History of Distance Education

By keriedunn
  • Jan 1, 1564

    First lead pencil

    In England a graphite mine was discoverd. The graphite was cut into rods and inserted into a wooden casing thus the lead pencil, which contains no lead.
  • Period: Jan 1, 1564 to

    History of Distance Education by Kerie Dunn

  • Royal Mail began

    Charles I made available mail delivery and the recipient paid the post.

  • American Papermill

    The first papermill opens in America.

  • U.S mail service

    Mail service begins in the United States.

  • Boston Gazette opens

  • First Distance Course in America

    Caleb Phillips ran this ad in the Boston Gazette“……any persons in the country desirous to learn this Art, may, by having the several lessons sent weekly to them, be as perfectly instructed as those that live in Boston.” (Holmberg, 1995)

  • Electromagnatism

    Inventor William Sturgeon reveals a device that uses electromagnetism leading the way for the modern telegraph.

  • Invention of the typographer

    In 1829, William Austin Burt invents the typographer, a predecessor to the typewriter.

  • Proves long distance communication is possible

    Joseph Henry sends an electronic current over a mile of wire and casues a bell to ring.

  • Morse Code

    Using the telegraph Henry Morse proves that messages can be sent over long distances. Using dots and dashes marks were made on paper and later translated.

  • Cooke and Wheatstone creat a telegraph

  • Sir Isaac Pitman

    In 1837 Sir Isaac Pitman offers correspondance courses in Pitman shorthand from his Phonetic Institue in Bath.

  • Radio waves

    James Clerk Maxwell a physicist predicts radio waves.

  • Reis transmitter was invented

    Johann Phillip Reis created the first device that worked to transmit music, voices, and sounds using electrical signals.

  • Pony Express

    The Pony Express officially opens.

  • first typerwriter

    IThe first typewriter was invented by Christopher Sholes

  • Anna Ticknor mother of American Correspodance courses

    Ticknor creates the Society to Encourage Studies at home in Boston. Her courses were sent out by mail to over 8,000 women during its tenure.

  • Patents filled for telephone

    Two patents were filed on the same day for the telephone. One by Alisha Gray and the other by Alexander Graham Bell.

  • Thomas Edison

    Creates a lamp that can illuminate for twelve hundred hours using carbon filiments. The beginning of the lightbulb and modern electricity.

  • Early Dictaphone

    Invented by Alexander Graham Bell and Volta Laboratory's in Washington D.C.

  • Postal Telegraph instated

  • 1900's two philosophies of distance education emerged.

    Hermonds in Sweden was a free paced liberal program and the other was from the University of Chicago which was a rigid, structured, weekly program.

  • 1900's Audio recordings

    used in teaching the blind and in language teaching.

  • Moody Bible Institute formed correspondence department.

    This corespndence study course is still active today.

  • 1920's 176 radio stations were built within the realm of education

  • Distance Education begins to enrich secondary school curriculum.

    Students in Boston Harbor, MI are offered vocational courses.

  • Ministry of Education set up a government correspndence college.

  • 1930's television stations were used to deliver distance education.

  • 1936-38 Z1 computer created by Konrad Zuse

  • ABC the first digital computer was invented between 1937-42

  • Collosus, the first programable computer created by Tommy Flowers.

  • First computer company opened

  • ENIAC first fully EDSAC the first functional digital computer performed its first operation.

  • 1950's credits offered for broadcast distance ed courses.

  • UNIVAC1101 computer was the first computer able to run from and store memory

  • The Z$ the first commercial computer was sold to a Swiss mathemitician.

  • Western Reserve University was the first to offer distance ed courses via television broadcast.

  • IBM produced the 701 the first mass produced commercial computer.

  • Whirlwind machine with RAM was created.

  • MIT created the first transistor computer.

  • 1957-1982 Sunrise Semester Broadcasts took place.

    offered by New YOurk University and broadcast on CBS continoulsy from 1957 to 1982.

  • 1960's satellite knowledge began to develope.

  • first mini-computer was created by Digital Equip,emt Corporation.

  • University of South Africa becomes a DE college.

  • First cassette tape

    In 1963 Phillips develops the first cassette tapes for sale in Europe and one year later they are for sale in the United States.

  • First mass marketed PC by Hewlitt Packard hits the market.

  • 1974-1975 federally funded experiments aided feasability studies in distance education. Specifically the Appalachian Education Satellite Project.

  • The first Apple computer is on the market.

  • Open University of United Kingdom opens up for DE.

  • Intel produces the first microprocessor.

  • German Fern University opnes up to DE.

  • First portable computer enters the market.

  • Learn/Alaska an educational satellite system was created.

  • 1980's wordprocessing software hits the market.

  • Wedemeyer introduces his teory of DE as independent learning.

  • 1985 TI-IN Network in San Antonio, TX. begins braodcast education to high schoolers.

  • German Fern University has 28,000 students enrolled in DE.

  • Holmberg offers reasons for DE.

  • Keegan theorizes a logically related hypothesis for DE.

  • Tandy Radio Shack releases the first multi-meida computer.

  • Moore theorizes the need for macro factors in DE

  • Apple sends to market a digital camera that hooks into usb on the computer.

  • Keegan creates The Fondations of Distance Education.

  • Winer demonstrates RSS feed using a Grateful Dead song.

  • 3 G cellular is launched by the Japanese

  • Winer and friends organize bloggercon.

  • Podcasting begins

  • Apple adds podcasting sync feature to all its ipods and ipads with 3000 podcasts available online at the Itunes.

  • 2005 video posdcasting available.

  • Jan 2006 more than 3.5 million students participate in online learning.

  • As of Dec. 2010 Blackboard is being used by over 9, 300 institutions in sixty countries.