A Historical Look at Distance Education

By brehobbs

  • First Correspondence Course

    First Correspondence Course
    Pitman Shorthand training program used the United States Postal Service as the instructional delivery system

  • Chautauqua College of Liberal Arts

    Chautauqua College of Liberal Arts
    Authorized by the State of New York to offer degrees through correspondence instruction.

  • First Educational Radio Licenses Granted

    First Educational Radio Licenses Granted
    The FCC granted the first radio licenses to the University of Salt Lake City, University of Wisconsin, and University of Minnesota, reducing instructional delivery time.

  • Beginning of Television Instruction

    Beginning of Television Instruction
    Instruction using television as a delivery method began through the University of Iowa.

  • USAFI Correspondence Courses

    USAFI Correspondence Courses
    The United States Armed Forces Institute provided correspondence courses to military personnel world wide at a variety of levels from elementary to college. USFI also provided multiple other support systems including 24 hours counseling.

  • First Computer Bulletin Board System

    First Computer Bulletin Board System
    The first bulletin board system was established through email messages sent through Intel Inter Office System.

  • First Educational Satellite for Learn/Alaska

    First Educational Satellite for Learn/Alaska
    The first satellite system was created for villagers in Alaska to provide 6 hours of daily instruction.

  • Penn State University Begins to Offer Computer Based Distance Education

    Penn State University Begins to Offer Computer Based Distance Education
    Penn State University began to offer distance education programs to
    adult education students using computer based communication supplemented with audioconferencing.

  • Tim Berners-Lee Develops the World Wide Web

    Tim Berners-Lee Develops the World Wide Web
    Tim Berners-Lee develops the World Wide Web providing more opportunities for computers to be connected "world wide."

  • United States Department of Education Provides Oversight to Distance Education

    United States Department of Education Provides Oversight to Distance Education
    The Distance learning Education Demonstration project was an experiment by the US Department of Education to monitor effective delivery of education, guard against fraud, and provide access to through financial aid for distance education.