In the first phase of this project, we wanted to understand what works well from students. We conducted many student interviews with the ultimate purpose of trying to understand how to make Canvas sites more user-friendly. Our interviews were internal primary interviews, but we also observed some external observations amongst students but also with faculty. We interviewed the Spring 2024 Canvy award winners, which provided us with lots of insight about what it takes to make a good canvas site, as well as the mindsets and motivations of these professors. We also interviewed a variety of other professors in other departments, such as Computer Science, Physics, English, History, and Economics.

In understanding our research purpose, we noted the discomforts and constraints we may face, including lack of student involvement in fear of “insulting” or “offending” a professor, as well as lack of professor involvement as they might fear being used as a bad example. As such, students and faculty may be less willing to give pure honest answers and worry about their reputation.