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First Documented Correspondence Course
Caleb Philips placed a newspaper advertisement to attract students to enroll in a correspondence shorthand course. There are no records to show whether he was successful. -
1st Successful Correspondence Course
Great Britain: Sir Isaac Pitman is credited with the first successful correspondence course teaching Pitman Shorthand. -
Radio Courses
Penn State University offered the first broadcast courses via the radio. -
Growth of Radio Courses
Over 2000 higher education institutions are licensed to broadcast courses over their radio. -
Birth of Video Conferencing
The birth of two-way video conferencing. AT&T demonstrated a two-way video communication session between two AT&T offices in Manhattan where both parties could see each other -
Televised Courses
The City Colleges of Chicago pioneered the first large-scale instructional televised "telecourse" programs for credit. Students could obtain a degree by learning via television courses. -
Intranet Learning
The University of Illinois linked computer terminals to create the intranet. It included many features now used in LMSs. A computer-based assisted learning system named PLATO, Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations, was used to create the Intranet. -
The Internet
The Department of Defense created the Internet using satellite technology. Computers at Stanford and UCLA were connected, making them the first universities to use the Internet. -
Online Degrees Offered
The University of Phoenix was the first college to offer an online bachelor's and master's degree. -
The World Wide Web is Born
The advent of the World Wide Web in 1991 was a powerful catalyst for moving distance education forward and was a milestone in the rapid expansion and growth of online teaching and learning. -
LMS Organizes Online Learning
In 1996, Michael Chasen and Matthey Pittinsky founded Blackboard to standardize online learning. Blackboard was used by 6 million students, across 55 countries by 2003 and used in over 65% of U.S. college campuses by 2006. -
1st Web-based University
Jones International University became the first accredited fully web-based university where all courses were offered online only. -
Growth of LMSs
The first version of Moodle LMS was developed by Martin Dougiamas and released in 2002 to help educators create online courses with a focus on interaction and collaborative construction of content. -
YouTube Lectures
YouTube launched, and by 2009, YouTube EDU offered thousands of free lectures online. -
Free Online Courses
The for-profit institution Udacity began offering massive open online courses (MOOCs). MIT and Harvard followed with MOOC platform edX. -
LMSs Takes Center Stage!
The worldwide Covid-19 pandemic changed how educational institutions operate as schools close. Higher education moves to LMSs and video conferencing technology. -
Online School Enrollment Predictions
On average, across 10 states, virtual school enrollment rose to 170% of its pre-pandemic level in 2020-21, then nudged up further to 176% in 2021-22, according to data obtained by The 74