Historical Perspective

Notes USA UK Notes

Sir Issac Pitman offers
shorthand instruction via
correspondence
1840 The newly established Penny
Post enabled the more rapid
communication between
teacher and student
Founding of the
Phonographic
Correspondence Society,
precursor to Pitmans
Correspondence Colleges
1843
Attracts more than 10,000
students (Mostly women)
over the course of 24 years.
1873 Anna Eliot Ticknor founds the
Society to Encourage
Studies at Home in Boston
Skerrys College in
Edinburgh begins offering
correspondence courses
1878
State of New York granted
authority to issue degrees.
Required completion of a
summer institute in addition
to correspondence courses.
1883- 1891 Academic Degrees granted
by Chautauqua College of
Liberal Arts for
Correspondence students
University Correspondence
College in London is founded
1887
Venture turns into
International Correspondence
Schools. Enrollment grows
from 225,000 in 1900 to more
than 2 million in 1920.
1891 Thomas Foster, editor of
Mining Herald, offers
correspondence course in
mining and mine safety
Illinois Wesleyan and
Extension Dept of the
University of Chicago were
especially inuential
1881-
1890
University Extension
movement in US promotes
correspondence method,
even for Bachelors,
Masters, and Doctoral
degrees
Oxford, Cambridge, and
London use correspondence
models in teaching degrees.
1881-
1890
These universities inuenced
the American universities in
the promotion of
correspondence education
Faculty interest waned and
enrollment in correspondence
courses dropped
1899 University of Chicago
suspends correspondence
program
1923 Boston area secondary
school students given access
to vocational education
through correspondence
1950 Western Reserve University
offers rst televised course
Open University founded in
England. Grants degrees
and uses innovative media.
1971 Satellite communication and
expanding television access
allows innovation in course
delivery
1980s Satellite communication
enables cheaper, faster
electronic communication
Satellite communication
enables cheaper, faster
electronic communication
1980s
(Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, Zvacek, Teaching and Learning at a Distance, 2012)