Options for when Canvas is down

Summary

Options for when Canvas is down

Body

The following are options in case Canvas is not operational.

Communication

Every course has an email address that reaches all enrolled students. 

[4 character department][4 digit course number + 1 character section]-[1 character + 2 digit year for term]@middlebury.edu

For example, the American Studies course, AMST 0700A offered in Spring of 2026 would have the following email. AMST0700A-S26@middlebury.edu

Share or collect materials

Email

Email is the simplest option. Students can email assignments directly to the instructor. 

Provide students with a clear email subject line and file naming convention (e.g., Last-name-FINAL-SP2026) to help you sort and store submissions. 

Downsides: no timestamp verification beyond the email header, inbox clutter, easy to lose track of submissions, attachment size limits.

Google Drive/Microsoft 365

Students can share a document, folder, or file with the faculty member. Faculty can also share content with a single student or the entire class. 

MiddFiles

All courses have MiddFiles folders which can be used to share content and contain a dropbox folder for student submissions. Off-campus access will require a VPN connection. You can read more about MiddFiles here.

Details

Details

Article ID: 901
Created
Fri 5/8/26 1:43 PM