It's Online Evolution, Baby! timeline

The earliest known correspondence (distance) education is by Caleb Philips, when he puts an ad in the Boston Gazette to teach shorthand lessons by way of the Postal Service (Kentnor, 2015, pg. 23). ("eighteenth-century shorthand" by ghwpix is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.)

Isaac Pitman is recognized as the pioneer of distance education when he begins teaching shorthand by correspondence in Bath, England, mailing postcards to students for them to transcribe Bible passages into shorthand, and return them to Pitman by post for correction (Kentnor, 2015, pg. 23). ("KJV Bible" by knowhimonline is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.)

University of London becomes the first college to offer distance learning degrees (Admin, 2019). ("University College London, by William Wilkins" by stevecadman is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.)

Illinois Wesleyan College becomes the first United States academic institution to offer distance learning degree programs (Kentnor, 2015, pg. 23). Illinois Wesleyan University. (n.d.). Illinois Wesleyan University Seal [Photograph]. Traditions. https://www.iwu.edu/about/traditions/.

Pennsylvania State College becomes the first college to broadcast courses across radio networks (Ferriman, 2013). ("68/365: The Pennsylvania State College" by cplong11 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.)

The Ohio State Department of Education develops the Ohio School of the Air program, offering daily science, literature, history, and music programming on the radio. NBC starts the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) Educational Hour (a.k.a. “The Music Appreciation Hour”) to introduce symphony orchestra and music to children; CBS follows with their own program, the American School of the Air, in 1930. (Kentnor, 2015, pg. 25) ("La radio" by mariateresa toledo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.)

The first use of television broadcasting for education occurs at the University of Iowa, which was an experiment into the use of television for educational purposes (Kentnor, 2015, pg. 26-27). ("Television Broadcasting" by jovike is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.)

The first televised courses are offered at the University of Houston (Ferriman, 2013). ("University of Houston" by Onilad is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.)

Daniel Alpert and Don Blitzer create PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations), a home for the first internet-based community created for learning purposes (Sarkar, 2020). (Illinois Distributed Museum. (n.d.). PLATO [Photograph]. Illinois Distributed Museum: PLATO Collaborations. http://distributedmuseum.blogspot.com/p/plato-collaborations.html.)

One of the first instances of pre-internet online learning in the world occurs at the University of Illinois, where students begin learning from computer terminals that are interlinked to form a network (Sarkar, 2020). (National Integrated Drought Information System. (n.d.). University of Illinois logo [Photograph]. https://www.drought.gov/about/partners/university-illinois.)

The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 establishes the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), whose mission is “to encourage the growth and development of public radio and television broadcasting, including the use of such media for instructional, educational, and cultural purposes” (Buck, 1971; United States Congress, 1967, p. 1) (Kentnor, 2015, pg. 27). (Corporation for Public Broadcasting. (n.d.). CPB logo [Logo]. https://www.cpb.org.)

The University of Alberta’s Department of Medicine begins offering rudimentary online courses (Sarkar, 2020). "University of Alberta" by IQRemix is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.)

ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) is founded as the first version of the internet (Ferriman, 2013). ("First Internet Message Arpanet UCLA" by Dean Terry is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.)

Austrian philosopher Ivan Illich’s Deschooling Society book encourages computer-based education (Ferriman, 2013). ("Deschooling Society" by Earthworm is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.)

The New Jersey Institute of Technology’s Computerized Conferencing and Communications Center begins studying the outcomes of online and computerized learning environments. Open University launches its first online classes through the CICERO program. Coastline Community College, the world’s first fully remote community college, is established. (Sarkar, 2020) ("'online learning'" by giulia.forsythe is licensed under CC BY 2.0.)

The telecommunications industry is deregulated, speeding up chips and introducing broadband technologies that allow students to communicate with one another and their professors to learn interactively than passively (Admin, 2019). ("Inside a broadband router (detail)" by jepoirrier is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.)

In Rindge, NH, the Computer Assisted Learning Center (CALC) is founded as a computer-oriented, adult learning center (Ferriman, 2013). Western Behavioral Sciences Institute uses computer conferencing to provide a distance education program for business executives (Thompson, 2021). ("HP9835A" by ajmexico is licensed under CC BY 2.0.)

Ron Gordon, Atari’s former president, launches the Electronic University Network to make online courses available for people with access to personal computers (Thompson, 2021). ("1980s computer with Laserdisc Machine" by Hartness Library is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.)

According to Forbes, National Technological University establishes the first accredited “virtual” university with financial support from companies like IBM, Motorola, and HP that delivers academic courses to employees via TV (Admin, 2019). The University of Toronto offers the first ever course completely online (Sarkar, 2020). (Coursera. (n.d.). University of Toronto logo [Logo]. https://www.coursera.org/utoronto.)

Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale-Davie, FL, creates the first electronic classroom through an accredited online graduate program (Thompson, 2021). (Tethys. (n.d.). Nova Southeastern University logo [Logo]. https://tethys.pnnl.gov/organization/nova-southeastern-university.)

The National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET) launches the first open computer network – a precursor to the internet – allowing institutions to create and distribute electronic information (Thompson, 2021). Electronic University Network is established for being used in DOS and Commodore 64 computers (Sarkar, 2020). ("Commodore 64" by unloveablesteve is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.)

