Canvas Experience:
Redesigning student and faculty experiences with Canvas
Conducting extensive user research on the Dartmouth community's experiences with Canvas as a Learning Management System and designing a pilot program for students to serve as Canvas Consultants.
Learning Design and Innovation, Dartmouth College
20 weeks
Sep 2024 - Mar 2025
EdTech
User Research
Data Analysis
Systems Thinking
Policy Design
UX Researcher
Design Thinking Consultant
Four Designers
Challenge
Canvas is a widely used Learning Management System (LMS) at Dartmouth, playing a crucial role in students' academic and holistic development. Dartmouth faculty use Canvas inconsistently, leading to student frustration
There are no standardized expectations for site organization across courses.
Some faculty prioritize their own convenience over student experience
This creates disparity in learning experiences: while some students may learn to adapt, others, like those with learning disabilities and accessibility needs, may be pushed further behind.
Uneven student experiences in the academic sphere can extend beyond the classroom, affecting overall performance and well-being.
Project Overview
We were tasked to evaluate and make suggestions for improving the student experience with Canvas as Dartmouth College's primary LMS, utilized by over 6,000 undergraduates.
To create a more equitable learning environment, we must improve the student Canvas experience by implementing Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles and promote accessible education.
1
Conduct extensive user research
We conducted primary research with 50+ students and 10+ faculty members, and secondary research with 10 peer institutions.
2
Learn what's working and what's not
We synthesized research findings, analyzing quantitative data and qualitative interview responses.
3
Curate recommended solutions
We designed a pilot program for students with work as Canvas Consultants.
Research
50+ Students
Key Takeaways:
Immense frustration at bad Canvas sites
Typically won't act on their frustration
Hesitant and cautious about offending professors, reflecting the inherent power dynamic between professors and students
10+ Professors
Key Takeaways:
Takes 1-2 whole days to get Canvas set up at the beginning of a term
No point of comparison for good and bad sites
Typically won't hear student complaints
Strategy
Since we weren't able to redesign the platform, we zoomed out. Canvas itself wasn't what needed fixing, it was the culture of course setup.
Our key vision was, what if students could work directly with professors to improve their Canvas pages?
We developed a service design proposal: a pilot program where trained student workers are matched with faculty to improve course sites. These students would work behind the scenes to reorganize content, fix links, ensure due dates are accurate, and improve overall usability.
To inform the design of this program, we explored five core challenges.
Challenge 1
How do we get students involved?
Through interviews and secondary research, we conducted an internal competitive analysis of other student worker roles. We mapped out job incentives to help us align the role with what students actually care about,
College students are open to the idea of this role, especially if it is
Paid
Impactful
Skill-building
Understanding Incentives Workshop
We interviewed students about the on campus jobs they currently have and why they chose to work there.
Challenge 2
What role do professors play?
We interviewed professors to understand their hesitations. Many expressed Canvas as a personal space, and most had never even seen another professor's Canvas site before.
From this, we realized the program had to be:
Opt-in
Flexible in how much control the professor wanted
Centered on collaboration, not evaluation
We conducted an external competitive analysis to look into how other institutions had programs of student-professor collaboration. Drawing inspiration from Northwestern's EdTech Fellows program, we built in a structure where students and professors co-create the course site vision together at the start, then work towards it with iterative support.
Challenge 3
How do we navigate power dynamics?
This was one of our most important considerations.
Many students felt uncomfortable giving direct feedback to professors, especially if they weren't comfortable or didn't see themselves as having "authority." Through interviews, we learned this discomfort can furthermore be affected by the students' mix of personality, privilege, and past academic experiences.
To mitigate this, we proposed:
Training for students on how to give constructive, design-focused objective feedback
Using visual examples of strong Canvas pages
Giving professors the final say, but starting from a shared vision
Requiring at least two meetings to build trust and ensure alignment
Challenge 4
What does the timeline look like?
We A/B tested different formats for the job
2-day sprint
2-week sprint
10-week term-long project
Students overwhelmingly preferred the 2-week model, which offered flexibility without sacrificing momentum. This became our suggestion for the pilot
Challenge 5
What do people gain from this?
In order for this program to be successful, it needed to be valuable for everyone involved
Students gain:
Real experience with user-centered design and course UX
Skills in negotiation, collaboration, and project management
A chance to improve something they use directly
Professors gain:
Better-organized, more accessible course sites
More consistent experiences for students across classes
LDI gains:
A scalable model to support Canvas improvement
Expanded reach through student collaboration
A way to promote accessibility without imposing top-down mandates
Reflection
This project taught me the importance of desiging systems, not just interfaces. I can make pixel-perfect and user-centered platforms but without the proper organizational structures, an platform could be used totally incorrectly.
Ultimately, this was about recognizing that better learning experiences don't always start with better tools, but with really understanding how to support people with better communicatoin and co-creation.