FC: Massive Canvas system collapse?

[PSU Mike]

No posts on this? @WTNuke

Cyberattack shutters Canvas learning platform for schools across the U.S.

A system that thousands of schools and universities use was offline due to a cyberattack.

www.cbsnews.com

 

[MtNittany]

PSU should obviously hire more administrators to look after these details that were previously farmed out - in case this happens again.

 

[Midnighter]

PSU should obviously hire more administrators to look after these details that were previously farmed out - in case this happens again.

This appears to be a nationwide problem; what did PSU do differently than everyone else?

 

[LionJim]

PSU should obviously hire more administrators to look after these details that were previously farmed out - in case this happens again. /s

Fixed.

 

[WTNuke]

No posts on this? @WTNuke

Cyberattack shutters Canvas learning platform for schools across the U.S.

A system that thousands of schools and universities use was offline due to a cyberattack.

www.cbsnews.com

LOL. It's pretty bad.

 

[LionJim]

Anything minimally invasive will have a huge impact. The students’s grades are in there, everything. My school used Blackboard and I never used a backup, a breach is not something you plan for.

 

[WTNuke]

Anything minimally invasive will have a huge impact. The students’s grades are in there, everything. My school used Blackboard and I never used a backup, a breach is not something you plan for.

I knew some of the grades, and I could piece some stuff together, but for classes over 80 students this is unworkable. Just have to wait!

 

[LionJim]

I knew some of the grades, and I could piece some stuff together, but for classes over 80 students this is unworkable. Just have to wait!

An in-hindsight fix: take weekly screenshots of the gradebook.

 

[MtNittany]

If previous exam/quiz grades are lost, just ask the students individually. "Honestly now, what did you score on that midterm?"

 

[WTNuke]

An in-hindsight fix: take weekly screenshots of the gradebook.

Oh yeah. Absolutely in my plans from now on to download the most recent gradebook on Fridays and have it as a CSV file on my work comp.

 

[LionJim]

Oh yeah. Absolutely in my plans from now on to download the most recent gradebook on Fridays and have it as a CSV file on my work comp.

Well, congratulations on another semester done. One of the things I really liked about the job is that twice a year I had the opportunity to start fresh.

 

[LionJim]

If previous exam/quiz grades are lost, just ask the students individually. "Honestly now, what did you score on that midterm?"

/s?

 

[WTNuke]

Well, congratulations on another semester done. One of the things I really liked about the job is that twice a year I had the opportunity to start fresh.

I teach summers too, so I get to start fresh 3 times a year

 

[bbrown]

This appears to be a nationwide problem; what did PSU do differently than everyone else?

+1. My sister told me it happened in Lewisville, TX as well.

 

[bbrown]

No posts on this? @WTNuke

Cyberattack shutters Canvas learning platform for schools across the U.S.

A system that thousands of schools and universities use was offline due to a cyberattack.

www.cbsnews.com

 

[BobPSU92]

No posts on this? @WTNuke

Cyberattack shutters Canvas learning platform for schools across the U.S.

A system that thousands of schools and universities use was offline due to a cyberattack.

www.cbsnews.com

From the article:

”CBS News has reached out to Instructure for comment. Late Thursday night, Instructure posted to a status log that Canvas was "now available for most users."”

I noticed last night that psu.edu had a Canvas outage notice at the top of the webpage. As of this posting, that notice has not been updated.

 

[BobPSU92]

How the Canvas hack went down:

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[LionJim]

Well, f me. Absolutely the necessary step to take but boy that’s a reaming.

It’s already an anxious time for students and parents and their BP is way up there. Parents will be inundating the department offices and deans offices with emails and phone calls, believe you me.

 

[LionJim]

Well, congratulations on another semester done. One of the things I really liked about the job is that twice a year I had the opportunity to start fresh.

Said for the 100th time here: I loved my job. Teaching 400-level math such as, for example, Non-Euclidean Geometry, in American Sign Language, that was bliss. I was damn good, took me about 20 years to get to “damn good” but after that it was gravy.

 

[BobPSU92]

Seems like PSU needs a DATA. CENTER. to back up academic data.

 

[WTNuke]

Seems like PSU needs a DATA. CENTER. to back up academic data.

They have one. We have access to our Canvas data from Wednesday evening on another site.

 

[IrishHerb]

Well, congratulations on another semester done. One of the things I really liked about the job is that twice a year I had the opportunity to start fresh.

Some schools use the quarter system, so get to start fresh 3 times a year.

 

[IrishHerb]

Anything minimally invasive will have a huge impact. The students’s grades are in there, everything. My school used Blackboard and I never used a backup, a breach is not something you plan for.

You used Blackboard. I remember it from back when I was still teaching, but never used it. Used to keep all my grades in a program I developed and ran on the PC I had that was running LINUX. Backed up data daily.

 

[kgilbert78]

You used Blackboard. I remember it from back when I was still teaching, but never used it. Used to keep all my grades in a program I developed and ran on the PC I had that was running LINUX. Backed up data daily.

Mine were kept in a grade book. Yes, I'm old. I still have it.

 

[IrishHerb]

Mine were kept in a grade book. Yes, I'm old. I still have it.

Kept mine in gradebooks too, until the last 10 or so years.

By training and education I was a mathematician. But in the later years I also got into computer science. And during those last years, I moved from normal PCs to machines that ran UNIX or LINUX and developed ways to post my lecture notes, assignments, and other things on line for my students. Also developed programs to keep my grades and other things.

And I'm old too. Actually retired. Taught @LionJim in college.

 

[WTNuke]

Kept mine in gradebooks too, until the last 10 or so years.

