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Society to Encourage Studies
Anna Eliot Ticknor-Founder of the Soceity to Encourage Studies at Home. The society encouraged learners to participate in distance education -
Radio Education
The University of Wisconsin initiated the first radio-based distance education technology in adult education programs in 1907. -
Correspondence Study
The University of Nebraska offered the first supervised correspondence study at the high school level. Correspondence study was the early form of distance education, which both subject matter and interaction was formalized into written documents. -
ICCE
The International Council for Correspondence Education was established allowing institutions to purchase correspondence course materials from another institution and delivered through the mail. The council was the first global professional organization for correspondence study. -
POTS
POTS is known as plain old telephone service or audio conferencing that was initiated in the 1950's. The service allowed a bridge to connect multiple phone lines using speakers for education communication or what is known as a telecourse. -
University of Nebraska
The University of Nebraska offered psychiatric course using an audio conference system. -
Sputnik
The Sputnik satellite was the first satellite to broadcast radio pulses for communication technology. -
Video Calls/Conferercing
Video conferencing introduced in 1964 at the World's Fair with Bellsouth/AT&T -
Open University
Great Britain established the first Open University. The format allowed flexibility and accessiblity not found in traditional offerings. The format also bridged the gap between higher education and lower-income individuals. -
Videocourse
The 1980's brought telcourse systems to education via cable, satellite, closed or open circuits, two-way audio, and one or two-way visual interchange. -
Web-Based Education
The 1990's brought web-based educational opportunities via the world wide web or the Internet. In 1993, the first web browser was released. This decade also brought more browsers, email, and online learning with digitized course content with asynchronous and synchronous technology for iteraction with learning at a distance. -
Online Courses
From the years 2001 to 2006, three quarters of all U.S. institutions of higher learning offered courses. Up to 80 percent of courses were online via learning managment systems, such as web-ct. -
Online, Virtual Education, and Simulation
2006 and beyond has seen an explosion of online education technologies, including virtual classrooms and simulation and numerous web-based learning management systems to execute online courses to anyone in the world. The National Center for Education Statistics data reveals that 97 percent of public two-year and 89 percent of public four-year colleges offer distance learning courses. -
