First online bachelor's degree?

Howdy folks,

I'm writing an article on online learning for an educational magazine. As part of it, I am giving a little bit of the history behind it. Does anyone know which school offered the first online bachelor's degree? I'm specifically looking for the first degree and not just individual courses.

I know many of the early ones, but I began to wonder if someone claimed (and could prove) that they were the first.

Thanks in advance for any help.



Tom Nixon

 

I did find that the Electronic University Network claims to be the first to offer an online degree in 1986 (albeit not using the WWW).

Anyone have other comments?


Tom Nixon

 

Digression...

Greetings.

Why are you writing an article on -just- online learning? I, at least, *far* prefer paper-based correspondence courses.

Change is inevitable, progress isn't.

Cordially,
Richard Kanarek

 

Richard,
Where did you find that tagline; change is inevitable.......?? I would like to use it for a paper I am doing on Change Management.
thanks, John

 

Hi Tom - it seems to me that EUN used content from a variety of schools, and it might have been a degree completion program - but I can't recall that specifically. I did meet Steve Eskow and Sarah Blackmun back in those early years. They had a good progam - and certainly some good ideas, but like us, almost too early!

I recall seeing a short history about EUN when they were acquired by Durand a few years ago. That might help you clarify what exactly they offered. I wonder if you might have to look to the ranks of DETC for a bachelor's program online and which is for the full four years. There are/were a few degree completions, but I honestly can't recall a complete 4-year degree offered that way - certainly not in the early years when Master's programs were offered online. ISIM/Aspen's previous owner (the one before Cardean) used to bristle every time someone like UoP or Jones would claim the first totally online accredited program since they were accredited after our programs were accredited - but of course they meant regional accreditation!

Good luck on your article. We did a time line a few years ago - right after Cardean acquired us - it may be useful to you - or it may not. If you are interested in it, let me know and I can probably locate it.

Mary

 

If I'm not mistaken, the University of London claims to the one of the first (if not THE first) to offer DL degrees.

Cy

 

I believe Tom is looking for "on line" as opposed to "distance learning". Certainly U of L has most everyone beat for the latter!

 

Could be true, but I'm specifically looking for online degrees. There were certainly with programs before UL with that particular delivery system.

Thanks everyone for the comments thus far. Keep them coming!



Tom Nixon

 

PBS

Hi = According to PBS distance learning site : "The first on line degree was offered by University of Phoenix and Connect Ed." (1989) http://www.pbs.org/als/dlweek/history/1980.htm Hille

 

I would question by what is meant as on-line in 1989. The World Wide Web wasn't going as we know it until the mid-90's. Two places may have been connected and courses given but it wasn't the World Wide Web. Jones University says they were the first fully accreditated online university, in 1999 - and they launched in 1995. But I suppose other universities that have a physical presence could have had offerings before Jones.

http://jiu-web-a.jonesinternational.edu/eprise/main/JIU/aboutJIU/JIU_about.html?banner=about

 

Hello - No it wasn't the WWW, but it was online, on the Internet and it used things like Compuserve or proprietary systems that enabled users to connect and interact both synchronously and asynchronously. We (ISIM/ASPEN) actually did it in 1987 - but were not authorized as a degree granting institution until 1989. Tom's research is online - not limited to the World Wide Web. Murray Turoff and Roxanne Hiltz were doing online communities research in the 80s, if not before, and I believe actually had courses online before most anyone else - just not complete degrees, which is Tom's focus.

I'm looking forward to reading Tom's article!

Mary

 

I would like to point out that there were quite a few of us "online" before the WWW came into existence. Believe it or not, there are still people who interact online without ever using the WWW. Newsgroups (in one form or another) and e-mail have been around for a long time, and I wouldn't even be surprised if it turned out to be the case that the first online degree used a service like Compuserve, or a BBS, rather than the Internet.

