On Monday morning, October 20, students logged into Canvas as they normally do. This time, they were met with an error page featuring robots repairing a rocket, declaring Canvas — the online tool for classes, assignments, and grades — was down “due to an ongoing AWS incident.”
AWS is Amazon Web Services, the nation’s leading cloud host. Amazon’s cloud infrastructure technology supports much of the internet and everyday online tools, accounting for about a third of the market. Websites and apps across the world are affected, including Snapchat, Amazon’s own RIng doorbell cameras, Roblox and Canva.
And Canvas.
🚨 Important Update 🚨
We are experiencing a service disruption affecting #CanvasLMS due to a widespread Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage impacting multiple organizations globally.
Our teams are closely monitoring AWS’s recovery efforts and will restore full functionality as…
— Canvas by Instructure (@Canvas_by_Inst) October 20, 2025
The outage began late Sunday night on the West Coast. Monday morning, the outage still persisted, leaving about 7,000 institutions across the nation unable to access assignments, grades and course materials.
And midterms are approaching.
The Las Positas campus community was informed about the “widespread AWS issue” shortly after 8 a.m. in an email from Kathleen King, the school’s IT coordinator. MyPortal and Class-WEB are unaffected by this outage.
Students are left in the dark, many locked out from necessary information for study and exams. Asynchronous classes are impacted by the outage. Professors are scrambling to adjust their plans without their digital right-hand. Instructors and students have been directed by King to communicate now only via email and regularly check status updates on Instructure Status.
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TOP PHOTO: Students across the nation tried to log onto Canvas. But the critical web services wasn’t available due to a major outage with Amazon. (Archive photo)
Camille Leduc is the Managing Editor of The Express. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, @CLeduc7603.
