Scaling Active Learning with Canvas and Top Hat: Indiana University’s Story

Most educators have seen the power of active learning at some point in their career. Decades of research confirms that when students are actively engaged in their coursework—thinking, discussing, reflecting, and applying—they perform better academically.

What’s less widely known is just how much these practices affect how students feel. According to research from Tyton Partners, students in active classrooms are more likely to feel a sense of belonging, to believe they’ll graduate, and to trust that their education is preparing them for the future. That confidence is especially important for students already questioning whether they belong in college at all. 

The challenge is, most faculty are being asked to do more with less. Creating engaging, interactive learning experiences takes time, tools, and support that many faculty simply don’t have. 

In 2017, Indiana University took up the challenge. If active learning was going to be central to student success, faculty would need the infrastructure to make it possible. 

Canvas LMS already served as the backbone for course management, communication, and administrative coordination. Building on that foundation, Indiana University invested in Top Hat to make active learning easier for instructors, and more scalable and sustainable across the institution. Adoption didn’t happen overnight. But with persistence and the right support, IU faculty have brought active learning into nearly 1,900 Canvas courses, directly improving the experience of more than 51,000 students. 

“Our partnership with Top Hat has been instrumental in enabling us to scale these practices,” says Dr. Gina Londino-Smolar, Teaching Professor at IU Indianapolis. 

The results are significant. A recent IRB-approved study found that students in courses using Top Hat were 11.5% less likely to withdraw than their peers in comparable classes. That equates to 290 students continuing toward a degree they might otherwise have left behind. 

A Platform Built for What Matters Most

Top Hat CEO Maggie Leen puts it simply: “Great teaching and learning experiences happen when technology makes it easier for busy educators to engage with students and motivate them to connect, explore, practice, and succeed.”

That belief shapes Top Hat’s approach to innovation. 

As the leading student engagement platform for higher education, Top Hat empowers educators to embed active learning at every stage. Instructors can embed interactive questions into readings, spark discussions with quizzes and polls, assign low-stakes assessments, and track participation in real time – while students access all of this content where their learning happens: within Canvas.

Interactive Polls & Quizzes

Top Hat’s authoring tools allow educators to bring any content to life—making it more relevant, accessible, and engaging for students. Instructors can customize readings, add multimedia and interactive checks for understanding, and tailor OER and eTexts to better meet student needs. This flexibility supports more personalized, inclusive, and affordable learning, without sacrificing academic rigor.

Personalize Content

Another benefit? Insight. With tools like the Top Hat Gradebook and Weekly Course Report, educators can easily spot where students are struggling and adjust instruction in real time. For students, that same visibility means knowing—on the spot—whether they truly grasp the material, transforming every class into an opportunity for active, informed learning. And thanks to LTI 1.3 integration, students access Top Hat directly through Canvas, while instructors save time by seamlessly syncing grades, assignments, and content. That means more time teaching, and less time clicking.

Empowering Students and Educators Through AI

If engagement is the foundation of effective teaching, personalization is what makes it stick. That’s where Ace, Top Hat’s AI-powered teaching and learning assistant, comes in.

For instructors, Ace acts like a virtual teaching assistant, enabling the creation of assessments from existing materials, suggesting prompts to enhance lecture slides, or creating examples that connect course concepts to real-world scenarios to make learning more relevant. And because Top Hat is accessible through Canvas via single sign on, instructors can take advantage of Ace without disrupting their existing workflow. Tasks that once took hours now take minutes, freeing up time for deeper instruction and meaningful student interaction.

Students also enjoy the same seamless access–launching into Top Hat through Canvas to get personalized, and contextual AI-powered support alongside their readings and assignments. Ace will also generate practice questions to the areas where students are struggling with instant feedback that builds confidence and mastery.

Questions with AI

How IU Faculty Are Changing the Student Experience

Indiana University’s success reducing course withdrawals tells one part of the story. Behind that number are hundreds of educators reimagining what active learning can look like.

In Basic Human Anatomy, Dr. Valerie O’Loughlin uses Top Hat for polling, quizzes, and interactive prompts. Her analysis reveals that students using Top Hat scored an average of 79.4% on lecture exams, compared to 46.7% for those who didn’t.

In Pulmonary Grand Rounds, Dr. Graham Carlos uses Top Hat to facilitate case-based learning with second-year medical students. Over nine sessions, students build diagnostic skills through interactive scenarios. Those who attend all sessions score 10% higher on final assessments.

“What Top Hat does is it allows us to take students through the practice of breaking down each step of a diagnosis into the least common denominator to ensure full understanding,” says Carlos. “It gives learners a more comprehensive understanding of what’s happening with the patient so they can become terrific clinicians.”

Teaching Better, Not Harder

The results Indiana University faculty are seeing show what’s possible when the best of pedagogy meets the right technology.

With Top Hat’s AI-enabled features, instructors can bring active, personalized learning into their classrooms faster and with greater impact. And because Top Hat integrates seamlessly with Canvas, faculty can extend these benefits into the heart of their teaching and learning ecosystem—removing friction, streamlining workflows, and ensuring that more students succeed while educators focus on what they do best.

Join us for an upcoming webinar as we take a deeper look at how Canvas and Top Hat are transforming student learning outcomes at scale.