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Shorthand Correspondence
Sir Isaac Pitman taught students shorthand through correspondence in 1840 (British Library, 2019). This type of writing was symbolic and was developed to help produce speed during note-taking or writing. Pitman was a teacher, he would send assignments through mail. Students would do the same when they completed assignments. Starting the first learning through distance via mail. -
The University of London
Queen Victoria founded the University of London's external program in 1858. This made it the first university that offer distance learning degrees. Students were able to do this through the mail and outside of London (UOL, 2024). Allowing many to gain an education across the globe. -
University Of Wisconsin
The University of Wisconsin was the first to use the term "distance education"(Oxford, 2024). -
Phonograph for recordings
The University of Wisconsin records lectures for its students and sends them out. They used a phonograph to send recordings to students which is also a record player. -
Open University
In the United Kindom, they launched the open university(Open University, 2024). This university was the first to provide distance learning for higher education. Giving those who were not able to attend in person an opportunity to get a degree. -
Online Document system
The development of an online document was proposed by Tim Berner-Lee. This was to help link notes from the web through links (Norman, 2024). -
Jerold Maddox
Penn State College had the first instructor to teach over the web. The teacher's name was Jerold Maddox and the course was commentary art. -
Elliot Masie
The term eLearning was coined by Elliot Masie at his TechLearn conference (Gutierrez, 2023). The term was never used in this reference and was the first professionally. -
Student Loans
Student loans were available to distance learners and students learning as first-time undergraduate students. The United Kingdom allowed for Part-time students to make use of this new financial option. -
Remote Learning
The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way students learn. Forced to transition to an online setting 77 percent of Public schools went online. American schools at the k-12 level transitioned to distance education models (NCES, 2024). -
Artificial intelligence
The future of e-learning is helped by artificial intelligence. This helps give feedback and personalize students' learning experiences.