Last Edited
As many students experience online learning for the first time during the pandemic they might like to take a look at the history of distance learning by exploring primary sources.
Originally called correspondence courses as described in the Inside Adams Science Technology and Business blog post Distance education: Re-imagining an Old Solution to a Modern Problem they’ll get a unique look at how technology and availability has shaped the experience. And of course learning doesn’t just have to be formal. Many have used technology to add to their body of knowledge and skills without being directed by a facilitator or teacher.
Inspired by the images in the Picture This Library of Congress Prints and Photos blog post Listen Up! A Look at Distance Learning this album contains some of those images and others that might give students a perspective on distance learning and changes over time.
As your students analyze the photos and do further research they might brainstorm around the following topics:
- Formal or informal learning
- Distance learning audience or recipients
- Tools and techniques
- Advantages/disadvantages
- Accessibility
- Effectiveness of the learning
- Types of content, skill or information provided
Or other questions/topics they might have as they study the topic.
Next they can reflect on how effective their own distance learning has been in reaching their own learning targets while using technology to learn from home.
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Edited
Fantastic topic and a reminder that distance learning is not a new concept. Students in rural areas have been learning remotely for decades. Minnesota and Wisconsin Public radio stations have been in the "education business" for decades. The Wisconsin Public Radio web site offers these insights:
- 1931 - WHA debuts the Wisconsin School of the Air with 10 weekly programs for in-school use. WHA is assigned studio space in the State Capitol (which still exists today). WHA carries the first regular remote broadcasts from a University of Wisconsin classroom.
- 1933 - WHA-AM debuts the Wisconsin College of the Air and offers a course in touch typing by radio. WHA and WLBL continue regular program simulcasts using phone company lines rather than less reliable "off-air" pickup, but due to a budget cut, a UW doctoral graduate devises 1,050-foot ground antenna for WLBL so they can pickup WHA reliably. (Total cost: $95). The antenna also allows WLBL to carry Green Bay Packers football games from WTMJ-Milwaukee from 1933 to 1938.
I gravitate to WPR for gardening tips, book ideas and science updates.
Thanks, 
Cheryl Davis
for the fun photos!
Your examples of Wisconsin School of the Air in the 1930s are a good reminder of the long history of distance learning. So interesting to read about the cost and technology used at that time. And good point that students in rural areas have been distance learning for decades. Even some of our colleagues in this network have been involved in successful online education for years.
What a timely topic to which students can really relate! Here is an under 2-minute YouTube: A Brief History of Distance Education from Drexel University Online.
What a wonderful album documenting the history of distance learning. The photographs add so much to understanding how it has evolved. Thank you,
Cheryl Davis
, for assembling these images (many of which are a walk down memory lane for me).
I love this! I really didn't think about how long distance learning has really been around. This was eye opening and very interesting!
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