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The "Automatic Teacher" machine was born.
A professor at Ohio State University named Sidney Pressey designed an innovative automatic testing machine. "This testing machine looked like a typewriter and was used to answer multiple-choice questions. It had a window showing a question and four choices of answers... the machine would not proceed to the next question until the correct answer was chosen. Hence, students could tell whether their answers were correct or not" (Bouchrika, 2025). -
B.F. Skinner creates "GLIDER".
In 1954, B.F. Skinner created a machine intended to help teach students. It was known as "GLIDER." According to Bouchrika (2025), "this machine appeared like a box containing a series of questions. A small window would show each question, which could be answered through a certain technique and by writing the answer down on paper." -
The ARPANET was launched.
The ARPANET, the first computer network to implement packet switching, was launched in the year 1969. It "initially connected four university computer science departments in California, Los Angeles, and Stanford University, allowing computer users to access data and resources from other networks. This was the first workable prototype of the Internet, which utilized packet-switching technology to facilitate transmitting messages between computers on the network" (Kabir, 2024). -
World's first remote community college is founded.
"Coastline Community College, the world’s first entirely remote community college, was also founded in 1976" (Bouchrika, 2025). The founding of this college was a sign of the rising popularity and significance of online learning. -
The first internet-based courses are introduced.
According to Bouchrika (2025), "UK’s The Open University introduced its first online classes through CICERO. The university pioneered the offering of internet-based courses that could earn one credit." The introduction of college/university-level online courses was a big step in pioneering remote education at college level. -
Research on the benefits of gamification is published.
In 1981, Thomas W. Malone published his research paper titled Toward a Theory of Intrinsically Motivating Instruction. "His findings showed that when learning felt more like play, students were more engaged and achieved better results. This pivotal research laid the groundwork for incorporating gamification into educational practices, leading to the development of various educational games and platforms that make learning more interactive and enjoyable" (CataBoom, 2023). -
The World Wide Web was invented.
In 1990, a man named Tim Burners-Lee created what is known as the World Wide Web. "The Web made the Internet accessible to ordinary people, not just computer scientists and researchers. By creating a system for publishing and accessing hyperlinked documents (web pages), Berners-Lee transformed the Internet into a powerful medium for sharing and accessing the world’s information" (Kabir, 2024). -
LMS begin to gain popularity.
The early 1990s, particularly the year 1995, marked the rise of Learning Management Systems or LMS. "Schools and universities used LMS to monitor student records, attendance, tests, grades, and issue notices and fee vouchers. American company Blackboard was the first to successfully use LMS in providing academic professionals, businesses, and government institutions with education, mobile, communication, commerce software, and other related services" (Bouchrika, 2025). -
The term "elearning" is coined.
According to Gutierrez (n.d.), "Elliott Masie coined the word "eLearning" at his TechLearn Conference at Disneyworld." Prior to this, the concept had been primarily referred to simply as "online learning" (Gutierrez, n.d.). -
The term "gamification" is coined.
In the year 2002, the concept of gamification officially gained a name. "While designing a game-like user interface for commercial electronic devices (ATMs, vending machines, mobile phones) Nick Pelling coined the ‘deliberately ugly’ word, gamification. With a name in place, the history of gamification truly began" (Cloke, 2019). -
The COVID-19 pandemic hits.
The COVID-19 pandemic was a game-changer for online education. During that time, many schools had to close and transition from traditional campus environments to a virtual environment due to quarantine. After the pandemic, a lot of those schools simply never reopened, and many students switched to online or blended learning methods.