In Eye on Design, Prof. Lucille Tenazas from the Parsons School of Design says that traditional design give “an education in understanding how the world works.” In other words, traditional design education teaches how to think about design.

Her argument lines up with my experience taking online courses over the last year. The courses that I took which taught tools or specific mediums, like After Effects or web design, were incredible. I've encouraged others to take them.

In contrast, both my former professor and I agreed that courses teaching design fundamentals tended to be less effective. This isn’t the fault of the course instructors! There’s just nothing that can replace the experience of staying long after class talking about design with a mentor who gives you your full attention, and wringing out the essence of a design with them through a dozen iterations.