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World's first distance learning course was established in Boston. Lessons were sent by mail.
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Composition course is offered through correspondence by Swedish newspapers. This caused development of correspondence courses across Europe.
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Sir Isaac Pitman organizes first correspondence course in England. The course was on shorthand.
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In Cincinnati Ohio, secretarial training in stenographics was conducted via post. After course completion, certificates of achievement were granted.
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Instructors Charles Toussaint and Gustav Langenscheidt taught lanuguage courses via mail correspondence.
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University of London created "External Program" which was the first distance learning-based course at the university level.
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University of the Cape of Good Hope founded a distance learning facility.
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Chautauqua movement began as a means for traveling to teach and share information to people across the U.S. This allowed for people to be exposed to speakers and information they would have not otherwise had access to.
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In Pasadena, CA the Colliery School of Mines established a correspondence program to educate mining staff.
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Anna Ticknor developed a home-based program that targeted New York women. She achieved 20,000+ student enrollment.
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First Catalog of instructional films appear.Films were a significant addition to distance learning as they providied means other then text books.
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Pennsylvania State College become first college to broadcast courses across raio networks.
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The University of Iowa became the first university to emply television as a learning tool.
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KUHT was the first educational television station to go on the air.
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Correspondence education is changed to 'Independent study' to establish the difference between university and homeschooling methods.
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ARPAnet is founded as the first version of the internet.
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Britain launches Open University with courses that are conducted by various means, including television, correspondence, study groups, and residential courses and seminars.
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First state educational satellite system offered daily television instruction to 100 Alaskan villages.
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Computer assisted learning center was founded as a computer oriented adult learning center.
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Electronic university network helps develop university virtual campuses through AOL. A PhD program is offered.
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CALCampuses establish first comprehensive online-only curriculum.
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WebCT 1.0 LMS an e-learning system is released. This is often considered the predecessor of Blackboard.
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Blackboard Course Systems introduced.
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By 2003, 81% of colleges have at least one online course. 16% of US undergraduates are enrolled in at least one distance education course.
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Sakai Project is formed. This is a collaboration of academic institutions developed a software for virtual learning enviroments.
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By 2005, almost 32 million US students were enrolled in at least one online course at a university.
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Khan Academy is founded with the mission of providing free, world class education to students through online materials.
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By 2009, 5.5 million students are taking at least one online course. 53% of public high school students were enrolled in distance education courses. YouTube EDU introduces thousands of free lectures.
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60% of four-year US private college/universities offer online courses
