Now that I have your attention, below is a timeline that I designed that touches on points in the history of online education that were of interest to myself. Books have been written on the topic and the timeline will continue to grow so I acknowledge that there are gaps or items that you think I’ve missed.
What do you think are some of the major moments in online education? Why?
References
The History of Online Education. (2017, November 29). Peterson’s. Retrieved on September 15, 2018 from https://www.petersons.com/blog/the-history-of-online-education/
Straighterline. (2014, July 11). A Brief History of Online Learning [Blog post]. Retrieved on September 14, 2018 from https://www.straighterline.com/blog/brief-history-online-learning-infographic/
Learndash. (2015, July 20). History of the LMS [Blog post]. Retrieved on September 15, 2018 from https://www.learndash.com/history-of-the-lms/
Innovative learning. (n.d.). Online Learning Timeline [Blog post]. Retrieved on Sept 15, 2018 from http://innovativelearning.com/online_learning/timeline.html
September 15, 2018 at 6:17 pm
Chad, thank you for your history of On-Line Education. You included many key components. During my investigation of this topic I was surprised to learn that the University of Alberta starting offering online classes in the School of Medicine in 1968. According to Lepi (2012) long before the internet, the University was using an IBM 1500 to offer content, track grades and organized documents. Canada was also a leader in development of Learning Management Systems (LMS). WebCT, Blackboard and Desire2Learn were all developed in Canada, and online education history would not be complete without a mention of LMS. Further searching led me to the Wikipedia page that holds a wealth of information on the history of LMS. I thought I would include the link here, as I had no idea of the amount of history behind what I thought was a relatively new technology and thought perhaps you would like to take a quick look. The references include a wealth of information on the history of LMS as well as the history of Educational Technology.
Lepi, K. (2012). Who Actually Started Online Education? Retrieved from http://www.edudemic.com/online-education-starters/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_virtual_learning_environments
September 16, 2018 at 12:36 pm
Wow, thanks for sharing Tanya. I didn’t realize that Canada had such a strong influence in the creation of the LMS and its tools. Thanks for the link, super interesting. Do you use an LMS at all? We use D2L at the institute I work at. For the most part I like it but have issues with the fact that the information disappears to the students when the course is complete. I’m looking for an easy way to use my LMS as well as share all the information for later.
September 16, 2018 at 1:31 pm
Hi Chad
I think the advent of education TV in the 1950s and 60s is an important milestone for consideration. I think it was an important adaptation like your mention of the partnership with Westinghouse and Pen State. The Ford Foundation also funded research with Pen State on delivering courses via closed-circuit TV a precursor to the educational TV for the masses. (Reiser, 2001, p.58) I find this adaptation of media consistent throughout the history of Ed Tech. Radio in 1922, Educational TV in the 1950s, Computer-based learning in the 1960s, Web 2.0, Social Media 2000 etc. A great post-Chad informative and great visual appeal as well. Thanks, Lorne
Reference
Reiser, R. A. (2001). A History of Instructional Design and Technology: Part I: A History of Instructional Media, 49(1), 53–64. Retrieved from https://link-springer-com.ezproxy.royalroads.ca/content/pdf/10.1007%2FBF02504506.pdf
September 16, 2018 at 9:22 pm
Speaking of online courses and firsts, I thought you might all appreciate reading this: https://www.tonybates.ca/tag/linda-harasim/
I should note the difference in the date in the article above (1986 as the date of the first online course) vs. the date Tanya highlights (1968). This is an illustrative example of some of the questions raised in this unit: Who writes the history and how does that history differ when told by different people?