Students at Lorain County Community College in Elyria awoke Monday morning to discover that their online learning portal, Canvas, was unreliable or entirely inaccessible. The disruption was tied to a major cloud services outage early Monday morning and compounded by local connectivity issues.
According to the official Canvas status page, the system experienced problems due to an ongoing Amazon Web Services (AWS) incident that began around 3 a.m. EDT in the US-EAST-1 region. The outage caused slowness and errors for dozens of widely used online platforms, including Canvas. Many students reported long load times, inability to submit assignments, or difficulty accessing course materials.
The outage stemmed from cloud infrastructure issues in the AWS region that handles much of the eastern United States. Its storage and database systems experienced high error rates, triggering service failures for multiple companies that rely on AWS to host their platforms.
At Lorain County Community College, the disruption prevented many students and faculty from reliably accessing online content, uploading assignments, or participating in virtual sessions. With many colleges depending on Canvas for remote and hybrid instruction, the incident highlighted the vulnerability of cloud-based education systems when large providers experience technical failures.
Tracy Green, Vice President for Strategic and Institutional Development at Lorain County Community College, released the following statement:
“Like many across the country, Lorain County Community College is being affected by the major Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage that began earlier today. Students and faculty may experience long load times or errors when accessing course materials on Canvas, the cloud-based learning management system used by LCCC and many other colleges. The college is in close communication with AWS and Canvas as they work to resolve the issue.”
The statement was provided by Kim Carrasquillo, Manager of Marketing and Communications at LCCC.
Because LCCC’s online learning systems depend on a cloud platform affected by the outage, students may continue to experience delays even if the college’s local network remains functional. Students are encouraged to check for updates from instructors and the LCCC Help Desk regarding any adjustments to assignment deadlines or class schedules.
While the outage originated with Amazon’s cloud infrastructure, its ripple effect reached directly into classrooms and homes throughout Lorain County. LCCC officials continue to monitor the situation as Amazon and Canvas work to restore full service.