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Role: UX Research, Interaction Design Method: Moderated usability testing × 3 rounds
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Role: UX Research
Canvas REDESIGN
Canvas REDESIGN
Canvas is the dominant LMS in North America, yet through our experiences and user research we find it almost forces its users to work around it rather than with it. This project identifies where students hit friction in their day-to-day Canvas use, and proposes targeted redesigns.
Canvas is the dominant LMS in North America, yet through our experiences and user research we find it almost forces its users to work around it rather than with it. This project identifies where students hit friction in their day-to-day Canvas use, and proposes targeted redesigns.
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Overview
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Problem Statement
Problem Statement
Undergraduate students with heavy course loads lack personalized control over how their LMS organizes and alerts them to academic tasks, forcing them to rely on external tools and workarounds that still result in missed deadlines and chronic notification overload.
Undergraduate students with heavy course loads lack personalized control over how their LMS organizes and alerts them to academic tasks, forcing them to rely on external tools and workarounds that still result in missed deadlines and chronic notification overload.
// User Population
Undergraduate students managing heavy course loads on LMS systems
// User Pop
Undergraduate students managing heavy course loads on LMS systems
// Platform
Canvas LMS -- mobile app + desktop app
// Focus Area
Assignment tracking, notification controls, GPA visibility
// Focus
Assignment tracking, notification controls, GPA visibility
// North American LMS Market Share
50%
Canvas is the dominant platform in higher ed — any meaningful UX improvement reaches millions of students.
// North American LMS Market Share
50%
Canvas is the dominant platform in higher ed — any meaningful UX improvement reaches millions of students.
// North American LMS Market Share
50%
Canvas is the dominant platform in higher ed — any meaningful UX improvement reaches millions of students.
// Amount of Students Reporting Academic Stress
88%
Fragmented tools and overwhelming notifications contribute directly to cognitive overload.
// Amount of Students Reporting Academic Stress
88%
Fragmented tools and overwhelming notifications contribute directly to cognitive overload.
// Amount of Students Reporting Academic Stress
88%
Fragmented tools and overwhelming notifications contribute directly to cognitive overload.
Being the dominant LMS system used in North America, Canvas serves over 30 million students globally, with over 8,000 institutions. Beyond higher education, 38% of K-12 students in the United States also use the software. Canvas provides a system for education systems to manage courses, provide communication, and allows students to view coursework and grades online. Despite its reach, students frequently work around its limitations — maintaining separate to-do apps, ignoring notifications, or manually checking each course page just to stay on top of deadlines.
Being the dominant LMS system used in North America, Canvas serves over 30 million students globally, with over 8,000 institutions. Beyond higher education, 38% of K-12 students in the United States also use the software. Canvas provides a system for education systems to manage courses, provide communication, and allows students to view coursework and grades online. Despite its reach, students frequently work around its limitations — maintaining separate to-do apps, ignoring notifications, or manually checking each course page just to stay on top of deadlines.
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The Paint Points
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The Paint Points
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User Research
User Research
// Assignment Tracking
Fragmented To-Do System
Students cannot rely on Canvas's To-Do list — it "doesn't ever show everything." Many maintain a separate app or paper planner to compensate, increasing cognitive load and the risk of missed deadlines.
90%
of student Canvas sessions spent just checking what's due
3+
views cross-referenced to find all assignments
// Notification Controls
Notification Overload
Students receive alerts for every discussion reply across all courses with no way to prioritize on mobile. The desktop supports per-course controls — the mobile app does not, causing students to ignore all notifications or miss critical ones.
0
per-course notification controls on mobile app
88%
of college students experience academic stress
// Academic Visibility
No Unified GPA View
Canvas shows grades per course but provides no aggregate GPA or "what-if" calculator. Students who want to understand their standing must calculate manually or use third-party tools — increasing stress and reducing academic agency.
