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Distance Learning through Written Mail
In the Boston Gazette Newspaper, Caleb Phillips begins publicizing secret mail correspondence courses. This is marked as the world's first distance learning course. -
The first University to offer full degrees in the form of distance learning
The University of London acts as the first school in the world to offer a full degree through distance learning, titled the "External Program". Although the University at the time was limited to an examining board as a means of interaction, it still has claimed to be a form of distance education. -
The First Formal Correspondence School in the U.S.
A woman by the name of Ana Eliot Tickner of Boston, Massachusetts, founded the Society to Encourage Studies at Home. The Society was given the title of the first correspondence school in the United States. She goes on to be accredited as a pioneer of distance learning as well as the mother of correspondence schooling. -
University's begin to embrace new technology as a means of learning
The University of Wisconsin-Madison is the first to begin dispatching course materials and lectures on phonograph records to distance learners. This is a direct sign of educators embracing advanced technology as a tool for teaching and learning, laying the foundation for online education. -
Radio Era of Learning breaks through
Pennsylvania State University makes the initial step as the first college or university to transmit courses over the radio. This ultimately sets the stage in speeding up the proximity between learners and course content. -
Wired Communication between two or more computers
Bell Laboratories creates the modulator and demodulator, which act as the modem. The modem converts digital signals to electric signals, ultimately authorizing interaction between multiple computers. -
Telephone Correspondence
The University of Wisconsin presents the first telephone-based education program. At first, this is a format for their physician training program. -
Television Era
The Stanford Instructional Television network is founded by Stanford University. This network promoted instruction via televised materials for part-time engineering students. -
ARPANET
The ARPANET, was comprised of the first four nodes of preliminary internet; UCLA, UC-Santa Barbara, Stanford, and the University of Utah. They were linked through a physical Interface Message Processor (IMP) network. This has been marked as the year the U.S. Department of Defense created the internet. -
First Virtual Campus
A degree program offered entirely through telecommuting courses is developed at Coastline Community College. This virtual campus utilizes telephone, television, radio, records and tapes and is based in Fountain Valley, California. -
Information Age and Internet Boom
The entire era of the 1990's is marked as a technological boom. As the internet plants it's roots, the first accredited fully-online college is established, along with the development of learning management systems. -
Brand new educational tools
Around this time, the world is enlightened by an abundance of newly developed educational tools, including blackboard and eCollege. -
Enrollment in Online Courses
At this point in time, over 5.5 million students are enrolled in at least one online college level course all around the world. -
New regulations issued upon online courses
New regulations rapidly become issued by the Department of Education on online courses in order to completely satisfy all state-level educational requirements and necessities. These same measures also demand the use of a strict rubric that utilizes credit hours as a means of estimating learning. -
Initial online-only public school
In 2013, the University of Florida-Online becomes the very first online-only public University. -
Schools everywhere begin to offer online alternatives
By year 2018, 98% of public universities and colleges offer some form of online education. -
The Future of Online Learning
As technology continues to expand and advance, the emergence of online learning will flourish. People all over the world are being given the opportunity to take learning into their own hands. Online education has allowed learners to focus on a career, families, and budget while still having the opportunity to further their education. The idea and option of online learning has had, and will continue to have, an incredible impact on how we pursue formal education.
