Canvas, the learning management system Eastern Michigan University uses for instruction, is currently down due to a widespread Amazon Web Services outage.
AWS is the cloud computing division of Amazon that provides web services for private and public clients. AWS is experiencing an operational issue affecting multiple services, the company reported on the AWS service health dashboard. A status update said Amazon had narrowed down the source of the network connectivity issues, attributing it to a subsystem responsible for monitoring network load.
“We have taken additional mitigation steps to aid the recovery of the underlying internal subsystem responsible for monitoring the health of our network load balancers and are now seeing connectivity and API recovery for AWS services,” the dashboard update reported at 9:13 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time (12:13 p.m. Eastern Standard Time) on Monday, Oct. 20, 2025.
At 2:51 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 20, 2025, EMU issued a campus-wide update to students, faculty and lecturers via email, confirming that Canvas is currently the only known system on EMU's campus affected by the AWS incident.
"People throughout the morning have reported issues with the system being slow and unresponsive," the statement said. "Neither AWS or Canvas/Instructure have posted an anticipated time for resolution of the issue."
Instructure, the parent company of Canvas, is monitoring the situation following the AWS outage, said JP Schuerman, vice president of global communications for Instructure, in a written statement shared with The Eastern Echo.
"We are currently experiencing a service disruption affecting the Instructure platform (including Canvas and Mastery) due to a widespread outage at Amazon Web Services (AWS). This issue is impacting multiple organizations globally,” the company said in the statement, which was shared with Instructure customers. “Our teams are closely monitoring AWS’s recovery efforts and will restore full functionality as soon as possible.”
The disruption to Canvas services has impacted some course functions at EMU, instructors reported.
"The only issue I'm having is collecting homework," said Amanda Stype, an economics professor at EMU. "The homework that was due today — my students now get until Wednesday."
Stype said she stores her notes and lecture slides outside of Canvas, so she doesn't expect a disruption to teaching her class today.
Dave Pawlowski, physics instructor at EMU, said he uses Canvas for all three of the classes he teaches. He said he has been able to adapt to the disruption without too much of an effect on his approach to teaching, but some aspects of his work, such as grading, have been impacted.
"I wasn't able to do some of the grading that I was hoping to do because I use Canvas to host assignments, so that was postponed a little bit," Pawlowski said. So far, homework assignment deadlines for Pawlowski's classes haven't been impacted, but may have to be adjusted depending on how long the AWS issue takes to resolve.
For hourly updates on the situation, users can visit the AWS service health dashboard. Users can also check the Instructure status page and EMU IT status page for updates.
The Canvas Help Desk is available to answer questions, said a campus-wide email from EMU. Students can reach the help desk at 844-326-6322 and instructors can reach the help desk at 833-277-2150.
This is a developing story. Check back with The Eastern Echo for updates.
Editor's Note: This story was updated at 12:49 p.m. Oct. 20, 2025, to include additional status updates from the AWS dashboard. This story was updated at 4:10 p.m. on Oct. 20, 2025 to include information from a campus-wide email sent from the Eastern Michigan University, as well as information from EMU instructors.
