[Infographic] The Evolution of Online Education Technologies

Correspondence by Mail (1728):

The first known mention of distance education was an ad in the Boston Gazette stating that Caleb Phillips, a teacher of the new method of short–hand, was seeking students for lessons to be sent weekly- all of this was to be achieved through mail correspondence.

Film and Slides (1913):

Many universities started using slides and the film as a new method of distance education and off campus education.

TV & RADIO (1930):

TV & RADIO were being used in classrooms as well as satellite teaching and instruction from 1930s.

Adoption of the Internet (1996):

From the year 1996, distance education has been enlightened by widespread Internet adoption.

The Internet boom of the late 1990s made away for many asynchronous forms of online education, while 2000s brought synchronous methods.

Asynchronous technology is a mode of delivery where participants access course materials on their own schedule. Students are not required to be together at the same time in order to access the information.

Eg:Telephone or Voice mail, Audio or Video recording, Email and Fax.

Synchrous technology resembles traditional classroom as it requires all participants to be present at the same time.

Eg: Web conferencing, Live streaming, Internet Radio, etc.

Online Education Statistics:

In 2006, 3.5 million US students participated in online education.

In 2007, over 20% of all US higher education students had taken at least one online course.

In 2009, 96% of universities offered online education and 44% students had taken at least one course.

Let’s have a look at the pictorial representation of the above mentioned details.

This infographic originally appeared here