Questions and concerns about internet bandwidth are at the forefront as schools, universities, and businesses transition to remote platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic. With all classes moved to Canvas, The Xavierite reached out to Saint Xavier University officials regarding this issue.
In an email response, the SXU administration stated: “The risk of data loss, server failure or other scenarios that could compromise Canvas are extremely low. To date, there have been no occurrences of Canvas failing at a campus-wide level. The most common issues instructors face with educational technology are related to third-party applications utilized with Canvas.”
The transition to online learning raises certain questions about the strength of the Canvas servers and their strength nationwide among multiple universities. Communication Department Chair Dr. Brad Mello had this to say about the possibility of Canvas crashing, “that is [our] concern but I think our IT department is wonderful. [However,] it’s a larger question beyond SXU and Canvas as a national product since a lot of people will be using it.”
The administration adds: “Canvas is a learning management system (LMS) that is part of Instructure, which provides educational support to more than 70 countries, partnering with thousands of educational institutions.” The Administration continues: “It is the most widely-used LMS on the market. SXU’s Center for Instructional Design and Academic Technology (CIDAT) manages Canvas and works with faculty to improve their experiences working online. Instructure monitors uptime (a measure of system reliability) for Canvas, and is hosted in the cloud using Amazon Web services, so it is not atypical for them to already manage high loads. SXU experiences 99.82% uptime with Canvas, who is dedicated to ensuring a positive experience with their application.”
According to Mello, aside from Canvas, professors use the Colleague website for inputting grades. He adds, professors “turn in grades online… [and] you should not worry about grades and we will make sure everybody will finish off the semester with all the classes you registered for.” SXU Administration added, “official transcripts are housed in the Office of Records and Registration, and student grades in Canvas are never electronically linked to student transcripts. Instructors enter final grades into a separate software.”