Lindenwood students, professors and administrators are waiting anxiously for Canvas, Grubhub and other services to be restored after an Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage knocked out many apps and websites on Monday.
The outage began around 2 a.m., according to DownDetector, a website that tracks online service outages. As of 3 p.m. Monday, the issue had not been resolved.
Campus is buzzing about the outage, with many mixed emotions due to everything that is being put on pause. Not only is it affecting just the normal Monday classes and students trying to get ahead of homework for the week, but it is also causing a major wrench in eight-week classes and midterms. Midterms for 16-week fall courses and finals for some eight-week courses were scheduled to be graded on Monday, but professors have been unable to access their gradebooks.
“I didn’t get my final grade for my class, and I’m not sure if I passed that class. I can’t start the next section of the class until I pass it, and the new section starts tomorrow,” said Therese West, a Lindenwood student who is still waiting for her grade for her eight-week class. “Everyone in the class is worried that they didn’t pass, and we don’t know anything yet.”
Lindenwood officials have contacted professors with a resolution to the issue of grades being submitted. They are working to resolve this issue and are working to push back grading for eight-week courses. As the grading was originally due today, Lindenwood has met with professors and decided to push back the due date for grade submission to tomorrow night, Tuesday, at 5 p.m.
Lindenwood is not the only school affected by the AWS outage.
“They better fix this fast. My classes let out early because of it, but I can’t do any homework in the meantime,” said Eden Finger, a student at Barnes-Jewish College Goldfarb School of Nursing. “Other people are happy about it, but I was looking forward to working ahead in my classes.”
Student newspapers such as The OU Daily at the University of Oklahoma and The Columbia Missourian at the University of Missouri have reported similar disruptions to Canvas and other educational websites.
According to Steve Daly, CEO of Canvas’s parent company, Instructure, Canvas is used by 36% of higher education institutions in North America, according to a 2023 interview. The outage has impacted many colleges and universities worldwide.
The AWS outage has also affected Grubhub, leaving students unable to order food through the app.
“It’s more than a little inconvenient,” said Natalie Plate, a junior at Lindenwood. “I have very long classes with a very short break on Mondays. I only have time to order on Grubhub and run to pick it up when it’s ready. I couldn’t eat on my break. I haven’t eaten all day.”
Lindenwood’s IT department has been providing regular updates on the outage, but it remains unclear when these critical services will be back online. The future for the issue being resolved is unsure, but many are left refreshing Canvas in hopes of a solution.
