At Cosumnes River College, our LMS has been our emergency backup to maintain the continuity of instruction when campus has been closed. For those who teach online, the LMS is the campus and the medium through which teaching occurs and learning is documented. Due to the May 2026 Instructure security incident, we now have experience with the failure of that emergency backup and the closure of those classrooms. Our spring 2026 finals week begins May 15, so our students and instructional faculty are getting ready for the last opportunities for teaching and learning for the semester. It is reasonable for instructors and others who use the LMS to support teaching and learning to think about what we can do to protect our work from this type of disruption. What can individual instructors do?
These options are things that can be done within the browser. This document does not cover things that can be done using API calls or browser scripts.
Canvas course and content
A Canvas course export file collects all of the course structure, Canvas tools, content pages, and files into a single file that has an .imscc extension. This file can be imported into a Canvas course on any Canvas instance. The file can also be unarchived to view its contents, which are in XML format with exceptions for content pages and files.
Note the following:
- Since each Canvas instance is different, the apps and feature options may not be the same
- Student work, grades, instructor comments, and discussion replies are not included in Canvas course export files.
- Videos that are embedded with Canvas Studio are not included in Canvas course export files.
Helpful links:
Course structure (apps, module structure, outcomes, rubrics, syllabus, settings)
This information is included in the Canvas course export file. Knowledge of XML will make finding and using this information easier. These pages can be printed or made into PDFs from the browser.
Tools (announcements, assignments, discussions, quizzes)
Instructions, prompts, quiz questions, etc. for these items are included in the Canvas course export file. Knowledge of XML will make finding and using this information easier. These pages can be printed or made into PDFs from the browser.
Canvas content pages
Content pages are included in the Canvas course export file in a specified folder. Any images or files linked from content pages are in another specified folder. These pages can be printed or made into PDFs from the browser.
Canvas files
Files are included in the Canvas course export file in a specified folder. This includes videos uploaded to or made with the Rich Content Editor video recorder.
Canvas quizzes
Both classic quizzes and New Quizzes are included in the Canvas course export file. Knowledge of XML will make finding and using this information easier. In addition, these can be separately exported:
Canvas Studio videos
Files uploaded to Canvas Studio or created using the studio recorder are not included in the Canvas course export file and must instead be downloaded separately, one video at a time, from the Studio page.
Student work and feedback
Student work, including discussion contributions, and instructor feedback are not included in a course export file.
Grades
This is probably the best thing that instructors can do to mitigate the risk in case of a disaster to the LMS. The canvas grade book can be exported by selecting that button from the grades page. Note that neither instructor comments nor rubric ratings are included in the download.
SpeedGrader comments
SpeedGrader comments on student submissions can be downloaded for one submission at a time:
Annotated comments in student submissions can be downloaded one file at a time.
Rubric assessments
If your course has the Enhanced Rubrics feature enabled, you can download all rubric assessments from the Grades page, one assignment at a time.
Student assignment submissions
Submissions to assignments can be downloaded for each assignment separately from the Grades page or each assignment’s page.
Note the following:
- The downloaded file has the same filename (submissions.zip) for each assignment.
- Only the most recent submission is included for each student.
- Each student’s name is prepended to the filename for their submission.
Helpful links:
Student quiz submissions
There are several options for downloading student quiz submissions depending on the question type and which quiz engine is being used.
- For classic quizzes, how each student answered each question is available via the Student Analysis. This must be done one quiz at a time.
- For New Quizzes, how each student answered each question is available via the Student Analysis. This must be done one quiz at a time.
- For classic quizzes, it is possible to download all files uploaded by students via File Upload quiz questions. This must be done one quiz at a time.
- For New Quizzes, files uploaded by students via File Upload quiz questions can only be downloaded one a time by viewing each student’s submission in the SpeedGrader.
Student and instructor discussion contributions
Unfortunately, there is not a download option built into canvas for these. The only option is to print the expanded threads or make them into PDFs from the browser.
Course Analytics
It is possible to download reports in Course Analytics.
