This Article Is About Education Over a Distance for Learning That Is Spaced Over Time, See Distributed Learning

What Is Distance Education ? This article is about education over a distance For learning that is spaced over time, see Distributed learning Distance education or distance learning is a mode of delivering education and instruction, often on an individual basis, to students who are not physically present in a traditional setting such as a classroom Distance learning provides "access to learning when the source of information and the learners are separated by time and distance, or both"[1] Distance education courses that require a physical on-site presence for any reason (excluding taking examinations) have been referred to as hybrid[2] or blended[3] courses of study Massive open online courses (MOOCs), aimed at large-scale interactive participation and open access via the web or other network technologies, are a recent development in distance education History The earliest distance education courses may date back to the early 18th century in Europe[citation needed] One of the earliest examples was from a 1728 advertisement in the Boston Gazette for "Caleb Phillips, Teacher of the new method of Short Hand," who sought students who wanted to learn through weekly mailed lessons[4] First distance education courses Sir Isaac Pitman, pioneer of distance education in the 1840s The first distance education course in the modern sense was provided by Sir Isaac Pitman in the 1840s, who taught a system of shorthand by mailing texts transcribed into shorthand on postcards and receiving transcriptions from his students in return for correction The element of student feedback was a crucial innovation of Pitman's system[5] This scheme was made possible by the introduction of uniform postage rates across England in 1840[6] This early beginning proved extremely successful, and the Phonographic Correspondence Society was founded three years later to establish these courses on a more formal basis The Society paved the way for the later formation of Sir Isaac Pitman Colleges across the country[7] University correspondence courses The University of London was the first university to offer distance learning degrees, establishing its External Programme in 1858 The background to this innovation lay in the fact that the institution (later known as University College London) was non- denominational and, given the intense religious rivalries at the time, there was an outcry against the "godless" university The issue soon boiled down to which institutions had degree-granting powers and which institutions did not[8] The London University in 1827, drawn by Thomas Hosmer Shepherd The compromise solution that emerged in 1836 was that the sole authority to conduct the examinations leading to degrees would be given to a new officially recognised entity called the "University of London", which would act as examining body for the University of London colleges, originally University College London and King's College London, and award their students University of London degrees As Sheldon Rothblatt states, "thus arose in nearly archetypal form the famous English distinction between teaching and examining, here embodied in separate institutions"[8] With the state giving examining powers to a separate entity, the groundwork was laid for the creation of a programme within the new university that would both administer examinations and award qualifications to students taking instruction at another institution or pursuing a course of self-directed study William Rainey Harper, encouraged the development of external university courses at the new University of Chicago in the 1890s Referred to as "People's University" by Charles Dickens because it provided access to higher education to students from less affluent backgrounds, the External Programme was chartered by Queen Victoria in 1858, making the University of London the first university to offer distance learning degrees to students[9][10] Enrolment increased steadily during the late 19th century, and its example was widely copied elsewhere[11] This program is now known as the University of London International Programme and includes Postgraduate, Undergraduate and Diploma degrees created by colleges such as the London School of Economics, Royal Holloway and Goldsmiths[10] In the United States, William Rainey Harper, first president of the University of Chicago, developed the concept of extended education, whereby the research university had satellite colleges of education in the wider community In 1892 he also encouraged the concept of correspondence school courses to further promote education, an idea that was put into practice by Columbia University[12][13] Enrollment in the largest private for-profit school based in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the International Correspondence Schools grew explosively in the 1890s Originally founded in 1888 to provide training for immigrant coal miners aiming to become state mine inspectors or foremen, it enrolled 2500 new students in 1894 and matriculated 72,000 new students in 1895 By 1906 total enrollments reached 900,000 The growth was due to sending out complete textbooks instead of single lessons, and the use of 1200 aggressive in-person salesmen[14][15] There was a stark contrast in pedagogy: The regular technical school or college aims to educate a man broadly; our aim, on the contrary, is to educate him only along some particular line The college demands that a student shall have certain educational qualifications to enter it, and that all students study for approximately the same length of time, and when they have finished their courses they are supposed to be qualified to enter any one of a number of branches in some particular profession We, on the contrary, are aiming to make our courses fit the particular needs of the student who takes them[16] Education was a high priority in the Progressive Era, as American high schools and colleges expanded greatly For men who were older or were too busy with family responsibilities, night schools were opened, such as the YMCA school in Boston that became Northeastern University Outside the big cities, private correspondence schools offered a flexible, narrowly focused solution In 1916 efficiency was enhanced by the formation of the National Association of Corporation Schools[17] Universities around the world used correspondence courses in the first half of the 20th century, especially to reach rural students Australia with its vast distances was especially active; the University of Queensland established its Department of Correspondence Studies in 1911[18] In South Africa, the University of South Africa, formerly an examining and certification body, started to present distance education tuition in 1946 The International Conference for Correspondence Education held its first meeting in 1938[19] The goal was to provide individualized education for students, at low cost, by using a pedagogy of testing, recording, classification, and differentiation[20][21] Radio and television The very rapid spread of radio in the United States in the 1930s led to proposals to use it for distance education By 1938, at least 200 city school systems, 25 state boards of education, and many colleges and universities broadcast educational programs for the public schools[22] One line of thought was to use radio as a master teacher " Experts in given fields broadcast lessons for pupils within the many schoolrooms of the public school system, asking questions, suggesting readings, making assignments, and conducting tests This mechanizes education and leaves the local teacher only the tasks of preparing for the broadcast and keeping order in the classroom"[23] A typical setup came in Kentucky in 1948 when John Wilkinson Taylor, president of the University of Louisville, teamed up with the National Broadcasting Corporation to use radio as a medium for distance education, The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission endorsed the project and predicted that the "college- by-radio" would put "American education 25 years ahead" The University was owned by the city, and local residents would pay the low tuition rates, receive their study materials in the mail, and listen by radio to live classroom discussions that were held on campus[24] Charles Wedemeyer of the University of Wisconsin– Madison also promoted new methods From 1964 to 1968, the Carnegie Foundation funded Wedemeyer's Articulated Instructional Media Project (AIM) which brought in a variety of communications technologies aimed at providing learning to an off- campus population Open University Walton Hall, renovated in 1970 to act as the headquarters of the newly established Open University (Artist: Hilary French) The Open University in the United Kingdom was founded by the then serving Labour Party government under Prime Minister Harold Wilson, based on the vision of Michael Young Planning commenced in 1965 under Minister of State for Education Jennie Lee, who established a model for the OU as one of widening access to the highest standards of scholarship in higher education, and set up a planning committee consisting of university vice-chancellors, educationalists and television broadcasters, chaired by Sir Peter Venables The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Assistant Director of Engineering at the time James Redmond, had obtained most of his qualifications at night school, and his natural enthusiasm for the project did much to overcome the technical difficulties of using television to broadcast teaching programmes The University revolutionised the scope of the correspondence program and

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