The vendor for Canvas, the cloud-based learning management system that powers Carmen, uses industry-standard management processes and cloud-computing infrastructure powered by Amazon Web Services.

Canvas data is backed up redundantly (every day). In case of emergency or disaster, data is recovered from Amazon servers or from Canvas’ off-site backup.

We cannot guarantee that individual data can be restored. It is the instructor's responsibility, as well as a highly recommended best practice, to maintain a current copy of critical course and content files outside the system at all times.

See Back Up Carmen Data for instructions on creating backups of Carmen course and student data.

See also reference to Retention of Student Data and Courses.

Disk Space and File Storage

The eLearning Support team is invested in making sure that Carmen runs smoothly and quickly for all users. Toward that goal, we monitor file sizes in Carmen and may work with faculty whose courses hold large files in order to look for alternative solutions.

Following are basic guidelines for determining when files should be optimized or hosted outside of Carmen:

• Word, PowerPoint and, PDF files should always be optimized before being uploaded to Carmen. 
• Most audio and video files should be hosted elsewhere. Use the Canvas Media Comment tool to create short, timely videos in specific courses.

See File Storage and Quotas in Carmen for file optimization and alternative storage solutions.