What to Watch This July: Building Blackboard Together 2026 and InstructureCon 2026

Two of the biggest LMS user conferences of the year land back to back this July, starting with Blackboard Together 2026 this July 13-15 in Dallas, Texas, and concluding with Instructurecon 2026 this July 21-23 in Louisville, Kentucky. Between them, they'll bring in thousands of educators, LMS admins, academic leaders, and IT teams working through what teaching and learning actually looks like now that AI has moved from pilot phase to production reality.

Here is what we're paying attention to at each, the sessions worth building your schedule around, and where to find us on the ground.

Both events land at a moment when AI in higher education has shifted from a strategy conversation to an implementation one. Institutions aren't asking whether to adopt AI inside Canvas or Blackboard anymore, they're comparing notes on how. That shift is exactly why these two conferences are worth prioritizing this July.

Why these two conferences matter right now

The LMS calendar is where the sector's operational conversation actually happens. Big-picture keynotes about the future of AI in education take place at events like ASU+GSV and EDUCAUSE. But when it comes to how institutions are running AI inside their courses, support workflows, and teaching and learning operations, the LMS user conferences are where the real stories get told. This year that story has changed: the institutions who moved early on AI are past experimentation. They're running AI at scale, and they're telling other institutions what worked, what didn't, and what they'd do differently.

Both Building Blackboard Together 2026 and InstructureCon 2026 have programs that reflect that shift. The most valuable sessions are centered on real life case studies: how institutions today are launching deployments, their learnings, and how peers can reflect on their AI policy and implementation moving forward.

Building Blackboard Together 2026

When: July 13–15, 2026
Where: Hilton Anatole, Dallas, TX
Theme: Building Blackboard Together
See the full agenda here.

This is the first user conference under the newly rebranded Blackboard, following the transition from Anthology. The framing is community-first, the theme leans into what the Blackboard community is building together, and the program has been designed around AI, accessibility, and how institutions are operationalizing responsible technology at scale.

Sessions worth building your day around

• Opening Keynote: "Know It Before You Mess With It" - David Labaree, Stanford. One of the most influential scholars of American education on how the system actually works, and why most attempts to change it get absorbed by it. A sharper opening than the usual conference keynote, and worth showing up early for.
• Fireside Chat: "Learning Management, at Last" - Matthew Pittinsky (Blackboard co-founder) and Lev Gonick, on whether AI is the platform shift that finally breaks higher education's pattern. If you attend one AI-focused session at BbT26, this is a strong candidate.
• Sessions on responsible AI at scale - Threaded across all three days. These sessions cover analytics, insights, AI-enabled workflows, and how institutions are keeping trust intact while deploying solutions with speed. Check the agenda fgor the specific breakouts that match your role.

Where LearnWise fits in

We'll be at Booth 9. Our session on the agenda:

Scaling AI-Powered Support Across the Student Experience at the University of Phoenix
Tuesday, July 14 | 7:45 AM CT

Join us for this session to learn from a real story from University of Phoenix on what it took to deploy AI Campus Support to 80,000+ students earlier this year, how they reached the point where they run it themselves, and what's rolling out next. Full session details.

InstructureCon 2026

When: July 21–23, 2026
Where: Kentucky International Convention Center, Louisville, KY
Theme: Education in the Making
See the full agenda here.

InstructureCon 2026 is themed "Education in the Making". The program leans into creativity, cultivation, and the messier, hands-on work of what actually gets built inside a Canvas institution.

Sessions worth building your day around

• AI Readiness Certification (Pre-conference) - New this year. A hands-on certification program for institutions past the experimentation phase and ready to structure their AI adoption. Worth adding if your team's been asking what "AI-ready" means beyond a policy document. Pre-conference registration is separate from the main event.
• AI sessions across the program - The Canvas community has been building AI-embedded workflows for over a year now, and the program reflects that. Real institutions, real deployments, real problems being solved. The Bizzabo agenda platform is live for registered attendees to build their personal schedules.
• Institutional case study sessions - Historically the strongest content on any LMS conference agenda. Prioritize these if you want to see what's actually working (and what isn't) at Canvas institutions of every size.

Where LearnWise fits in

We'll be at Booth 53. Our session on the agenda:

Start Where You Are: Scaling AI Support Across a Multi-College System in Canvas
Thursday, July 23 | 4:20 PM - 4:40 PM EDT

A practical session on how CCSNH deployed AI Campus Support across seven colleges and thirteen locations inside Canvas without waiting for an institution-wide AI policy. The core reframe: you don't need a policy to start, you need a use case. Full session details here.

What to do before you fly out

• Build your session schedule inside the conference app. Breakouts fill up quickly, and winging it usually means missing the ones you actually wanted.
• Prioritize institutional case studies. Vendor demos are useful, but the sessions where institutions describe what they actually did (and what they'd do differently) are consistently the strongest content on any LMS agenda.
• Book your meetings in advance. Sessions are the anchor. The hallway conversations, booth chats, and coffee lines are where most of the real value lives.
• Bring the right questions. Both conferences are heavier on operational and strategic sessions than product showcases. If you're heading in with clear questions about your own institution's AI readiness, governance model, or scaling roadmap, you'll get more out of every session.

See you in Dallas and Louisville!

If you're attending either event, come find us at our booth. There will be sweet treats, fun swag, and even better conversations.

Can't make it? We'll share our key takeaways and highlights from both conferences on the blog after they wrap. Keep an eye out for our recaps!