An Argument Against Canvas and Other LMS Use

The recent ShinyHunters Canvas hack highlights vulnerabilities in higher education infrastructure and ignited calls for educators to take protective actions. A blog post by the Digital Rhetorical Privacy Collective (DRPC) offers an example of a persuasive argument for students to analyze and includes recommendations relevant for business communication faculty.

Talk with Students about Data Ownership, Privacy, and Security
Lessons around digital citizenship and data integrity are certainly within our course objectives, although data privacy and security may be less so. Still, the breach is an opportunity to remind students about setting strong passwords, restricting personal information, and practicing skepticism to avoid phishing attempts.

Insist on Transparency and Responsible Technology Use in Classrooms
The DRPC suggests talking with students about what faculty can see and how we track student participation in an LMS. This is one of those situation when it might not be our responsibility, but we may be one of few (or the only) faculty who discuss the breach and LMS vulnerabilities with students.

Reduce, Rethink, Refuse LMS Use
Although well intentioned, blog post suggestions in these categories are rather broad. We might rethink how we use an LMS as we rethink our entire courses and pedagogy because of AI. But the recommendations to move assignments to other platforms and post the bare minimum may work for some content or some faculty but not others.

Students may have their own ideas about LMS use, including whether they would like to see more low-tech options and whether they could manage new platforms that require separate logins.

UPDATE: Students might compare that blog post to a Chronicle opinion.