50%
of higher ed LMS market — Canvas has the scale to make this matter
6M+
users supported at peak — any UX fix has outsized reach
User Interviews
User Interviews
// User Population
3
Undergraduate students managing heavy course loads on LMS systems
// User Pop
3
Undergraduate students managing heavy course loads on LMS systems
// Tasks
3
Weekly planning + notification management
// Focus
3
Weekly planning + notification management
// Pain Points
3
Tracking, notifications, fragmented navigation
// Focus
3
Tracking, notifications, fragmented navigation
Participant 1
// 6 courses · Laptop, phone, tablet
"Notifications should only fire when something meaningful happens — not every time a due date gets adjusted."
Participant 1
// 6 courses · Laptop, phone, tablet
"Notifications should only fire when something meaningful happens — not every time a due date gets adjusted."
4th year
Relied on the To-Do list but constantly cross-checked with the dashboard — once missed an assignment that appeared in one view but not the other. Discovered mid-task that Canvas mobile has no per-course notification settings, only a global toggle. Supplemented Canvas with the Notes app because the system alone wasn't enough.
4th year
Relied on the To-Do list but constantly cross-checked with the dashboard — once missed an assignment that appeared in one view but not the other. Discovered mid-task that Canvas mobile has no per-course notification settings, only a global toggle. Supplemented Canvas with the Notes app because the system alone wasn't enough.
Participant 2
// 4 courses · Laptop, phone
"I thought I'd be able to edit notifications separately inside each course — when I finally found the settings, you can only change everything at once."
Participant 2
// 4 courses · Laptop, phone
"I thought I'd be able to edit notifications separately inside each course — when I finally found the settings, you can only change everything at once."
4th year
Used both the Dashboard and Calendar to piece together a full picture of the week — neither alone was sufficient. During the notification task, navigated into individual courses, then the overflow menu, then global settings before finding anything — none of which offered per-course control. Expected the feature to live inside each course.
4th year
Used both the Dashboard and Calendar to piece together a full picture of the week — neither alone was sufficient. During the notification task, navigated into individual courses, then the overflow menu, then global settings before finding anything — none of which offered per-course control. Expected the feature to live inside each course.
Participant 3
// 4 courses · Laptop primarily
"You have to go through a maze to find due dates — a lot of courses are moving away from Canvas for that reason."
Participant 3
// 4 courses · Laptop primarily
"You have to go through a maze to find due dates — a lot of courses are moving away from Canvas for that reason."
4th year
Navigated course-by-course, often leaving Canvas entirely for Gradescope or course websites. Tracked due dates from memory and had missed assignments as a result. Less overwhelmed by notifications but wanted a filtering system — by type (grade change, assignment, announcement) — rather than more volume controls.
4th year
Navigated course-by-course, often leaving Canvas entirely for Gradescope or course websites. Tracked due dates from memory and had missed assignments as a result. Less overwhelmed by notifications but wanted a filtering system — by type (grade change, assignment, announcement) — rather than more volume controls.
Redesigned TO-DO LIST page
Redesigned artist page
The To-Do list was redesigned to show a weekly progress bar at the top, assignment cards with effort-level badges (High/Medium), and an inline reminder bell directly on each task card
The To-Do list was redesigned to show a weekly progress bar at the top, assignment cards with effort-level badges (High/Medium), and an inline reminder bell directly on each task card
// Lack of Progress Visibility
Users reported always feeling uncertain about how much work remained; the progress bar immediately communicates weekly completion at a glance
// Poor reminder discoverability
Users had to navigate into an assignment to set a reminder; moving the bell icon onto the card surface reduces that to a single tap without losing context
// Missing Prioritization Support
Canvas never surfaced task difficulty, but both interviewees explicitly said effort level influences what they work on first; the effort badges make that decision faster and more informed
Redesigned Notifications page
Redesigned Notifications page
The notification feed was redesigned to group alerts by date with readable course names replacing raw section codes (e.g. "COGS 127" instead of "COGS127_SP26_A00"). A master toggle was added to the per-course Manage Alerts page, allowing users to enable or disable all notifications for a course in a single tap. The "Reset to Default" button was visually demoted to a secondary style to reduce accidental taps.
The notification feed was redesigned to group alerts by date with readable course names replacing raw section codes (e.g. "COGS 127" instead of "COGS127_SP26_A00"). A master toggle was added to the per-course Manage Alerts page, allowing users to enable or disable all notifications for a course in a single tap. The "Reset to Default" button was visually demoted to a secondary style to reduce accidental taps.
