Canvas at Fresno State

Canvas Continuity Planning for Faculty

As a precaution to the recent Canvas interruptions, all faculty are strongly encouraged to go to their course(s) on Canvas and export the entire course gradebook(s) frequently, as well as any ungraded assignments and upload them to your Fresno State Google Drive. You may monitor any Canvas updates on the CSU Canvas Incident Report page. Additionally, there is a Fresno State Canvas Incident page that will have the latest campus updates.

Below are some additional resources you can leverage in the event of another Canvas interruption.

Communication with Students

If Canvas service is interrupted, faculty teaching courses with an online final assessment should communicate with students using the most reliable approved channel available, such as institutional email.

To locate the email addresses for a class roster:

  1. Login to MyFresnoState
  2. Select Faculty Self Service
  3. Select Class Roster
  4. Select All Students on a Roster
  5. Click Email All or copy emails to Gmail.

Each instructor should send students a brief course-specific message explaining:

  • Whether the final exam or assignment will proceed, be modified, or cancelled.
  • How students will receive exam instructions or prompts.
  • How students should submit work.
  • What deadline changes, if any, apply.
  • How students should request accommodations or report access problems.
  • That students should retain copies of all submitted work.

The Student Health and Counseling Center remains available to support students who may be experiencing emotional or mental health challenges during these difficult times. We encourage any student in need of guidance, care, or a confidential space to connect with our counseling services by calling 559-278-2734.

Assignment Submission Process

If assignments cannot be submitted through Canvas, faculty should use one of the following approved alternatives:

  • Institutional email submission.
  • Approved Google Drive upload.
  • In-person paper submission.
  • Approved survey or form tool such as a Google Form, only if secure and appropriate.

Recommended submission protocol:

  • Use a consistent file naming format, such as: CourseNumber_Section_LastName_FirstName_Final.
  • Require students to submit from their official university email account.
  • Students should be told to keep copies of sent emails and submitted files.
  • Late penalties should be suspended or modified if the outage affects submission ability.

Grading Without Canvas

If the Canvas gradebook is unavailable, faculty should download or reconstruct available grade records only from approved sources. Faculty may need to use:

  • Previously exported Canvas gradebooks, if available.
  • Personal grade records maintained by the instructor.
  • Returned graded assignments.
  • Student-submitted copies of prior graded work, when appropriate.
  • Recent Canvas exported gradeswill be distributed by each dean's office. 
  • Faculty should not store gradebooks on personal, unsecured devices or platforms.

Required practices:

  • Use a secure, password-protected grade spreadsheet.
  • Record only necessary information.
  • Keep a change log for any reconstructed grades.
  • Note which grades were affected by the outage.
  • Do not email full grade rosters.
  • Delete duplicate files from temporary locations according to institutional records-retention and data-security rules.

Extensions, Incompletes, and Student Accommodations

Recommended temporary policy in the event that Canvas outages impact assignment submissions:

  • Faculty may extend final exam or assignment deadlines without penalty.
  • Students unable to complete work because of the outage may receive a reasonable extension.
  • Incomplete grades may be used when appropriate and consistent with policy.
  • Disability accommodations remain in effect.
  • Students should not be disadvantaged because Canvas, online proctoring, digital textbooks, or embedded course tools are unavailable.
  • Faculty should consult disability services if an alternative assessment affects approved accommodations.

Recordkeeping and Documentation

Faculty should maintain records of:

  • Student communications.
  • Revised final exam or assignment instructions.
  • Submitted student work.
  • Grading rubrics or modified grading criteria.
  • Grade calculations.
  • Extension requests.
  • Students unable to complete work because of the outage.
  • Any deviations from the original syllabus or Canvas course design.
  • Departments and colleges should maintain a summary of course-level disruptions for institutional records.

Submitting Grades

Final grades should be submitted through the standard process in PeopleSoft:

  1. Log into My Fresno State.
  2. Click on the Faculty Self Service.
  3. Click on the Faculty Center.
  4. Ensure that the appropriate term is listed. If not, click change term button to select a different term. 
  5. Click on the Grade Roster icon  of the appropriate class. 
  6. Note: Grade Rosters are usually made available during the last two weeks of the semester.
  7. Enter a Grade for each student by selecting a letter grade from the Roster Grade drop-down. 
  8. Save often while entering the grades by clicking the SAVE button. This will ensure that your entries are saved in case you lose your network
  9. connection or your computer crashes.
  10. Verify that each student has a grade and click on SAVE button.
  11. Change the Approval Status field to Approved and click the SAVE button 
    Note: If you need to change a grade right after you submitted them, just change the approval status to Not Reviewed and change the grade.
  12. Click on Save, then change the approval status to Approved
  13. Once the system has recorded your Approved grades, an e-mail will be sent to your faculty e-mail address indicating a successful roster save. If you do not receive this e-mail, it is possible you may have missed a step when submitting your grades.