Online learning: A history

  • The University of London

    The University of London
    The University of London became the first college to offer degrees through distance learning
  • The Society to Encourage Home Studies

    The Society to Encourage Home Studies
    The society to encourage home studies was founded by Ana Eliot Ticknor in Boston. These studies relied on the postal system for correspondence and professors sent entire classes worth of material for the student to learn and send assignments and feedback back.
  • University of Queensland

    University of Queensland
    University of Queensland in Australia offers distance education to returning soldiers, coming back from WW1
  • Pennslyvania State College

    Pennslyvania State College
    Pennsylvania State College becomes the first to utilize radio networks as a means to broadcast courses to students
  • Chicago

    Chicago
    Chicago public television station partnered with the board of education to arrange a series of televised courses that could be taken for college credit
  • National Technological University

    National Technological University
    National Technological university develops accredited courses taught via television in a "virtual university" that also offered financial support from major companies
  • University of Phoenix

    University of Phoenix
    The University of Phoenix launches their fully online college, the first of it's kind to offer both bachelors and masters degrees
  • Florida Virtual School

    Florida Virtual School
    The Florida Virtual School was created in Florida, offering the first and largest public school online in the nation. The school had 150,000 students by 2012
  • 2 million

    2 million
    Distance education in regards to higher education reaches over 2 million students in various online programs.
  • True Takeoff

    True Takeoff
    60% of private institutions and 89% of public four year colleges offer classes fully online
  • COVID-19

    COVID-19
    COVID-19 sweeps the world, forcing most learning institutions to switch to online education due to in person restrictions. Business meetings, major events, learning from kindergarten through masters programs all have an online option to avoid in person alternatives.