// Cognitive Overload
Users described the unfiltered notification feed as overwhelming; date grouping creates visual structure that reduces the effort of scanning
// Mental model mismatch
Both user tests showed participants instinctively looked for per-course controls inside each course, so the toggle brings the control to where users already expected it
// Accidental action risk
"Save Changes" and "Reset to Default" sharing the same visual weight made destructive resets too easy to trigger by mistake
ROUND 2 USER RESULTS
ROUND 2 USER RESULTS
// User Population
3
Returning + new participants, undergraduate students
// User Pop
3
Returning + new participants, undergraduate students
// Tasks
2
To-Do List + Notification management
// Focus
2
To-Do List + Notification management
// Design Variants
2
Design A vs. Design B per feature
// Focus
2
Design A vs. Design B per feature
Participant 1
// 4 courses · Laptop, phone
"The bar is really helpful — I was always guessing how much I had left. Seeing a percentage makes it feel more manageable."
Participant 1
// 4 courses · Laptop, phone
"The bar is really helpful — I was always guessing how much I had left. Seeing a percentage makes it feel more manageable."
4th year
Preferred Design A's horizontal progress bar for readability and the inline reminder bell for speed. Used the day-by-day filter in Design B extensively, tapping through all seven days. Noted course codes like COGS107C_SP26_A00 caused friction on every card. Wanted Design A as the base with Design B's day filter added as an option.
4th year
Preferred Design A's horizontal progress bar for readability and the inline reminder bell for speed. Used the day-by-day filter in Design B extensively, tapping through all seven days. Noted course codes like COGS107C_SP26_A00 caused friction on every card. Wanted Design A as the base with Design B's day filter added as an option.
Participant 2
// 6 courses · Laptop, phone, Tablet
"When I tap Wednesday it only shows me Wednesday's stuff? Yes, that's exactly what I would want."
Participant 2
// 6 courses · Laptop, phone, Tablet
"When I tap Wednesday it only shows me Wednesday's stuff? Yes, that's exactly what I would want."
4th year
Preferred Design B overall, finding the day-by-day filter reduced overwhelm by limiting what was visible at once. Favored the circular progress indicator as more visually motivating. Wanted a course filter on the To-Do list that neither design surfaced. Found the reminder bell slightly harder to discover in Design B since it lived inside the task card rather than on its surface.
4th year
Preferred Design B overall, finding the day-by-day filter reduced overwhelm by limiting what was visible at once. Favored the circular progress indicator as more visually motivating. Wanted a course filter on the To-Do list that neither design surfaced. Found the reminder bell slightly harder to discover in Design B since it lived inside the task card rather than on its surface.
Participant 3
// 4 courses · Laptop, Phone
"I like that this design makes saving changes clearer instead of assuming clicking the back button saves the changes."
Participant 3
// 4 courses · Laptop, Phone
"I like that this design makes saving changes clearer instead of assuming clicking the back button saves the changes."
4th year
Tested the Notifications feature exclusively. Preferred Design B across the board — grouped notifications by date, timestamps on each item, and the ability to check off alerts once read. Found the Manage Alerts in Design A redundant, noting frequency checkboxes were only necessary for Reminders, not every category. Suggested integrating the To-Do List and Notifications pages to reduce friction between the two features.
4th year
Tested the Notifications feature exclusively. Preferred Design B across the board — grouped notifications by date, timestamps on each item, and the ability to check off alerts once read. Found the Manage Alerts in Design A redundant, noting frequency checkboxes were only necessary for Reminders, not every category. Suggested integrating the To-Do List and Notifications pages to reduce friction between the two features.
Lessons Learned
Lessons Learned
// FINAL TAKEAWAY
Canvas works around its users instead of with them — and students have quietly accepted that as normal. This project was a reminder that the bar for improvement does not have to be high. Most of what our participants asked for was not a new feature. It was consistency, readability, and control. When students can trust that their assignments will appear where they expect, set reminders without leaving their task list, and silence a course with a single tap, they stop compensating for the system and start relying on it. That is the difference between software students tolerate and software that genuinely supports how they learn.