More on the History of Distance Learning

So there’s this lovely trend going on right now to use figures with crisp little icons and fantastic design to explain things – undoubtedly jumping off of the “picture is worth a thousand words” theme. These aptly titled “infographics” represent information graphically, and – if they’re done well – in an understandable and compelling fashion. So before we jump right into the content, let’s see the recap in the infographic below.

Need an accessible version? Find a plain copy of a PDF version here and find a plain copy of a Word version here.

straighterline infographic history of distance learning

What a difference a couple of years makes! There’s so much more going on in eLearning that isn’t even in this infographic (including so much growth since then and, you know, a global pandemic), but we’ll be covering that in subsequent modules.

There are a couple of things about this infographic that might not be 100% accurate (hint: there are various different dates for different events dependent upon your sources).  What is Straighterline anyways?  Check it out if you’re interested.

Read this article to get a more nuanced view of the history of distance learning:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NKts8FmR5ef4djFVhG-iOcUiuiohjkJZ/view?usp=sharing

  1. ePortfolios for the Higher Education Administrator
  2. A Brief History of Distance Learning
  3. More on the History of Distance Learning (you are here)