on producing quality work, rather than manipulating apps.

"At Canvas, we make it our first priority to find ways to simplify teaching and elevate learning, and our insistence on simple, intuitive workflows highlights this belief," said Mitch Benson, vice president of Canvas product. "Mobile student annotation, fully integrated into Canvas, simplifies the process of completing assignments for our domestic and global K–12 and higher education customer base. It also supports schools in their transition to digital classrooms, creates better experiences, and saves time, money and effort for administrators, teachers and students."

This new functionality allows students to open, annotate, and submit an assignment directly within Canvas. Districts and schools typically require a third-party app for students to annotate documents, an additional expense that can negatively affect technology budgets. Providing one platform where all of these capabilities reside eliminates the need for district administrators to buy additional software and reduces the need for paper, both cost saving actions.

The mobile annotation feature empowers educators to spend less time demonstrating procedures for moving and transitioning digital assignments and more time teaching lessons and describing the expectations of assignments. Digitizing assignments inside Canvas also prevents teachers from carting around or losing student work and allows them to grade assignments using the Canvas SpeedGrader, saving many labor hours grading and organizing hard-copy assignments.