Canvas includes a messaging feature designed to replace the standard LMS inbox. Canvas Conversations is intended to provide the user with flexibility for how messages will be received and sent.

"In traditional LMS messaging, there's this idea of the inbox; but for all intents and purposes, it's just another e-mail client," says Brian Whitmer, co-founder and Vice President of Products for Instructure. "You had to log in to see anything--to see if you had any messages, to reply to anybody. It had an interface like email, but it wasn't as good as other email clients. It was difficult and clunky and never got used."

The idea behind Conversations, he noted, "is to build a messaging system focused on education rather than copying email." The student and instructor can specify how messages will be sent out and received--whether by email client, cell phone, social alerts, or texting. The user won't have to log into the LMS to respond."

Read more of Instructure Rethinks LMS Messaging, By Dian Schaffhauser, or continue on to How is my Conversations inbox organized?