Your students are using AI. Let's make sure they're actually learning.
Athena is an AI study coach that knows your students' Canvas courses and guides them to real understanding — not quick answers. It tracks what they've mastered and tells them exactly what to work on next.
Built on learning science
Effective Support That Respects Real Learning
Real learning happens when support adapts to each student's unique journey. Athena tracks how understanding develops over time — not just within a single session — so it recognizes when a student needs help with a foundational concept before tackling the current topic. That lets it deliver the right support at the right moment: the scaffolding they need to clear the obstacle and keep progressing.
Co-construct Learning Pathways
Instead of dictating a path, Athena negotiates the roadmap with the learner, ensuring goals are mutually agreed upon and achievable.
- Collaborative goal-setting
- Deliberative planning process
- Student-centered approach
Foster Metacognition & Autonomy
Athena pauses for 'micro-checks' and offers autonomy-supportive choices, encouraging learners to take ownership of their cognitive process.
- Frequent self-reflection prompts
- Develops self-awareness
Scaffold within the ZPD
Athena uses progressive scaffolding that fades as competence grows, keeping learners challenged but never overwhelmed.
- Personalized study roadmaps
- Gradual independence building
- Optimal challenge zone
Calibrate for Affective States
When frustration is detected, Athena dynamically shifts modes - from Socratic questioning to direct instruction - to restore confidence.
- Emotional awareness
- Flexible teaching strategies
- Reduces cognitive load when needed
Prioritize Retrieval over Recognition
Gently redirects students away from passive study methods toward high-yield active retrieval and synthesis tasks.
- Active recall practice
- Synthesis over recognition
- Evidence-based study strategies
90%
of higher-ed students already use AI in class (Instructure research)
24/7
study support for every student
100%
read-only Canvas access, revocable anytime
0
student data used to train AI models
“Office hours and a tutoring center can only stretch so far. We wanted every student to have support whenever they needed it. If that keeps even a fraction of our 7,000 students in a course they might have dropped, that's impact we can't ignore.”
Brandon Mitchell
Director of Instructional Design and Technology
Hinds Community College
Canvas Connection
How Athena connects to Canvas
A secure, read-only OAuth connection — the same mechanism Canvas uses for its own approved apps. Your institution allows it once.
Your Institution Approves the Connection
Your Canvas admin allows Athena’s OAuth connection on the Canvas side — the same trusted mechanism Canvas uses for its own approved apps. Once it is on at the institution level, you optionally have the ability to turn it off at the subaccount or course level. Giving you more control over who what Athena can connect to.
Students Connect Their Athena Accounts
From inside Athena, students authorize via OAuth (not personal access tokens, so token restrictions don't apply). They connect using their Canvas login through the standard consent screen.
Read-Only, Student-Role Access
Athena reads only what the student can already see — their courses, syllabi, modules, assignments, etc. Nothing is written back to Canvas, and nothing beyond the student’s own view is visible.
A Knowledge Map Is Built
Athena turns each course into a living knowledge map of objectives and concepts. Personalized quizzes, flashcards, and tutoring are ready to help students study from the first connection.
What Athena accesses
Athena reads courses, assignments, grades, files, modules, and the student's own submissions—nothing more. It never sees other students' data, never writes to Canvas, and access is revocable anytime.
Product Demo
See Athena in action
Discover what makes Athena different
Teaching & Learning Centers
Aligned With Excellence in Teaching & Learning
Teaching & Learning Centers know that even the most powerful tools only matter if students actually use them. Athena is designed not just to deliver high-quality support, but to help students engage with the kind of productive struggle that leads to real learning.
- Students stay motivated, not just informed.
- Athena helps students lean into productive struggle instead of avoiding it, so the learning science you champion turns into consistent study behavior.
- Students feel safe to struggle, reflect, and grow.
- Athena's tone is tuned to be warm and encouraging, lowering affective barriers so students feel safe making mistakes, reflecting, and trying again.
- Learning persists beyond a single study session.
- Using its knowledge framework, Athena can identify when a concept is fading and send a re-engagement nudge — inviting students into a short practice session to reinforce or extend prior learning.
- Progress is earned, not performed.
- Athena’s learning streaks are built on meaningful "learning moments" instead of superficial XP, so students are motivated by true progress toward mastery, not just logging in.
Still have questions?
Answers for educators.
The questions educators ask us most: how Athena connects to Canvas, what the learning science says, how student data is protected, and what it takes to bring Athena to your institution.
Who is Athena for?
Athena is built for students — they own their accounts and decide whether to subscribe. Institutions enable access and, optionally, sponsor it.
Students
Create their own Athena account, subscribe individually from $5/month, and own their learning data.
Institutions
It's off by default. Enable it where you want: institution-wide, by subaccount, or by course. Students then authorize Athena using Canvas OAuth.
Athena Partners
Optionally sponsor student subscriptions at no cost to students. Partner with us on training, research, and rollout.
In short: Students subscribe to Athena on their own. Your institution simply authorizes the Canvas connection. If you want to sponsor student subscriptions and work closely with our team, that's what Athena Partners is for.
Partnerships & Pilots
Choose your starting point
Pricing is typically $5/student/month, billed on average monthly active users. Contract terms and pricing are flexible based on your institution’s needs.
Enable it yourself in Canvas
Just Turn It On
Turn it on today without a pilot commitment. Your Canvas Admin enables the connection at whatever level you choose—institution-wide, subaccount, or single course. Students create and pay for their own Athena accounts; you’re just granting permission for Athena to connect to Canvas.
Benefits
- Root, subaccount, and course-level permissions
- Secure Canvas OAuth connection
- Auto-generated study spaces and objectives from Canvas connection
- Personalized knowledge maps built for every student
- Ability to create practice quizzes, flashcards, & study plans
- Guided learning and tutoring
- Custom study spaces & objectives
Need help?
Pilot or partnership
Athena Partners
Start with a pilot or go straight to a full partnership. When you sponsor, students still own their Athena accounts and choose whether to connect. You get anonymized usage reporting and priority support. We'll work alongside you — from onboarding and faculty training through measuring impact and scaling what works.
All the other benefits, plus:
- Anonymized usage reporting (maintains student privacy)
- Webinars and on-campus workshops with faculty and students
- Help shape our roadmap through research and participation
- Research collaboration to measure impact at your institution
- Flexible contract based on average monthly active users
We're ready when you are!