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Last week, access to the Canvas learning management system was abruptly cut off for thousands of user institutions when its parent company, Instructure, was the victim of a cyberattack. As this CNN article about the event describes, for many college students in the middle of preparing for or even taking their final exams, "the disruption landed at the worst possible moment." With most courses disseminating content through Canvas sites, students found themselves without access to study materials such as readings and slide decks, and communication through Canvas messaging or announcements was unavailable. Furthermore, online final exams scheduled to be delivered through the Canvas platform were completely unavailable. As Instructure worked to get back online and IT departments took extra time to make sure their firewalls were intact, students and instructors were forced to pivot in a myriad of ways.
What a moment this was for discovering the value of durable, or transferable, skills. In the past week, I saw students, instructors, and staff engaging many of the top "attributes employers seek on a candidate's resume" as found by the Job Outlook 2025 Survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges + Employers (NACE) — problem-solving skills, teamwork, communication skills, initiative, and flexibility/adaptability. As I was still meeting with students over that time, I found myself asking questions like these:
- How else can you communicate with your professor or other students?
- Where else can you access your study materials?
- What other reliable content could you study, and how can you find it?
- How can you adjust your schedule to accommodate rescheduled final exams?
- Whom can you contact for help?
- What aspect(s) of this problem are under your control?
As an academic coach, I hope that students can see this moment as an example of how they can apply their durable skills, rather than dismissing it as a one-off aberration. Going forward, I plan to encourage students to recall their actions in the face of this challenge, and to see them as evidence of problem-solving capacity, flexibility, initiative, and other attributes that will fuel their current and future success.
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Explore which course is right for you at www.lifebound.com.
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