Technical Troubleshooting

First-stop troubleshooting

The following troubleshooting steps can be followed by the instructional team or student experiencing problems accessing the course.

  1. Open Google, and verify the page opens. This will confirm your Internet connection is working. If the page does not open, you likely do not have Internet access.

  2. Check the following:

        • Is the course listed in "My Classes" in My ASU?

        • Is the course name hyperlinked?

  3. Next, try to open the online course materials in a different browser. To do this, open one of the browsers listed below, and then go to My ASU and click the course link in the "My Classes" area.

        • Windows: Firefox, Chrome (Internet Explorer is not recommended as a browser.)

        • Mac: Safari, Firefox, Chrome

  4. Clear the browser cache. For specific steps on how to do this, do a Google Search for "clear cache + [browser name]" and follow the instructions on one of the pages, or try Refresh Your Cache.

  5. Try logging on using the direct URL: https://canvas.asu.edu/.

  6. Check for ASU system outages at System Health.

When do I contact someone for help?

When an issue in the course is brought to your attention by a student, please take a few minutes to determine whether the problem is experienced by only a few students (indicating a possible problem with their machines or Internet access) or several students (such as a problem with a video or broken URL). The following checklist may be used to help identify the issue.

  • If a student reports a course shell problem (such as a link not working), it may not affect all students in the group/course. Please log on to the course materials and confirm that you can replicate the problem (sometimes problems are due to a browser issue), and then forward a description of the problem to the lead instructor. It is helpful to include any screenshots or supporting information.

  • If a student reports a technical problem (such as not being able to upload a document to submit it as an assignment), they can contact the ASU Experience Center. If you think that the issue is something that needs to be fixed in the course materials, please forward a description of the necessary changes to the lead instructor.

IMPORTANT: Please do not copy students on email to the lead instructor; the lead instructor will work with the instructional design team to look into the problem and report back to you so that you can communicate with the students directly as their co-instructor.

Who do I contact for help?

Course Setup

If you have a question about the course setup or a component of the course does not appear to be working correctly, please email the lead instructor. The lead instructor and instructional design team will look into the problem and get back to you as soon as possible and update you on the issue/resolution. The following are examples of potential course setup issues:

  • Course materials (instructional content, attachments, videos, URLs, assignments)

  • Discussion forums

  • Group configuration

  • Gradebook issues

  • Student access (some of these issues may need to be resolved by the ASU Experience Center)

Technical Support - General

If you need technical assistance during the course, please contact the ASU Experience Center. The contact information for the experience center is located within the "Help" link located within the Canvas Global Navigation Menu. You also may contact the ASU Experience Center through My ASU > Service Center. Support personnel are available 24/7 via phone, email, and live chat. The following are examples of issues for which you should contact the ASU Experience Center:

        • If students are unable to access a Google Drive document or spreadsheet, please send them the following message:

If you open the link and see a message that says "You need permission to access this item," this means that you are trying to access the item while logged into a non-ASU email account (such as a personal Gmail account). Because we need everyone to log onto the item using their ASURITE ID, please log out of all current Gmail accounts (personal Gmail, ASU Gmail, etc.). When you are signed out, click on the link provided in the course. This should prompt you to sign in using your ASU credentials.

    • Problems accessing the course due to a network or system outage

    • Problems with features in the course management system

        • Please first refer to the Tutorials page on this site.

Technical Support - Third Party Tools

The courses offered by Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College may use a variety of third-party tools as part of the digital learning platform to support the learning experience. Each course shell should provide information about the instructional tools or systems used in the course. Information about one specific tool is provided below.

The Digication digital portfolio is used within certain classes and programs. Digital Portfolio Help Resources are available, and students and instructors may seek support as outlined below.

Students may contact the ASU Experience Center 24/7 directly at:

    • Phone: (855) 278-5080

    • Chat: Help tab on My ASU

Instructors may contact the ASU Experience Center directly: