A Brief History of Online Education

The internet has given us many gifts over the years – from music and video game codes to not-so-G-rated material. Therefore, it is not surprising that e-learning has attracted so much attention in the web world. In the last decade, online education and internet training have given many people a new incentive to learn.

In the early 80’s, e-training was just becoming a potential creation. Companies and educational institutes only hired trainers to educate their students. That was because computers were just starting to grow, making it difficult to come up with another plan. These teachers were great at the time because they allowed the training to be very hands-on, especially since the students could interact with their classmates and see the lessons visually. However, the problem with only instructors was that there was a lot of free time in between. Students were unable to study the material on their own time, so difficulties arose when training with hordes of other people.

Fortunately, as the computer industry began to expand, e-training became a reality. Over the next decade, multimedia was available to everyone. Businesses were just starting to use PowerPoint; a program that allowed users to create visually enhanced presentations. Video games and other multimedia programs also appeared, leading to a technological overhaul. As these advances continued, online education was just a step away.

The first type of online education appeared in the mid-1990s. At that time the internet was a huge success and multimedia was taken to another level. The first e-training companies aimed their services mainly at companies that did not want to hire trainers. While the online training courses were great for new hires who needed training, this was just the beginning of an uphill process. The online education was very slow as the images were small and the entire course was text based. Despite this, it began to attract the attention of many.

As the 1990s drew to a close, the millennium marked an entirely new period for technology. E-learning was finally on the map as online educational courses were now very popular in colleges and businesses. Great streaming media, online video access, and fast website servers made it possible for online education to make a splash. Students were now able to study from home during their free time as it was quite difficult to get a job and go to school.

Today, online education has come a long way. Teachers are now being hired to teach online exclusively, which usually consists of being filmed for instructional videos. Businesses also hire these online educational programs because not only can training be quick, but it can also be accessed at any time of the day or night. For many it is a great opportunity because it gives us all more knowledge. Through this type of e-learning, not only can we get college degrees, but we can live a life without having to stay in the office overnight just to learn something.

Thanks to Natalie Aranda