 

Nova it is ---1983

Nova Southeastern University (School of Computer and Information Sciences) started offering online programs in 1983.

http://www.scis.nova.edu

 

Nova started asynchronous online programs (email, ftp, telnet, etc) in 1983 and synchronous online programs (electronic classrooms) in 1985. The first synchronous electronic classroom (text-based) at Nova was called ECR. I am sure that Dr. Wetsch is very familiar with ECR.

 

My random thoughts about DL

Some of my comments about online learning at SCIS (Nova) doctoral forum are posted below. They may be pertinent to the article that you want to write.

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Electronic Classrooms and DE
Current advances in DL may be credited to advances multimedia technology. Multimedia has undoubtedly increased the efficacy and popularity of DL. The use of multimedia in DE has helped distance educators focus on improving the quality of their students’ individual interaction with learning materials. Examples of multimedia tools used in distance education (DE) include specially designed printed materials, audiotapes, videotapes and computer-based learning packages. These tools help distance educators teach concepts and cognitive skills associated with objectives in the context of coherent curricula.
Distance educators have recognized the need to provide opportunities for social interaction to support effective learning. They have tried to simulate face-to-face communication through the use of instructional tools that utilize multimedia technologies such as audio teleconferencing, audio-graphic communication systems, video conferencing and computer-mediated communication. Some of these tools support contiguous two-way (synchronous) communication between students and teachers.
Interactive multimedia can offer a range of benefits that are lacking in the traditional classroom setting by providing improved flexibility, cost- effectiveness, time-effectiveness, consistency and availability. Self-paced multimedia materials offer a private environment, which enables the DL students to review the material as many times as they wish.
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DE Delivery and Multimedia
The Information Age has forever changed the way education is delivered. This change does not only apply to distance education format but to traditional format as well. Many mainstream schools now have started distance education. Most of the schools that have established distance education are delivering instructions using the Internet and multimedia. The emerging multimedia technologies have unequivocally played a major role in increasing the acceptability of distance education.
For many years DL institutions have embraced a wide range of technologies to deliver instructions to DL students. They have been constantly searching for the best technology that will increase the educational experience DL students. In contrast, traditional educators have tended to rely mainly on traditional approaches and ignore new educational technologies but this is changing. New technologies such as virtual reality and videoconferencing have added vitality to conventional on-campus education, especially for institutions that are interested in improving the quality of teaching and learning.

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Classification of Distance Learning
Distance learning can be classified into three models: correspondence, asynchronous, and synchronous. The correspondence model is referred to as the first generation distance learning. In the correspondence model, snail-mails (letter) and telephone were (are) the main interactive tools between DL educators and DL students. Synchronous and asynchronous models belong to the second-generation distance education. In the asynchronous model, students and teachers use mainly electronic mails to interact. The synchronous model employs either a text-based or graphical-based tool that allows teachers and students to interact in real-time. The correspondence model, regarded generally as the first generation of distance education, has since been subsumed by the second generation DL. Highly-developed and refined teaching/learning resources, including printed study guides, selected readings, videotapes, audiotapes, computer-based courseware, computer-managed learning (CML), computer-assisted learning (CAL), and interactive video are used in second generation DL. The third generation DE that emerger in mid-1990s is delivered to DL students using the Internet. It employs advanced interactive tools such as desktop virtual reality (VR) and advanced videoconferencing tools.
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Ike

 

Ike,

I certainly do remember the ECR and it was quite innovative for its time. It was online, a character based interface, and provided interaction with other students and the instructor in an online synchronous classroom type of environment. We did not use it for all of our courses but would interface online using other resources that included online database systems, SPSS, the telnet/talk capabilities of the UNIX environment, having our own UNIX login and disk allocations, library access, and many other computerized tools that worked within the UNIX realm. We navigated around the Internet using lynx a text based protocol that predates http.

John

 

I wouldn't even be surprised if it turned out to be the case that the first online degree used a service like Compuserve, or a BBS, rather than the Internet.

That is why I think it should be clarified what is meant by on-line by the person doing the research. There were private on-line communities going back to the 60's that was not generally available to the public. That is quite a bit different from the WWW as we know it today.