Supporting Student Success with Searchable, Accessible Video in Canvas

As video becomes an essential part of modern learning, students increasingly rely on recorded lectures and instructional videos to review complex topics, prepare for exams, and stay on track when life gets in the way. But simply providing video isn’t enough. When students can’t easily find the moments that matter, video can quickly become inefficient, overwhelming, or underused.

That’s why institutions are rethinking how video works inside Canvas. By pairing Canvas with searchable, accessible video tools, educators can better support how students actually learn while improving engagement and study efficiency across courses.

How Students Really Use Video to Learn

For today’s learners, video is not a passive experience. Students use recordings to revisit difficult concepts, study for assessments, review missed classes, and take notes at their own pace. They expect the same ease of discovery they experience in everyday digital tools, whether they are searching for a specific explanation, replaying a key moment, or scanning content before an exam.

Without strong search and navigation, however, students often resort to scrubbing through long recordings or rewatching entire lectures just to find a single answer. This creates unnecessary friction and adds cognitive load at a time when clarity and focus matter most.

Findable, Searchable Video in Canvas

When video is deeply integrated into Canvas courses, students can access content where learning already happens and spend less time searching and more time understanding.

Searchable video allows students to locate specific moments within recordings by keyword, spoken word, or on-screen text. Instead of rewatching an entire lecture, learners can jump directly to the concept they need, making review sessions more efficient and purposeful. Over time, this helps students develop better study habits while reinforcing comprehension and retention.

Accessibility That Supports Every Learner

Accessibility plays a critical role in student success, not only for learners with documented accommodations but for all students navigating complex material. Captions, transcripts, and keyboard-accessible playback give students more ways to engage with content and revisit it in formats that work best for them.

At the University of Washington, accessibility was a core requirement when evaluating a campus-wide video solution. Students reported that video recordings helped them review difficult material, prepare for exams, and improve their overall performance. In fact, 98 percent of students agreed that video contributed to their learning, and nine in ten said viewing recordings helped them improve their grades.

These benefits extended beyond accommodation needs, supporting non-native English speakers, commuter students, and learners balancing academics with work or athletics.

Improving Engagement and Study Efficiency

When students can search, navigate, and interact with video more effectively, engagement naturally improves. Features like in-video notes, structured navigation, and the ability to review content at variable speeds allow learners to take a more active role in their studies.

For example, University of Washington students reported using video most often to review material they did not understand, study for exams, and catch up on missed classes. By making video easier to search and more accessible inside Canvas, instructors can help students spend less time locating content and more time engaging with it meaningfully.

A Scalable Approach for Institutions

Supporting student success at scale requires more than individual tools adopted course by course. Institutions benefit most when video workflows are consistent, accessible, and integrated across Canvas. A unified approach reduces confusion for students, lowers administrative overhead for faculty and IT teams, and creates a more equitable learning experience across departments and programs.

By extending Canvas with searchable, accessible video, institutions can support both day-to-day learning needs and long-term academic goals without disrupting existing workflows.

Looking Ahead: What’s Next for Video in Canvas

As learning technologies continue to evolve, video is moving beyond basic playback toward more intelligent learning support. Tools that surface key concepts, summarize content, and help students find exactly what they need are becoming an important part of the learning experience.

To explore this shift in more depth, join Instructure and Panopto for an upcoming webinar on how intelligent video inside Canvas helps students study smarter, engage more deeply, and achieve stronger outcomes. We’ll examine student behaviors, instructional strategies, and what institutions should expect as AI becomes part of everyday learning tools in Canvas.

Learn more and register for the webinar to continue the conversation.