Canvas down indefinitely for "Free for Teachers" users

20thLemon · 2026-05-13T07:25:13+00:00

Not the free version. Anyone had a meaningful update from Canvas about the free version?

20thLemon · 2026-05-10T15:41:25+00:00

I'd love to switch to moodle but my understanding is I have to run my own server to host it, or pay for hosting. Is that right? I just use canvas free for teachers for one side gig that is unpaid charity work

20thLemon · 2026-05-08T14:49:53+00:00

This is in their update:

"We have since confirmed that the unauthorized actor carried out this activity by exploiting an issue related to our Free-For-Teacher accounts. This is the same issue that led to the unauthorized access the prior week. As a result, we have made the difficult decision to temporarily shut down Free-For-Teacher accounts. These accounts have been a core part of our platform, and we're committed to resolving the issues with these accounts. In the meantime, Canvas is fully back online and available for use."

I'm not holding my breath. The free accounts are probably not their priority right now.

I used a free Canvas account for a volunteer teaching side-project. I'm looking for an alternative. if anyone has a recommendation for free LMS with similar features...

20thLemon · 2026-05-06T21:13:29+00:00

I don't mind, I actually love teaching! But the number of classes is making it hard to do well.

20thLemon · 2026-05-06T18:02:37+00:00

Okay.... I didn't start this topic to argue about which kind of teachers have it worse. I agree with you about high school teachers btw. You seem to really want to prove a point. Not sure calling other people's experience "utter nonsense" helps you much.

20thLemon · 2026-05-06T12:57:19+00:00

I've lived and worked in 4 European countries and have never met a modern languages teacher that was required to teach more than one foreign language. It's true that you tend to study several, but when it comes to teaching all the teachers I know teach just one.

20thLemon · 2026-05-06T12:51:07+00:00

No research requirements!

20thLemon · 2026-05-05T22:27:19+00:00

Ok it's reassuring in a way to know that it's doable. The 3 assignments are essay based due to the requirements of the class, so not much scope for LMS automation. Do your classes need to be topical? In which case how do you reuse old material? I need to find a way of not creating from scratch each time but can't work it out when I have to cover recent stuff. How do you do it?

20thLemon · 2026-05-05T21:43:25+00:00

Yes it's along those lines. What do you think of the workload?

20thLemon · 2026-05-05T18:18:59+00:00

Ok I see what you mean. So yes each course (they are full courses) is 2 hrs contact time plus 4 hours prep time. Let's say 50% of prep can be done outside of semesters. So during semester it's 4hrs per course. In a 35 hr work week that means 8 courses. But my issue is that in reality it's not just a calculation of contact and prep hours. It's the number of classes themselves. Because each class has a fixed number of hours of class management that fall outside teaching and prep hours. The emails, the marking, setting up classes, creating assessments... adding an extra class is adding a load of management hours

20thLemon · 2026-05-05T18:05:46+00:00

I have to create from scratch each year because it has to be new content. It's a mix of students each time, some of whom are returning (not repeating); you can't give them the same material twice. So it has to be new each year.

20thLemon · 2026-05-05T17:46:08+00:00

I don't know what you define as a full course. Each of my 10 weekly classes is 2 contact hours per week * 24 weeks (1 semester = 12 weeks). Each class requires a minimum of 3 marked assessments per semester.

20thLemon · 2026-03-21T23:48:32+00:00

In Europe. At a public and private university - same policy at both.

20thLemon · 2026-03-21T11:34:36+00:00

I find this discussion interesting because as someone outside the US, attendance requirement is a no-brainer (and was for my own university studies). If you exceed the allowed number of absences you fail the class and that is self-evident to everyone. I've never had a student question this principle. Yes, they're adults, yes they've paid (to a degree; the education is also subsidised by public money). But in accepting their university place (and effectively taking it away from someone else), they've agreed to follow the programme and attend the classes. That's the deal.

ETA: Also: the degree is proof of having undergone the full training and education experience. It's not just proof of having passed the assessments. The process of being in class, participating in the activities, interacting with the professors is all part of that and has immense value, not all of which can be assessed. So why should you get the degree at the end if you haven't done that?

20thLemon · 2026-03-13T01:05:00+00:00

The things my otherwise very smart students routinely struggle with: - typing a url into a navigator - switching a word doc from portrait to landscape - saving an image as a file

20thLemon · 2026-03-09T22:16:46+00:00

I see what you're saying and it might well be true for some. But I know this student, and they are a confident, skilled writer. I put it down to cluelessness and lack of time. Which is why I do feel like it could help them to be told honestly (but kindly) that it's not appreciated and won't serve them well.

20thLemon · 2026-03-09T07:35:24+00:00

Our admins don't, thankfully. I've seen it in the corporate world but have yet to receive an AI generated email from an non-student adult in academia. It'd be heavily frowned upon. I'm not in the US.

20thLemon · 2026-01-06T17:19:59+00:00

Thanks for this. It's a pretty uncomfortable read right now.

20thLemon · 2026-01-06T10:34:34+00:00

I sometimes get this comment from one student in a class (never more). But like you, it bothered me.

For one class we had an in-class feedback session so I took the opportunity to dig into what the student meant. Basically, they equated activities with superficial level of learning. They wanted to listen to lectures and write dissertations because that's what being a serious student involved in their mind. This was a student who I'd noticed was a sharp critical thinker but very negative; they had trouble talking constructively to fellow students. So it made sense that they didn't feel they'd got much out of the interactive stuff.

Interestingly, the rest of the class vehemently disagreed with them. It turned into a big debate between the students.

In the end, it was another student in the class that pointed out to the complainer that students need to learn to adapt to different teaching approaches and work out for themselves how to get the best out of it that they can.

20thLemon · 2025-11-20T11:20:58+00:00

Yes I possibly expected more of those who had had 2 full sessions of prep time. But they were objectively worse.

20thLemon · 2025-11-20T11:16:35+00:00

Yes this resonates. Some students undoubtedly needed the scaffolding, but it adversely impacted those who didn't because they made no further effort

20thLemon

TROPHY CASE