Ameritech Canvas Redesign
From January 2020 to September 2020, Ameritech College of Healthcare (now Joyce University) went through a complete redesign of their canvas LMS interface. I was responsible for the design and implementation.
Problem:
Poor usability caused extraneous cognitive load and increased student frustration
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Courses consistency were unstandardized
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Nonintuitive organization caused student confusion and frustration
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Key information was not displayed in an easily accessible way
Goal:
Redesign Canvas in a way that allows for students to
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Easily access important information, assignments and course dates
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Intuitively navigate the course without instruction
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Progress through modules in a intuitive manner
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Eliminate cognitive dissonance between courses
Design Journey
As we were planning how to redesign Canvas, we approached it through the eyes of the user. What is their journey? Then we went through each phase of how a student would access Canvas to make it more functional, useable, and attractive.
The first thing the student accesses in the canvas course is the homepage. The original homepage was nonintuitive. When a student first signs in, there is no clear directive on what they need to do.
The first thing the student accesses is the homepage. The original homepage was nonintuitive. When a student first signs in, there is no clear directive on what they need to do.
This was not a proper landing/home page. It does not introduce the course or allow for navigation. It was an instructor contact page.
The overall home page was unattractive. There were large amounts of white space, and information was poorly aligned.
The new homepage I designed has the course code, name and banner image to make the course clearly distinguishable from others and visually appealing.
Links to weekly modules were included to simplify navigation in a standardized format for all courses.
A more resources tab was included that allowed students to link to other vital college systems: the student portal, the IT help desk, and student services.
Easy access links for vital information were added to encourage students to explore.
Prior to the redesign, every class had a unique modules format.
Courses had varying numbers of modules. A dramatic example was one course had 30 modules while others had 3. This led to inconsistency between courses and increased cognitive dissonance for students navigating between multiple classes. Standard weekly modules were implemented to improve consistency, reduce memory recall for assignments, and improve overall usability.
The next place in the student journey is the announcements page. Prior to the redesign, announcements were not being communicated to students. After the redesign, it was expected that every course had a weekly announcement. Announcements would include:
--Introduction
-Class and other recordings
-Weekly calendar
-Instructor contact information
-Access to additional resources
The calendar was included to allow students a simple, succinct way to view all course events happening that week.
Instead of putting instructor and contact information in a module/front page, I decided it was better to include it in each of the weekly announcements. That way students have repeated reminders and an easily accessible way to contact the instructor.
The next part of Canvas the student would access is the modules section. Before the redesign, modules were not standardized. This led to variations between courses.
Modules did not have a complete expectation of what the student should do. For example, this module lists the only class preparation as viewing the website. In reality, it was expected students did preparatory work and readings as well.
The list of module headers were non linear. They were not based on due dates or assignment category. If a student was navigating through the module using page view, they would be forced to backtrack. Overall, it was not efficiently organized.
Modules were redesigned to include learning objectives and subject topics. Banner images were included to make the module have less white space and be visually appealing.
Navigation bars were included in each page of the module to allow students to easily navigate and allow for greater user control.
Modules assignments and headers were reorganized to allow students to navigate in modules with intentional linear progression.
Each module starts with a learning header, this outlines all the intended educational activities for students.
The assignment headers lists any work that is not a quiz or an exam.
The assessments header lists all formal quizzes and exams.
The lecture page includes pre recorded lectures, PowerPoints, or other key learning materials all compacted in a single area.
The reading and other resources page lists reading assignments such as textbook chapters, additional reading and other multi media sources.
The last page students access is the syllabus. Syllabi material and information stayed the same. The biggest change was the layout. Changes were made to make information easier to view, more attractively laid out and more intuitive.
