How did this all get started?
SOLART STUDIOS ENT
Painting and Printing on Arts Works
Article: Online Learning
Author: Olusola
David, Ayibiowu
Edition : 11
Year : 21 August,
2017
Published: Online
by Creative Arts Solution Foundation
How did this all get started?
1960 – The University of Illinois
While the Internet would not be created by the
Department of Defense for another nine years, the University of Illinois
created an Intranet for its students in 1960. It was a system of linked
computer terminals where students could access course materials as well as
listen to recorded lectures. This would evolve into PLATO (Programmed Logic for
Automatic Teaching Operations). At its height, PLATO operated on thousands of
terminals across the globe. More interestingly, PLATO would be used to create
many of the concepts of social networking that we know today: message boards,
chat rooms, screen sharing, and even MMORPGs (source).
1979 – Lemonade Stand
Arguably the first massively played educational
computer game, Lemonade Stand was released in 1979 for Apple II, and the game
was included with Apple software packages throughout the 80s. The concept was
simple, create a successful lemonade stand, but the impact was great. It
introduced a generation to the idea of learning with computers and, more
specifically, to the idea of learning in virtual environments (source).
1984 – Electronic University Network (EUN)
Established with the mission of helping colleges and
universities expand the availability of online courses, EUN offered its first
online course in 1986 for use with DOS and Commodore 64 computers. However,
this was before the invention of the World Wide Web, and students had to use
proprietary software and communicate over telephone lines. The EUN began
collaborating with America Online in 1992, serving as its higher education
coordinator (source).
1994 – CAL Campus
This was the year when access to the Internet was
exploding with companies such as America Online, Delphi, CompuServe and a host
of other local Internet providers transforming stand-alone desktop computers in
people’s homes into windows to the world. The greater number of people with
Internet access allowed what was formerly a small, offline adult learning center,
CALC (Computer Assisted Learning Center), to evolve into CALCampus, which
offered the first courses that we would recognize as ‘online’ with real-time
instruction and interaction (source) over the Internet.
1997 – California Virtual University (CVU) and the
Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks (JALN)
CVU was established in 1997 as a clearinghouse to
provide information about all online courses available from accredited
California colleges and universities. While it would ultimately fold in 1999 for
political reasons, the concept spurred numerous online resources providing
students with information about online education opportunities, such as
California Virtual Campus (source). Despite the rather confusing title of the
publication, the Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks (JALN) was a
watershed moment in online education. Created by the prestigious Sloan
Consortium, JALN is a peer-reviewed journal that provided a dedicated space for
academic research focused solely on online education. This made it distinctive
from other publications that also included research on other types of distance
learning (source).
1999 – Accreditation for Jones International
University
North Central Accreditation is offered to Jones
International University in 1999. This marked a turning point for online
education, taking it from the sidelines of college education and improving its
image as a legitimate alternative to traditional, classroom-based college
instruction (source).
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