Which was the First Online University Offering Classes?

Distance learning is not a new concept, in itself, but it has never been as convenient and effective as it is today and because of this new accredited collegiate institutions are popping up everyday. A quick look at history reveals extra-geographically based scholarship as early as the 1700s. Then, the practice started to build momentum in the United States under University of Chicago president William Rainey Harper in 1892, when he kick-started the initiative to connect research universities around the world by way of satellite educational centers.

Through the 1900s, the concept of distance learning spread, hastened by radio and television under The Open University in the UK. Open Universities opened up worldwide. Then, the University of Phoenix began as a distance education program in 1976, taking its offerings online as early as 1989, the time of the Commodore. Throughout this period, brick and mortar institutions began to dabble in the Internet. Peter Copen created the New York State/Moscow Schools Telecommunications Project, which connected a dozen schools in New York with a dozen in the former Soviet Union, demonstrating the possibilities for globalization of education in a brave new world.

In 1995, WeBWorK was launched. WeBWork provided online schools with a means of transmitting homework across the web on a Perl-based platform. Finally, in 1996, the first online school as we know it today, Jones International School, opened its doors to students as an accredited, degree-granting institution. Based out of Centennial, Colorado, the school is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.

Sixteen years later, online education is going strong. As of the tenth anniversary of Jones International School’s opening, only 4% of institutions with over 15,000 students did not offer online classes. The number of students enrolled in a distance education program doubled between 2000 and 2008, and the number of students in a traditional college taking online classes increased by 12%. The quality of education across these programs is monitored by the Quality Assurance Agency abroad, and by the Distance Education and Training Council in America.

In 2009, President Obama earmarked $500 million dollars for the support of online education. Today, one third of baccalaureate programs have claimed that the incorporation of online education into their development strategies are necessary for success. Students are loathe to give up good jobs in favor of relocating for school, and with gas prices climbing, they want education where they can reach it. Experts predict that online education will continue to grow more quickly than any other sector of higher education.

The success of online education is starting to build a path for the creation of successful distance education in pre-college education. One of the pioneers of this program is the University of California at Santa Cruz, which hosts the University of California College Prep Program, extends opportunities for small high schools to offer AP classes they couldn’t otherwise afford to their students.

Online schooling is an element of education that is clearly here not just to stay, but to grow and supplement traditional education where it can add the most value. Though there will always be a place for brick and mortar education, as more traditional colleges offer nontraditional classes, the reputation of distance education grows by leaps and bounds. Future generations are sure to have more educational opportunities than ever before.