Canva launches AI tool for the education sector

Canva is not satisfied with the achievements of its AI technology. Less than a month after launching the AI-based Magic Studio, the ten-year-old Australian startup has expanded its presence in the often overlooked field of educational technology and introduced AI technology to provide cloud-based graphic design and digital multimedia tools for non-art professionals.

Last week, Canva announced the launch of a new version of "Classroom Magic," a version specifically designed for teachers and students.

According to the company, the new version of Classroom Magic is built on the Canva for Education product launched in 2019 and already has 50 million students and teachers using it worldwide. It will share some of the same AI features as Magic Studio for school education.

Jason Wilmot, head of Canva's education department, said in an exclusive video conference interview with VentureBeat, "The AI tools we have launched are mainly designed to help teachers save time, create more engaging content for students, and help students develop creativity."

Canva for Education and the new Classroom Magic feature are available for free to all students, teachers, and school districts at the K-12 level. The company also offers paid plans for universities, but did not provide specific pricing information to VentureBeat.

Canva currently has over 600,000 different schools using Canva for Education, which means the new version of Classroom Magic may be the largest attempt to introduce AI into classrooms worldwide.

New AI multimedia design features for teachers and students

One of them is "Magic Write," a generative AI tool that allows students and teachers to quickly access operations from a drop-down menu, including summarizing text, expanding short texts into long formats, rewriting text, and changing tone.

For parents and educators concerned that AI may hinder students' own learning and writing, Canva suggests in its press release that Magic Write allows students to "cultivate their understanding" through carefully designed prompts.

Another feature is "Magic Animate," which can convert static text into dynamic text and automatically add transitions to presentations.

In addition, "Magic Grab" can automatically detect individual elements and objects in images, such as text or charts in class handouts, allowing users/teachers/students to automatically move, resize, and reposition these elements, even if they were not originally separate elements.

The time-saving GenAI feature "Magic Switch," also introduced from Canva's main Magic Studio, allows users to "switch" project formats with one click, converting documents into presentations or vice versa. This does not mean that the converted files will be flawless, but at least it makes it easy to start creating.

To focus on students and teachers with accessibility needs, the new version of Canva's Classroom Magic offers automatic "alternative text" suggestions (text displayed when you hover over an element on a desktop browser, providing better understanding for people with visual and hearing impairments).

Using AI to protect students and schools from harmful content

Of course, one of the reasons why the educational technology market is often overlooked or fails to provide services is that school districts and schools themselves often have very strict requirements for the software/services and content allowed in the classroom, including discrete/individual features and experiences of the product.

Many school districts and schools have carefully planned lists" that list approved software and domains accessible within the institution, while other software and domains are blacklisted and blocked by the school's network administrators and firewalls.

With the popularity of GenAI technology since its release on ChatGPT last year, educators and school district officials are understandably concerned about how this new technology will enter the classroom.

For example, The Guardian, a British newspaper, published an article online today describing the experiences of several teachers interacting with AI in the classroom, with one teacher saying she "rethought every assignment she gave to students."

Canva understands the concerns that may arise from the application of AI in the classroom, so it has introduced strict controls in the education field through its new Canva Shield program, which is launched simultaneously with its Magic Studio for general graphic design platform users.

Wilmot said, "Students may be exposed to AI technology for the first time here, so we must ensure that we invest a lot of resources in trust and security to ensure that these products are safe for the classroom."

Therefore, Canva engages in daily discussions with teachers and school districts and uses these interactions to shape the education-focused Canva Shield program. The platform offers the following:

"Advanced educator controls: School administrators can set access permissions for these AI tools according to their needs.
Automatic review: We use advanced technology to automatically review input prompts to prevent the creation of any inappropriate content.
Word blocking: As an additional precaution, we block more than 10,000 words to ensure content safety for schools.
Reporting options: We provide the ability to report and block any terms or content that may not be needed."

Key question: Do schools really need so much AI technology?

However, despite the launch of the new AI tool suite Classroom Magic, the key question remains: is it useful for teachers and students? Does anyone need so much AI technology?

Fortunately, for Canva and its desire to reform educational technology, it has made a good start in the vast user base of education. Market research also supports the view that using AI in the classroom can improve learning, and students, teachers, and school district officials see the potential in this area.

Canva recently conducted a survey of 1,000 American teachers to understand how educators use and perceive AI in the classroom.

The survey found that although most teachers are excited about AI and eager to apply it to teaching (78% of respondents), there is a knowledge gap that hinders widespread adoption (93% of respondents admit they don't know how to start using AI tools).

Teachers mentioned some benefits of AI, including improving student productivity (60%), creativity (59%), reducing administrative burdens (56%), and supporting personalized learning (67%).

The report emphasizes the critical role technology plays in modern classrooms, with 92% of teachers regularly using applications and services.

Teachers expressed interest in using AI to simplify language (67%), visualize data (66%), generate art (63%), edit writing and assignments, lesson planning (63%), and summarize information (62%).

Although Wilmot carefully stated that he does not believe Canva's role is to "teach AI engineering," but to "show what AI can do for learning."

He said, "Our goal is simply to provide students and teachers with a safe environment to understand some of the AI features within Canva and ensure that they can fully utilize these features in showcasing the learning process."

Wilmot also pointed out that Canva has provided over 5,000 lesson plans that teachers can use for free on the platform and customize according to their needs, and now with the AI features of Classroom Magic, customization is even easier.