Keep Learning Human: Four Takeaways from D2L Ignite Canada 2026

Earlier this week, Andrew Hall, our Senior Customer Success Manager, and I spent two days in Toronto at D2L Ignite Canada. We caught up with clients, spent time with the D2L team we partner with on Brightspace, and listened to education leaders talk about where learning is heading.

The theme was Keep Learning Human. With AI in almost every corner of education, it framed a question I kept coming back to: how do we use technology to improve learning without losing the connection, trust and accountability that make it work? Here's what stuck with me.

1. Relationships are built one conversation at a time

Riaz Meghji's keynote, What We Keep: Human Connection in the Age of AI, was a good reminder that even with every tool we have, trust still gets built in conversation.

That's exactly why Andrew and I were there. Most of my week goes to running partnerships and operations, so Ignite was a chance to sit down with the people we work with and listen: what's working in their programs, what's getting harder, and where they'd like us to show up differently. Those conversations rarely happen on a scheduled call, and they usually shape what we work on next. An evening at a Raptors game with the D2L team and our fellow partners helped too. It's a lot easier to get to know people from the stands than from a booth.

Our clients trust us with a part of their programs that carries real weight for their learners. Keeping that trust means staying accessible, listening more than we pitch, and following through. It's a big reason our client retention sits at 98%, and why being named D2L's Customer Trust Award winner at Fusion 2026 meant so much to our team. That award belongs to our clients as much as it does to us.

2. The time technology gives back should go to people

Across the agenda, D2L kept returning to one idea: technology should take administrative work off educators' plates so they can spend more time with learners.

We see the assessment side of that every day. When a session gets flagged, someone has to work out what happened, and too often that lands on an instructor with a stack of recordings. Our reviewers take on that operational work, so program teams get a documented outcome to act on instead of another investigation on their desk. For me, the real measure of any technology is what people do with the time it gives back.

3. AI adoption has to be built on trust and accountability

AI came up in almost every session, from course design and learner support to analytics. The question underneath most of those conversations was trust, and day two's panel, AI, Trust and the Future of Learning, put it right in the title.

I think the organizations that earn lasting confidence with AI will be the ones that can clearly say where AI helps, how a decision gets explained, and who stays accountable for the outcome. Those answers matter most when a decision affects a learner.

At Integrity Advocate, our answer is hybrid proctoring. AI monitors every session and surfaces anything unusual. A trained reviewer weighs the context, because unusual doesn't mean something went wrong. The institution always makes the final call. That's what lets programs use AI with confidence and stand behind the result.

4. Canadian education is building something worth being proud of

Integrity Advocate is a Canadian company, and D2L was built in Kitchener-Waterloo, where I started my career, so this one is personal. A highlight of Ignite was D2L CEO John Baker's fireside chat with Humber Polytechnic President Dr. Ann Marie Vaughan. The same day, the two announced Humber Horizon, a new Brightspace learning environment launching in January 2027. It's a great example of a Canadian institution rethinking how learning works for its students.

We're proud to be part of that ecosystem as a D2L partner, supporting Brightspace clients with online proctoring built right into their courses. There's a lot of good work happening in Canadian education right now, and it's rewarding to play a part in it.

Keeping learning human

Two days at Ignite reinforced what our team already believes: the future of learning depends on how thoughtfully we use technology. That means giving educators time back, being clear about who's accountable when AI is involved, and investing in the relationships that make it all work.

Thanks to Allison Sinclair and the D2L team for a great event, and to every client and partner who made time for Andrew and me.

For more from the week, watch my conversation with Bill Sheehan from D2L on what edtech should leave behind, what's most exciting in the space right now, and what AI can never take away from learning.

If we didn't get to connect in Toronto, I'd love to pick up that conversation. Reach out to me directly, or book a demo to see human-reviewed proctoring inside D2L Brightspace.

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