The first publication emphasizing distance learning methods, “Research in Distance Education,” is published in Great Britain (Ferriman, 2013). The University of Phoenix begins using CompuServe, one of the first consumer online services, becoming the first educational institution in the world to launch an entire online collegiate institution, offering both bachelor’s and master’s degrees (Kentnor, 2015, pg. 28). ("University of Phoenix Megascreen" by gr8matt is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.)

Open University in Britain is one of first universities in the world to begin online distance learning (Sarkar, 2020). ("The Open University" by The Open University (OU) is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.)

The World Wide Web is unveiled. The University of Phoenix becomes one of the first to offer online education programs through the Internet; other reputable institutions and not-for-profit colleges and universities follow. (Kentnor, 2015, pg. 28) (Getty Images. (2019). World Wide Web [Illustration]. BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/47514334.)

Electronic University Network helps develop university virtual campuses using AOL (Ferriman, 2013). ("aol logo" by Mr.Joseph Sprite is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.)

Jones International University opens in Centennial, CO, becoming the first fully web-based, accredited university (Thompson, 2021). (Jones International University. (n.d.). Jones International University logo [Logo]. Crunchbase. https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/jones-international-university-online.)

CALCampus introduces the first online-only curriculum with real-time instruction and participation (i.e., synchronous learning) (Ferriman, 2013; Thompson, 2021). (Teach Thought. (n.d.). Synchronous Learning [Illustration]. Teach Thought. https://www.teachthought.com/technology/synchronous-learning/)

Regent University in Virginia Beach, VA, offers the first online Ph.D in Communications (Ferriman, 2013). (Regent University. (n.d.). Regent University logo [Logo]. Honor Society. https://www.honorsociety.org/university/regent-university.)

WebCT 1.0 LMS, an e-learning system, is released; it’s often considered the predecessor to BlackBoard (Ferriman, 2013). Western Governors University is founded by nineteen U.S. governors to help Western states maximize educational resources through distance learning (Western Governors University, n.d.; Thompson, 2021). ("Wookie, Basic LTI, Blackboard, and WebCT Oh My!" by dr-chuck is licensed under CC BY 2.0.)

Frank Mayadas, President of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, establishes the Five Pillars of Quality Online Education for institutions: learning effectiveness, access, scale, faculty satisfaction, and student satisfaction (Online Learning Consortium, n.d.). (Online Learning Consortium. (n.d.). Orange Framework [Illustration]. Online Learning Consortium. https://onlinelearningconsortium.org/about/quality-framework-five-pillars/.)

October: NYU becomes the first large non-profit university to create a for-profit online education subsidiary, NYU Online. November: California Virtual University opens, a consortium of almost 100 universities and colleges in CA with nearly 1,600 online courses. (Kentnor, 2015, pg. 28) (Apart, D. (2020). Online Learning [Graphic]. IndiaBioscience. https://indiabioscience.org/columns/education/online-education-not-a-threat-but-a-boon-for-higher-education.)

Blackboard Course System is introduced in Washington, DC (Ferriman, 2013). Alfred P. Sloan Foundation establishes The Sloan Consortium (Online Learning Consortium, n.d.). (Calhoun Community College. (n.d.). Blackboard logo [Logo]. Calhoun Community College. https://calhoun.edu/information-technologies/blackboard/.)

The University of Phoenix's enrollment nearly doubles from 16,000 to 29,000 (Kentnor, 2015, pg. 29). ("Endless Numbers" by re_birf is licensed under CC BY 2.0.)

MIT launches the OpenCourseWare Project to provide free MIT courses to people worldwide (Thompson, 2021; MIT, 2022). Moodle 1.0, a virtual learning environment, is released in Australia (Ferriman, 2013). Over 1.6 million postsecondary students are enrolled in online courses; by 2008, that number almost triples (Kentnor, 2015, pg. 28-29). ("Designing aesthetically pleasing Moodle courses" by opensourceway is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.)

Sloan-C Institute is established, which provides online learning workshops and webinars (later renamed to Online Learning Consortium in 2013) (Online Learning Consortium, n.d.). (Online Learning Consortium. (n.d.-a). OLC logo [Logo]. Online Learning Consortium. https://onlinelearningconsortium.org.)

Sloan-C Quality Scorecard is introduced, establishing a criterion for excellence for online learning programs (Online Learning Consortium, n.d.). ("Balanced Scorecard White" by Jinho.Jung is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.)

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), a free online course resource, becomes available through Udacity and enables learners to take classes asynchronously at their own pace (Thompson, 2021). ("#jiscwebinar What Is A MOOC? @dkernohan @mweller @jonathan_worth @loumcgill @daveowhite [visual Notes]" by giulia.forsythe is marked with CC0 1.0.)

Education is introduced to the 21st-century when the Covid-19 Pandemic forces K-12 schools and nearly every college and university to switch to online learning for the remainder of the school year to help limit the spread of the virus. Google Meet and Zoom are utilized to conduct lectures and synchronous learning (Antonucci, 2022). ("COVID-19 in Washington DC" by dmbosstone is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.)

MIT launches a new OpenCourseWare platform that’s mobile responsive with enhanced search and more features (MIT, 2022). (Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (n.d.). MIT seal [Illustration]. MIT History. https://libraries.mit.edu/mithistory/institute/seal-of-the-massachusetts-institute-of-technology/.)