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First lessons offered by mail
On March 20, 1728, teacher Caleb Phillips placed an advertisement in the Boston Gazette offering shorthand lessons. -
Pioneer of distance education
Sir Isaac Pitman was an English educator and inventor of a shorthand system named after him. He is recognized as the pioneer of distance education. He taught shorthand by correspondence in Bath, England by mailing postcards to students for them to transcribe Bible passages into shorthand and to return them, by post, for correction. -
Illinois Wesleyan College offers "in absentia" degrees
Illinois Wesleyan College became the first academic institution to offer degree programs “in absentia”. -
The spark transmitter is invented
Guglielmo Marconi invented the spark transmitter in 1894. He was also granted a patent for his system of wireless telegraphy. Youtube demonstration -
The first radio station dedicated to educational broadcasting is created
In 1919, professors at the University of Wisconsin began the first federally licensed radio station dedicated to educational broadcasting. Youtube -
First long-distance live video and voice transmission
Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover and Bell Laboratories held the first long-distance live video and voice transmission (New York Times article) -
The IER is founded
The Institute for Education by Radio (IER) is founded in Columbus, Ohio. This was a place where radio was used extensively in the classroom. -
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The first use of television broadcasting for education
The University of Iowa experimented with the first use of television broadcasting for education. -
The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 is established
The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 established the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which established NPR, the National Public Radio network of the United States. Britannica -
University of Phoenix began using CompuServe
The University of Phoenix began using CompuServe, one of the first consumer online services, in 1989. Other online educational programs followed shortly after. -
The Asynchronous Learning Networks is developed
The Asynchronous Learning Networks (ALN) is developed in 1992 by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The ALN is designed to explore educational alternatives for those unable to attend traditional classes in the classroom. -
The World Wide Web is made available to the general public
The World Wide Web was unveiled in January 1992. The University of Phoenix became one of the first schools to offer online education programs through the Internet.Britannica -
NYU Online is created
In October of 1998, New York University was the first large nonprofit university to create a for-profit online education subsidiary, NYU Online. -
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The California Virtual University opened
The California Virtual University is a consortium of almost 100 universities and colleges in California with almost 1,600 online courses. It opened in November of 1998. -
NYU Online closed
Many for-profit subsidiaries did not stay open for long. NYU Online closed in October 2001. -
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A rise in online postsecondary students
By 2002 the number of students enrolled in a postsecondary course was 1.6 million. By 2008, that number had almost tripled. -
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More college students studying online
In the fall of 2007, 3.9 million students were enrolled in at least one online class. That is about 21.4% of the total number of students enrolled in higher education classes. By the fall of 2010, the number of students enrolled in an online higher education class had risen to 6.1 million or 29%
of the total number of students enrolled in a higher education class. By the fall of 2012, 6.7 million students or 32.5% were enrolled in a higher education class.
