Getting Connected: A Brief History of Online Education

https://www.onlineschoolscenter.com/history-of-online-education/

Back to 1892. That's not online but it is distance.

 

I completely disagree with the concept that correspondence school is the birth parent of online learning. That's like saying email was spawned from postal mail. Or that electric light was through the improvement of candles. (Oren Harari)
I think the distinctions are many, but an obvious one -in my opinion- is target audience and motive. Initially, the target audience of correspondence school were people who couldn't attend traditional college for some reason or another.
At the time when correspondence school was alive and well, and Dr. Bear can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think anyone estimated the quality of correspondence school to be on par or superior to face to face learning. It was Plan B.
Distance learning, either for a credential or personal interest, is Plan A for many people - and there isn't necessarily a distinction about it being an "online" for the very reason that it is considered on par=equal to the degree earned on campus. You'll see that phrase frequently in marketing materials. People in my son's generation (he's 19) can't imagine physically having to go to a building to learn something.

 

The lineage is in being education at a distance.

Walter Chrysler's education was from ICS and he did well enough.

 

It would be more accurately titled a history of distance education and is missing quite a few important events for distance or online education, but is an interesting infographic.

 

I thought most interesting that a university had correspondence courses in 1892.

 

This makes a little more sense....


https://www.petersons.com/articles/online-degrees/online-education-history