By training and education I was a mathematician. But in the later years I also got into computer science. And during those last years, I moved from normal PCs to machines that ran UNIX or LINUX and developed ways to post my lecture notes, assignments, and other things on line for my students. Also developed programs to keep my grades and other things.

And I'm old too. Actually retired. Taught @LionJim in college.

Wow.

 

[manatree]

Well, f me. Absolutely the necessary step to take but boy that’s a reaming.

It’s already an anxious time for students and parents and their BP is way up there. Parents will be inundating the department offices and deans offices with emails and phone calls, believe you me.

Correct me if I am wrong, but hasn't Penn State been mailing the actual degree a few weeks after graduation for a few years now?

 

[LionJim]

Some schools use the quarter system, so get to start fresh 3 times a year.

Penn State had quarters when I went there.

Correct me if I am wrong, but hasn't Penn State been mailing the actual degree a few weeks after graduation for a few years now?

The actual hard copy degree is just a formality, really. The instant your grades are in, bang, you’re a graduate if you satisfy the criteria. If not, not. Thing is, on the PSU academic schedule is a date for “All grades due.” You wanna try to get around that date, you’ll get your *** sued. There might be an uptick in the number of incompletes given out but if you’re due to graduate an INC will screw you.

 

[LionJim]

Penn State had quarters when I went there.

The actual hard copy degree is just a formality, really. The instant your grades are in, bang, you’re a graduate if you satisfy the criteria. If not, not. Thing is, on the PSU academic schedule is a date for “All grades due.” You wanna try to get around that date, you’ll get your *** sued. There might be an uptick in the number of incompletes given out but if you’re due to graduate an INC will screw you.

One thing Blackboard and Canvas do is enable a student to find out exactly where he stands in regards to graduation, at the click of the mouse. “To graduate you need three more credits in this category. You can take MATH XYZ or Math ABC to satisfy this requirement.” One time pre-Blackboard this student lost track of the elective courses he’d already taken and took a course he’d previously passed, a throwaway elective course. You can’t count the same course twice, he had to put off graduation, very awkward when the parents found out.

 

[manatree]

One thing Blackboard and Canvas do is enable a student to find out exactly where he stands in regards to graduation, at the click of the mouse. “To graduate you need three more credits in this category. You can take MATH XYZ or Math ABC to satisfy this requirement.” One time pre-Blackboard this student lost track of the elective courses he’d already taken and took a course he’d previously passed, a throwaway elective course. You can’t count the same course twice, he had to put off graduation, very awkward when the parents found out.

That is a really good feature and would have loved to have something similar when I was a student. My first semester I took Math 110 (Techniques of Calculus I) because my advisor insisted that it was required. Come December I was talking with the one AdminAsst in the Department office and she showed me the documentation that I just needed six credits of ANY math courses. After that I would talk to the AdminAssts about my next semester schedule before I would try and schedule via touch tone phone.

”Get to know the Admin Assistants” is still the most important piece of advice that I can give to any college student.

 

[WTNuke]

One thing Blackboard and Canvas do is enable a student to find out exactly where he stands in regards to graduation, at the click of the mouse. “To graduate you need three more credits in this category. You can take MATH XYZ or Math ABC to satisfy this requirement.” One time pre-Blackboard this student lost track of the elective courses he’d already taken and took a course he’d previously passed, a throwaway elective course. You can’t count the same course twice, he had to put off graduation, very awkward when the parents found out.

How does one even do that? How do you forget that you've already taken a course?

 

[LionJim]

" How does one even do that? How do you forget that you've already taken a course?"

Fixed, me saying exactly this to the student:

 

[PSU Mike]

One thing Blackboard and Canvas do is enable a student to find out exactly where he stands in regards to graduation, at the click of the mouse. “To graduate you need three more credits in this category. You can take MATH XYZ or Math ABC to satisfy this requirement.” One time pre-Blackboard this student lost track of the elective courses he’d already taken and took a course he’d previously passed, a throwaway elective course. You can’t count the same course twice, he had to put off graduation, very awkward when the parents found out.

WTF at that age would forget they took CRSE XYZ?

Edit: Rookie mistake - didn’t read to end before replying. WTF does that, Michael?

 

[LionJim]

My daughter is working on her BSN and she tells us that Canvas is back online, seems to be working fine.

 

[Bkmtnittany1]

The Phyrst is having Stella’s at half price to help the students and their grief!

 

[manatree]

How does one even do that? How do you forget that you've already taken a course?

Fixed, me saying exactly this to the student:

My former supervisor's husband is an Altoona math professor that is finally retiring in June after many moons. He still has the craziest student story that I have ever heard. About ten years ago one of his students didn't show for his final. I believe it was scheduled for ten or eleven AM. Later that afternoon while he is in his office grading, the kid shows up and proceeds to tell him that he was too drunk to take the final and wanted to take a makeup. After being told no, the student went to two other folks up the chain and was denied by them as well. I realize that honesty is the best policy, but c'mon.

 

[manatree]

My daughter is working on her BSN and she tells us that Canvas is back online, seems to be working fine.

We got the notification that PSU's Canvas was back up at around 1:30 this afternoon, but there were still some other systems that connect with Canvas (like the public printers) that had not been restored yet. You could still print, just not directly from Canvas.

 

[ThePennsyOracle]

How does one even do that? How do you forget that you've already taken a course?

It happens a couple times a year in my role. It’s unbelievable.

 

[Bkmtnittany1]

Seems like PSU needs a DATA. CENTER. to back up academic data.

Connor Stallions has got this!