When was distance learning invented

Emerging communication technologies, and telecommunications in particular, provide highly cost-effective solutions to the problems of sharing information and promoting global understanding between people.

In today's electronic age, it is predicted that the amount of information produced will increase exponentially every year. In the developing world, since the s, the population has doubled to over 5 billion people, most of whom want to be literate and want greater educational opportunities for themselves and their children.

The majority of this expanding population is in Asia, where there are massive problems of poverty, illiteracy, and disease. In most developing countries, such as Bangladesh, distance education offers the promise of a system of information distribution through which new ideas, attitudes, and understanding might begin to ooze through the layers of the disadvantaged environments Shah, Drawing upon the well-known model of the British Open University, countries such as Pakistan, India, and China have combined modem methods of teaching with emerging technologies in order to provide low-cost instruction for basic literacy and job training.

Turkey has recently joined those nations involved in large-scale distance learning. Because of the economies of size and distribution, both industrialized and developing countries have embarked on distance education programs.

In many cases, local experts are not available to develop original programs in the language and culture of the people. For this reason, the majority of educational programs are either used intact from the host country or are superficially translated with very few adaptations to the local culture. When this is done, the results are often unsuccessful. The cultural values of the program designer become dominant, desirable, and used as the standard.

There are many examples of programs from North America, Australia, Great Britain, and Europe that were purchased but never used in Africa and Asia because the material was not relevant in those countries. Because the appropriate design of instructional material is a critical element in its effectiveness, the issue of "who designs what and for whom" is central to any discussion of the economic, political, and cultural dangers that face distance educators using information technologies Mclsaac, There have been a variety of efforts to identify theoretical foundations for the study of distance education.

Thus far, there has been little agreement about which theoretical principles are common to the field and even less agreement on how to proceed in conducting programmatic research. AECT toll-free Search this Handbook for:. Distance Education PDF I would find old exam papers for the course, and set questions for individual students, and they would send me their answers and I would mark them.

Many students were in British Commonwealth countries and it could take weeks after students sent in their essays before my feedback eventually got back to them. Not surprisingly, in those days completion rates in the programme were very low. The programme today is completely different,using a combination of study materials and online learning resources designed to foster active learning.

There are even university-approved local tutors in many countries around the world. The program has more than 50, students enrolled. Note though that teaching and examining in the original External Programme were disaggregated those teaching it were different from those examining it , contract tutors were separate from the main faculty were used, and students studied individually and took exams when ready. In the fall of , I joined the first staff of the Open University, working in offices in an old Georgian building in Belgrave Square, central London.

I knew nothing about distance education I was hired as a researcher and was advised to go to a talk being given by a slight, stooped American. His name was Chuck Wedemeyer and he was the first to develop a modern pedagogy that was unique to distance education. Wedemeyer Award site. I had the honour of sharing the award with Michael Moore in Charles Wedemeyer, W. Lighty Professor of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is considered a father of modern distance education.

As a World War II naval instructor he created effective teaching methods for thousands of sailors deployed around the world. The work advanced a new discipline in the field of education by integrating adult, distance, open and independent learning with instructional systems design, and applications of instructional technology, organizational development, and evaluation.

He will learn at home, at the office, on the job, in the factory, store, or salesroom, or on the farm. Between them they were responsible for creating the U. Open University. It may seem odd to credit politicians for the development of distance education, but the Open University was first and foremost a political idea based on opening up higher education to all it was after all a Socialist government that created it. Thatcher came to power in , she was less hostile and eventually supported it it fitted nicely with her self-made philosophy — she had taken a University of London External Degree programme.

Open University Walter Perry more than anyone really created the U. Open University as it came to be recognised. He never wavered from the vision, and was adamant about establishing the highest possible academic standards for OU courses and programs, but he was also the ultimate pragmatist, able to get things done and make it work. Perry also had to establish a practical and mutually beneficial relationship with the BBC, and persuade the traditional universities not only to support the OU but also to collaborate with it the OU made heavy use of contracted faculty from the regular institutions to create its courses.

He also had to work with an unwieldy Senate that included every faculty member and all the regional staff tutors and counsellors. There are many others I could have included from the Christian St. Paul for his Epistles to the Corinthians, or J. View Brochure. Enquire Now.

Virtual Tour. Student Credit Card Scheme. Reading of the Preamble. How It All Began Though there are numerous examples of the usage of machines and tools in education throughout history, e-learning in the modern sense of the term is a relatively new concept. Source: Technavio report. Source: University Affairs Magazine. Recent Developments in Online Learning Online learning has evolved far beyond its original capabilities. Some of the features that give an edge to online education are: Less expensive than traditional teaching methods : As the cost of teaching is low, the expenses borne by the students inevitably come down.

This makes education far more widespread and economical. Study groups : There is a scope of engaging with like-minded students across the world, sharing information and ideas. Flexibility : This can be in terms of time, money, and location.

Online learning enables the student and the teacher to be present at opposite ends of the world, in different time zones, and yet have the knowledge imparted effectively. Much less infrastructure required : This is a huge incentive to the education providers, as the additional costs are largely minimized. Standardized quality : Since the content available online can be evaluated and revised at any point in time, it helps maintain a reasonable standard of quality.

In the University of House made distance learning history when it began offering the first televised college classes on KUHT today called HoustonPBS , which was the first public television station in the United States. Many of the courses aired in the evening so that learners who worked during the day had time to view the material. After the television, the personal computer and the personal web were the next major inventions to revolutionize distance education. In the University of Phoenix became the first institution to launch a fully online collegiate institution that offered both bachelors and masters degrees.

In , entrepreneurs Glen Jones and Bernand Luskin launched Jones International University, which became the first accredited and fully web-based university. Since the creation of these fully online programs and schools, distance learning has continued to grow in many different directions.