• Online Learning Experience

  • Many aspects of online learning are similar to what you are used to experiencing in a traditional classroom — but with the added benefit of engaging with new technologies and enjoying the flexibility to learn and study on a much more flexible schedule.

    To deliver online classes, The New School uses a combination of the Canvas Learning Management System and, occasionally, Zoom video conferencing. Appropriate integrated digital platforms — such as Adobe Creative Suite, collaborative whiteboarding platforms, and advanced music composition software — are used for specific areas of study, ensuring that you stay ahead of industry digital trends.

    Online courses at The New School are developed by our faculty, with a focus on creating a learning experience that maximizes the benefits of our digital platforms and offers scheduling flexibility. Because online and on-campus programs confer exactly the same degrees and credentials, and have the same curricula and faculty, the goals and outcomes of the  two delivery models are one and the same. 

    Personalized Engagement

    Every one of the university’s online degree and certificate courses relies on small class size and direct interaction between students and faculty. This personalized instruction is carefully developed to allow you to learn and succeed while fulfilling your professional and personal commitments and participate on a flexible schedule from anywhere in the world.

    You also benefit from innovative video content that grants you uncommon access to industry resources and experts — a look behind the scenes at a New York fashion manufacturer, a personal tour of a media production studio, an opportunity to participate in a 360-degree exploration of a new product prototype.

    Learning Formats

    New School faculty use both asynchronous (self-paced) and synchronous (live/real-time) engagement in online classes to adapt to the needs of their area of study. 

    • Self-paced asynchronous engagement may include recorded lectures, discussions, student collaboration, and interviews with industry leaders. 

    • Real-time synchronous sessions are led by course instructors and feature active exchanges, presentations, and community-building. 

    This combination of learning formats creates active student cohorts and a network of scholars and practitioners who are in every way New School students.

    Canvas Learning Management System

    The video below uses a sample online course — Design Innovation and Leadership within the MS Strategic Design and Management program at Parsons — to give you an insider look at how lectures, reading materials, assignments, real-time videoconferences, and discussion boards are organized within the Canvas learning management system.  

  • Technical Requirements

    Since flexibility is key to our online courses, all that you will need to access coursework is a modern computer with a webcam and a stable internet connection. With these, you may participate fully in a course wherever in the world you may be. Many course elements may even be engaged from a smartphone. To view specific requirements for two of our primary learning platforms, please reference these pages:

  • Take The Next Step

Submit your application

Undergraduates

To apply to any of our undergraduate programs (except the Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs) complete and submit the Common App online.

Undergraduate Adult Learners

To apply to any of our Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs, complete and submit the New School Online Application.

Graduates

To apply to any of our Master's, Doctoral, Professional Studies Diploma, and Graduate Certificate programs, complete and submit the New School Online Application.

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