Instructure Celebrates Global Educators Driving Measurable Outcomes With 2026 Academic Excellence Awards

In its second year, the awards celebrate educators worldwide advancing student success through innovative courses, programs and tools

SALT LAKE CITY - Aug. 11, 2026 - Instructure, the leading learning ecosystem and maker of Canvas LMS, announced the winners of its 2026 Academic Excellence Awards, recognizing exceptional educators, technologies and programs worldwide for remarkable achievements in teaching, learning and innovation. The awards spotlight individuals and teams who have demonstrated meaningful impact across three categories: Outstanding Course, Transformative Program and Innovative Technology.

The Academic Excellence Awards are a key component of Instructure's commitment to supporting educators worldwide. The rigorous submission and review process highlights excellence. It also gives Instructure firsthand insight into how educators use its tools in teaching and learning. This feedback helps shape future product updates with the goal of improving how Instructure supports its customers. Finalists were selected from a competitive global pool of nominees from a wide variety of institutions and disciplines. The recipients were chosen based on their creativity, measurable impact and overall influence on education.

Honorees received complimentary passes to attend InstructureCon 2026 and were recognized for their dedication, ingenuity and impact. All awardees will also be featured across Instructure's social media channels.

"We celebrate educators as often as we can because they show us what it means to give learners the space and grace to focus on human connection," said Melissa Loble, chief learning officer at Instructure. "Their dedication to using evidence-backed tools to improve outcomes guides how we build, how we listen and how we keep evolving to support the new learner."

This year's winners show what that impact looks like in practice. Their work ranges from AI-powered interactive storytelling in higher education to bilingual language instruction in K-12 classrooms and accessible online course design in sociology. The 2026 winners are:

Chris Rains (Innovative Technology Award): Chris Rains, instructional designer at Belmont University, has been honored with the Innovative Technology award for developing "AI-Generated Micro-Stories and Interactive Technologies." This pioneering platform leverages generative AI to transform traditional, static online activities into immersive, scenario-based learning experiences. By enabling instructional teams to easily build realistic branching scenarios complete with character dialogue, voice and visuals without needing advanced technical skills, the tool bridges the gap between classroom theory and professional practice. The result is a highly user-friendly, accessible and scalable solution that boosts student engagement, improves knowledge retention and prepares learners to confidently navigate real-world workplace challenges.

Jasmin Muñoz (Transformative Program): Jasmin Muñoz, a third-grade bilingual teacher in Pasadena ISD, has received the Transformative Program award for her exceptional design and delivery of Language Arts 3. Muñoz demonstrates outstanding instructional innovation by building a vibrant, button-based digital program specifically tailored to support bilingual learners. She builds student independence through clear visual cues and accessible language, while meeting the Technology Applications standards within the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) framework. Her forward-thinking approach ensures that young learners gain essential academic and digital literacy skills, confidently preparing them to navigate online environments and excel on STAAR assessments.

Jaclyn A. Tabor, Ph.D. (Outstanding Course Award): Jaclyn Tabor, instructional designer and instructor of sociology at Lincoln Land Community College, is honored with the Outstanding Course award for her innovative online asynchronous course, SOC 101: Introduction to Sociology. The fully online, 16-week undergraduate course stands out for its cutting-edge PANDA module architecture, accessibility-centered design and inclusive, AI-resilient assessment practices. Designed to support a diverse student audience with varying academic backgrounds and schedules, the course successfully utilizes scaffolded weekly learning sequences to help students examine major sociological concepts, analyze social structures and communicate sociological reasoning through reflective, real-world applications.

Additional winners from Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific regions will be determined and celebrated at the regional events at a later date.

About the Academic Excellence Awards

The Academic Excellence Awards honor outstanding achievements in education and highlight the vital role of innovation and dedication in shaping educational outcomes. Submissions were open to educators, instructional designers, institutional leaders and entire organizations. Each nomination required comprehensive documentation of measurable impact. Entries underwent a rigorous review by a panel comprising education experts and peer representatives from the broader community.

The awards recognize excellence across three categories:

• Outstanding Course: Celebrating exceptional instructional design that features clear learning outcomes and engaging delivery
• Transformative Program: Recognizing scalable initiatives that meaningfully shift educational practices within institutions or communities
• Innovative Technology: Honoring technologies or resources that significantly enhance teaching and learning experiences