Advances in Online Learning

The fundamental idea of distance education can be traced to the emergence of cuneiform and pictographic records that transmitted ideas across distance and time from one person to another, often instructing them on how to proceed with a task. Perhaps the origin of modern distance education is best traced to the University of Chicago, which offered mail correspondence courses for college credit beginning in 1892. The University of Iowa pioneered television broadcast courses in 1933, and at the same time, various efforts were begun in Australia to reach remote outback schools and in England to reach those that were unable to attend college classes.¹