Abandoning Canvas
I was a Canvas promoter. I gave trainings to university instructors coming to China through the BYU Kennedy Center’s China Teachers Program. I organized a Canvas training with Macau University and delivered it in Guangdong at Shaoguan Polytechnic University. I even wrote a blog post about it in 2025, praising its features. I used Canvas in trainings at the China Export and Credit Insurance company as well as the Three Gorges Corporation. I managed about two dozen courses on Canvas at Beijing Language and Culture University, China Agricultural University’s MBA program, and even Peking University. I was, unmistakably, a Canvas disciple and power user.
Now, I view my use of Canvas with deep regret.
Instructure’s management team shocked me—and the entire educational community. They unilaterally and permanently shut down the entire system, taking with it all course materials, assessments, exams, attendance records, and grades for thousands of teachers and students—in the middle of the semester.
For me, that meant the loss of 19 courses, 8 of which were in progress during Spring 2026:
Undergraduate courses:
- Introduction to Python Programming
- Advanced Python Programming
- Python Programming for Localization Engineering
- Advanced English Reading and Writing
- Advanced English Listening and Speaking
- Introduction to English-speaking Countries
- Introduction to the Localization Industry
- Management Studies
- Principles of Localization Technology
- Public Speaking
- Localization Practicum
- Computer Assisted Translation Tools
- Terminology
Graduate-level courses:
- Corpus Translation Studies
- Introduction to the Localization Industry
- Localization Project Management
- Business English
- Introduction to Jazz Piano
Professional-level courses:
- Intercultural Communication
This loss represents hundreds of hours of curriculum planning and assessment design over nearly a decade. The loss is immeasurable. I contacted Instructure support and posted on their forums. My plea, along with those of many others, was politely acknowledged, then ignored and dismissed. Others were furious. I am too. My severe disappointment with Instructure made it into my classrooms as I stood in front of my students and explained the absolutely gobsmacking situation.
“Instructure got hacked, big time. And then, they did the worst possible thing: pay off the hackers! But it gets worse: they shut off access to our courses ‘temporarily.’ Then, imagine my shock when I saw the announcement that they made the decision to shut down Canvas permanently! All my courses, all my materials, all the quizzes, and all of your grades: gone. I know, it’s shocking! Needless to say, I’m enraged about the situation. Many of you have performed speeches and given presentations, and my assessment of your performance is now lost. You’ll have to give your speech or presentation AGAIN. There’s nothing I can do about it other than apologize and commit to never go crawling back to Instructure. They betrayed my trust, and they treat their users with disdain and condescension. I will never be using Canvas again.”
This preamble was how I began each of my 8 courses during a whole week at BLCU and Peking University. Hundreds of students have now heard this common refrain:
“Instructure betrayed my trust, and I will never use Canvas again.”
Luckily, the content still resides in my head in rough form, and I have detailed lists of previously taught lessons for each course. Now, I embark on the process of re-creating my lessons and assessments from scratch. I’ve been rebuilding materials using my preferred AI agent, Cursor. For class notes, I ask the agent to design them in HTML format using Claude Opus 4.7 or 4.8, which generates fluent narrative content.
My university provides a reliable cloud file storage system for distributing class content. Microsoft Forms supports quiz creation for student assessment. My new workflow:
- Cursor for HTML class content creation
- BLCU’s cloud file storage for content distribution
- Microsoft Forms for student assessments and quizzes
I’ll need to scramble to recreate all my content and assessments before the semester ends. It will be a grueling task, but I’ll be fine.