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Correspondence Education: Caleb Phillips
In 1798, Caleb Phillips advertised shorthand lessons in the local paper. He offered to mail weekly lessons to interested students living in Boston and in the Country. While this isn't technically two-way communication, since there's no record of a response, the instructor still set out with the goal of teaching shorthand through the mail (Kentnor, 2015). -
Correspondence Education: Isaac Pitman
In 1840 in England, Isaac Pitman started teaching shorthand by correspondence. He mailed postcards to students and had them copy down Bible passages using shorthand. They would mail the cards back to Pitman, and he would then give them feedback and offer corrections (Kentnor, 2015). -
Radio
In 1894, Guglielmo Marconi invented the spark transmitter (Kentnor, 2015). The first signal was successfully transmitted across the ocean in 1901 (Luxorion, 2016) and distance educators realized they could use communication technologies to reach more learners. However, it would be several more years until institutes of higher learning started to implement said technology. -
University of Wisconsin
In 1906, the University of Wisconsin-Extension was developed as a distance teaching unit, and in 1919 Wisconsin professors started a wireless stationwhich eventually became known as WHA. It was the first federally licensed radio station focused on educational broadcasting (Kentnor, 2015). -
Educational Broadcasting in the 1920s
In the 1920s, educational broadcasting quickly moved beyond just transmitting matters relevant to education. Educational institutions began broadcasting sporting events, concerts, plays, and lectures, all through radio waves. To stay afloat in the years leading up to the Great Depression, many institutions including Ohio School of the Air and NBC began offering daily science, literature, history, and music programs via the radio (Kentnor, 2015). -
Televison
In 1927, the first long-distance live video and voice transmission was held, but the television wasn't used for educational purposes until the 1930s with the University of Iowa. In 1952, the FCC reserved channels for educational purposes, but in the 60s and 70s, television courses were poorly produced images of an instructor simply reading notes and consequently had few viewers (Kentnor, 2015). -
Intranet for Students
In 1960, The University of Illinois created the first intranet for students.Through a system of linked computers which eventually became PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations), students could access course content, listen to lectures,etc. (Moore, 2011). -
The Open University
What initially began as a plan to use televison and radio to open access to higher education for adults, led to the world's premiere national distance education university offering the full university curriculum to any adult who wanted it (Moore, 2011). -
Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA)
In 1969, the U.S. Department of Defense set up a network to link the computers of the armed forces, universities, and defense contractors, thereby laying the groundwork for what would become the Internet (Moore, 2011). -
Teleconferencing
Telephones were developed in the early 1900s, but it wasn't until the 80s and 90s that teleconferencing made it possible for teachers and students to see and hear each other with no delays, even if they were on opposite sides of the world (California Distance Learning Project, 2011). -
Interactive Video in Schools
In 1986, Penn State started the first graduate courses delivered by two way video conference, and in 1987, the federal Star Schools Assistance Act was passed by congress, promoting the use of telecommunications for math, science, and foreign language instruction in K-12 schools (Moore, 2011). -
CALCampus
CALCampus opened its Tutoring Center for high school and continuing education learners on the QuantumLink network in 1986. Structured online courses soon followed. From then through 1995, CALC Online Campus expanded its online school onto several major telecommunications networks. In early 1995, CALC Online Campus moved onto the Internet as CALCampus.com (CALCampus, 2011). -
The Internet and Online Education
In the 1980s, companies started using computer-based programs to educate employees, but it wasn't until 1989 that the University of Phoenix started using one of the first consumer online services (Kentnor, 2015). -
Electronic University Network
The Electronic University Network, an undergrad degree program where learners earn credit by taking courses from 19 universities, furthers contributes to the evolution of distance education. Courses were delivered both via floppy disc and in print; interactions took place via the computer, telephone, and mail (Moore, 2011). -
The World Wide Web
In 1991, the World Wide Web, "a seemingly magical system that allowed a document to be accessed by different computers separated by any distance, running different software, operational systems, and different screen resolutions" (Moore, 2011) emerged and the University of Phoenix became the first institution to offer educational programs through the Internet, paving the way for other institutions to join them (Kentnor, 2015). -
OpenCourseWare Project
In 2002, MIT began the OpenCourseWare Project, whereby universities celebrated collaboration and openness by creating and sharing lessons and coursesindividuals from around the world who wanted to gain knowledge via the Internet (Open Education Consortium, 2016).
