History of Online Courses

Distance learning has been around since approximately 1840, when correspondence courses were first introduced. "E-learning" came about when computers were first invented. However, online education has only been around since the 1990s, as that is when the Internet started to gain widespread acceptance and use.

Employers themselves began training newly-hired employees with online courses. This did not escape the notice of various colleges and universities, who quickly developed curricula involving online education. Several types of software were developed to enhance students' online education, and various media were included in online programs to enhance students' experience, including video, audio, and print media as well as Internet-based learning.

After the year 2000, technology continued to advance, and more schools developed online courses, including some degrees offered entirely online. As of 2006, 3.5 million students surveyed were taking no less than one online class.

While testing originally had to occur in person at a facility where students could be monitored by a live proctor, since the development of the webcam and additional software, students may now take their tests in the comfort of their own homes while the webcam records and transmits their activity. This recording is then reviewed by a proctor to ensure that cheating has not occurred.

Of course, the most popular scenario at present is the modern version of the correspondence course: the student buys a textbook, and then accesses all course work over the Internet, rather than sending and receiving materials through the mail. Most of the time, the student never needs to appear in person (this does not apply to doctoral programs). This enables people to earn a degree who would otherwise be unable to do so. Online programs have become so popular, in fact, that enrollment is likely to suffer at colleges that do not offer at least a few online programs.

As with anything in life, the longer a method of doing something has been successful, the more widely-accepted it becomes. As more employers recognize that their employees with online degrees have received a high-quality education, Internet courses continue to rise in the public's esteem and carry more weight with employers than they did even a few years ago.

And with high speed Internet and continuous improvements in connectivity, it's extremely rare to lose a connection or experience other types of technological inconvenience while learning online. However, as technology continues to advance, no doubt new challenges as well as exciting advances in online instruction will continue to appear.

So while the history of distance and virtual learning environments is long and has been fraught with challenges as technology continues to advance, the popularity and acceptance of such education continues to grow and flourish in today's job market.