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The Written Era
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The first known mention of distance education was an ad in the Boston Gazette stating that Celab Phillips, a teacher of the new method of Short Hand, was seeking students for lessons to be sent weekly-all of this was to be achieved through mail correspondence.
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Weaver and merchant Joseph-Marie Jacquard invents the punch card loom (Computer). The punch card method of programming would later be used in early IBM computers.
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University of Chicago is first educational institution to offer correspondence courses
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Film and Slides were used by many universities as a new method of distance education and off campus education.
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The Radio Era
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Penn State begins offering courses through the radio
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By 1925, over 200 colleges and universities have been granted radio broadcasting licenses.
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The first statewide, telephone based education program is offered by the University of Wisconsin
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Stanford University founds the Stanford Instructional Television Network, offering instruction for part-time engineering students.
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The TV ERA
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U.S. Department of Defense creates the Internet (ARPANET)
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Social critic Ivan Illich writes "Deschooling Society" which describes computer based education
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University of Phoenix is founded to give working adults flexible higher education options
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The Online Era
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CALC (Computer assisted learning center), a computer based learning center for adults is established
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The Electronic University Network offers a Ph.D. program via America Online
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The first completely online curriculum is introducted by CalCampus
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Western Governors University is founded by 19 U.S. governors to help western states maximize educational resources through distance learning
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The Modern Era
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CVU (Calfornia Virtual University) a consortium of California colleges offering more than 1,000 online courses, is launched.
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The world is introducted to a host of new educational tools, including Blackboard and eCollege
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Advances in online educational tools continue Moodle.com begins running Moodle
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The OpenCourseWare project, a resource of free online course materials from MIT, becomes available
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81% of colleges have at least one online class
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Michigan requires "online learning experience" for high schoolers. Also the Berkman Center and Harvard Extension School offer the first University course through SecondLife, a 3D virtual world platform wildly popular at the time.
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First ever MOOC, Advanced Learning interactive Systems Online (ALISON), is created
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Khan Academy is founded. StraighterLine is founded and begins connecting online students with high-quality, affordable, and transferable online college courses.
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The number of students taking at least one course online reaches 5.5 Million
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83% of CEOs and small business owners in the United States consider online degrees to be as credible as traditional degrees.
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Approximately 30,000 public school students participant in online learning
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77% of academic leaders rate the learning outcomes in online education as the same or superior to those as in face to face instruction, up from 57% in 2003. Also the first online-ONLY public university in the United States, UF Online, was announced for launch in 2014.
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Legislation passed to allow 5-12 graders to enroll in up to two online courses.
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98% of public colleges and universities offer online programs
