Distance Learning and Online Relationships - Getting Smart by Guest Author - CUNY, Higher education, Online Learning. By Wendy Williams I never get to meet most of my students in person, because I teach asynchronous online courses via Blackboard, for the City University of New York (CUNY). I was part of a cohort of Ph.D. students who began teaching after fully online programs were available. The online venue allowed us to keep researching and writing our dissertations, teaching asynchronously as time permitted. While teaching, I was working on my anthropological research, on Chinese Americans and their digital communication strategies in Brooklyn’s Chinatown.
The focus of my research was the online relationships this group builds and maintains online, using everything from Skype to the Chinese social networking service QQ. My favorite part of doing my anthropological fieldwork was developing new relationships, especially with one particular family. The CUNY online program, part of the School of Professional Studies (SPS), is for degree completers.
The History of Distance Learning - Infographic. In 1728, the first recorded instance of distance learning occurred in Boston, USA, when a "Caleb Phillips" advertises private correspondence courses in short hand in the Boston Gazette. Would you be interested to know the rest of The History of Distance Learning? In 1840s, Sir Isaac Pitman runs correspondence courses teaching his revolutionary short hand system.
Pitamn shorthand is still widely used today. In 1858, the University of London becomes the first university to offer distance learning degres. In 1892, the term "distance education" is first used in a pamphlet by the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the USA. The Distance Learning: A History of Flexibility infographic tracks distance learning growth from pre-revolutionary America to 21st Century Britain, where almost 400,000 students are currently engaged in distance learning courses. From lectures sent via phonograph and radio broadcast, to degrees delivered in the digital age, its evolution – and its reach – is staggering.
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