This Australian Student’s Experience in NYSID’s Online AAS Has Been Anything But Remote

NYSID Student Rebecca Dudley (left) with Instructor Ingrid Schneider (right)

Rebecca Dudley, an undergraduate based in Australia who is pursuing the online AAS at NYSID, flourished in Instructor Ingrid Schneider’s asynchronous DL Residential Studio I. After completing just one studio course, she was selected to present her project at Nantucket by Design 2023. She traveled all the way to the US to do so, and to meet with the NYSID teacher who has become a mentor and friend. 

It was a relatively cool August evening in New York City. The NYSID undergraduate and her instructor met for a drink at Bemelmans Bar in the Carlyle Hotel, a landmarked interior painted by Ludwig Bemelmans, the creator of the Madeline children’s books. Teachers and students at NYSID often form friendships, so this drink in the iconic New York bar would not be extraordinary, if not for the fact that the student traveled 22 hours on a plane from Sydney, Australia to be there, and the instructor flew up from her home in North Carolina. 

The undergraduate, Rebecca Dudley, is a mother of five who lives in Moss Vale, Australia. She enrolled in NYSID’s online Associate in Applied Science in Interior Design degree program, and plans to continue on to achieve the professional-level Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interior Design. Both of these undergraduate programs are offered entirely online and the BFA is accredited by CIDA. Dudley wanted to go to one of the top interior design schools in the world, but as a caretaker of five children, the youngest of whom is four, she needed to study from home, and she required maximum flexibility. She believes that Australia’s design programs have a new-world sensibility, so she was looking for a contrast: “a program with a real focus on understanding design history.” She did her research and settled on NYSID. 

Last Spring, Dudley took the asynchronous DL Residential Studio I. Asynchronous learning allows one to learn on their own schedule, with assignments due within a certain timeframe. Dudley was lucky enough to take this course with NYSID alumna Ingrid Schneider ‘89 (BFA), a practicing designer who began teaching at NYSID in 1990. After Schneider moved to North Carolina with her family, Ellen Fisher, NYSID’s Dean and VP for Academic Affairs, asked her to teach asynchronous online courses for NYSID, beginning in 2016. Schneider has been part of the process as the College has refined and perfected its DL studios over the course of many years. She has learned to break the design process into steps, tangible tasks that are due each week. She has mastered the teaching technique of using a “process and revision tab,” which allows students to upload a task midway through the week and ask questions when they are halfway through. “The result has been incredible. I can leave the personalized 5-minute recordings and use a program called Screencastomatic to point to things in their projects in the way I would in a live class,” Schneider says, “My students are not designing in a vacuum. There’s direct, one-on-one feedback every week. DL learning really unleashes the power of revision.” Adds Dudley, “Ingrid is an extremely exacting teacher in the best way. Through the ‘process and revision tab’, she’d always have corrections for me. She made me lift my game!”   

Schneider has students from all over the country and world in her DL studios, so she takes a survey at the start of the semester and sets up two Open Studios each week, making sure that every student can make at least one of them for 1 ⁄ 2 an hour. These open studios are a chance to be in a live Zoom with other students, to chat, ask questions, and build a sense of community. Says Dudley, “The DL format was wonderful for me. I could take care of my coursework and lectures when the kids were in school and finish at night after my husband Ryan got home. The open studios were really amazing. I connected with peers and Ingrid in a way that would normally only be afforded in a physical setting.” 

Once in an Open Studio, Schneider casually mentioned to Dudley, “Hey, if you ever fly to NY, I could fly up to NY to meet you.” The opportunity to do so came sooner than anyone expected. 

In the Spring of 2023, NYSID’s Office of Academic Affairs sent out a call for entries for a competition that was being run by the Nantucket Historical Association, open to NYSID students. The winners would have an opportunity to travel to Nantucket by Design 2023, one of the premiere design events and showcases in the country, from August 2–5, and present their work to hundreds in the industry. (NYSID students have been participating in Nantucket by Design since 2016 thanks to a former trustee of both organizations, Maria Spears). Dudley has a passion for classical architecture, preservation, and traditional building methods, so even though winning would mean traveling to another continent, she decided to go for it. 

Dudley's “Scrimshanders” design

The Nantucket by Design review committee selected Dudley’s concept “Scrimshanders,” (an oyster and champagne fine dining experience) in the historic Thomas Macy Warehouse space, as one of two 1st place winners. Dudley’s vision was to celebrate the pictorial imagery of scrimshaw, the shipboard artform historically practiced by whalers, evoking the history of whaling in Nantucket.  

As one of the winners, Dudley received a number of mentoring sessions with Pamela Durante, interior designer and NYSID faculty member, over Zoom. Durante worked with her to finesse and refine her initial vision before her NHA presentation. As an additional honor, Dudley received a Zoom session with an industry 'design mentor', Rhonda Eleish, Principal of Eleish Van Breems Home, based in Westport and Nantucket. Dudley says, “Her insights were invaluable.” Ingrid Schneider also gave her feedback on the project. “Pamela’s mentoring helped refine my design aesthetic,” says Dudley. “Previous learning from Ingrid’s class meant that I could present my final vision in a beautiful and professional way. I was very lucky to receive guidance from both of these esteemed women.”

Finally in August, Rebecca Dudley and her husband, Ryan, took a 22-hour flight to the US, and then additional transportation, so that she could participate in Nantucket by Design. The experience didn’t disappoint. “I feel very fortunate to have had my work displayed at such a prestigious event,” says Dudley. “It was wonderful to see the interest in my submission and to have the opportunity to talk about my approach and final design. I am so grateful to both NYSID and the NHA for the opportunity, and for the extraordinary gifts that were the recognition and mentoring.”

After Nantucket By Design, Schneider kept her promise and flew all the way from North Carolina to New York to have an in-person drink with her student. They also went through the D&D Building together to explore the magnitude of resources in New York City. “I adore being a teacher,” says Schneider. “It’s as much my calling as is design.” 

Dudley’s online program is helping her find real world connections and mentors. Her experience is a testament to the fact that online learning does not have to feel “remote.”