Distance learning didn’t start with Zoom or Moodle. It didn’t even begin with the internet. The idea of learning without being in the same room as your teacher goes back over 150 years - long before anyone imagined a laptop, let alone a smartphone. So when did distance learning become a thing? The answer isn’t a single year. It’s a chain of small, practical innovations that slowly turned isolation into opportunity.
Letters, Postal Systems, and the First Distance Course
The first true distance learning course was offered in 1840 by Isaac Pitman, a British shorthand instructor. He taught shorthand through mailed lessons. Students would write their assignments on paper, send them by post, and Pitman would return them with corrections. It was simple, slow, and surprisingly effective. By 1843, he had over 25,000 students across the UK and even in places like Australia and Canada. No classrooms. No lectures. Just ink, paper, and the postal service.
This wasn’t just a hobby. It was a business model. Pitman’s system proved that people who couldn’t attend school - because of work, location, or personal circumstance - would pay for structured learning. His method became the blueprint for what we now call correspondence courses. By the 1890s, universities in the U.S. and Europe were offering similar programs. The University of London began awarding degrees to students who studied remotely in 1858, making it the first university in the world to offer external degrees.
Radio, Television, and the Rise of Broadcast Education
Then came the 20th century, and with it, new tools. In the 1920s, radio stations in the U.S. and Europe started broadcasting educational programs. Schools in rural areas used them to supplement limited teaching staff. In 1929, the University of Iowa began airing lectures over radio. By the 1950s, television took over. The BBC launched its first educational TV program in 1957. In the U.S., the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) started airing classroom-style lessons for high school students in the 1960s.
These weren’t interactive. You couldn’t ask questions. But they made learning accessible to people who had no access to teachers. In places like the Australian Outback or remote parts of Canada, TV and radio became lifelines. By the 1970s, over 100,000 students in the U.S. were enrolled in televised college courses. The technology was one-way, but the need was real.
The Computer Age and the Birth of Online Learning
The real shift didn’t happen until computers became common. In the 1980s, universities started experimenting with computer-based learning. The University of Illinois launched PLATO in the 1960s - an early online learning system that let students take quizzes and communicate via message boards. It was clunky, slow, and only available on mainframe terminals. But it worked.
By the 1990s, the internet changed everything. In 1994, the University of Phoenix began offering fully online degree programs. It wasn’t the first, but it was the first to scale. By 1998, it had over 50,000 students enrolled online. Around the same time, MIT started putting course materials online for free. That was the beginning of OpenCourseWare - a radical idea: what if education didn’t need to be locked behind tuition?
Then came the dot-com boom. Companies like Blackboard and WebCT built platforms that let universities host lectures, assignments, and discussion forums online. Suddenly, distance learning wasn’t just for adult learners or people in remote areas. College students in cities were taking classes from their dorm rooms. The line between "on-campus" and "online" started to blur.
The Turning Point: 2020 and the Global Shift
People often think distance learning became popular because of the pandemic. But that’s backwards. The pandemic didn’t create distance learning - it exposed how ready it already was.
By 2019, over 6 million students in the U.S. alone were taking at least one online course. In the UK, the Open University had over 170,000 active students. In India, the National Institute of Open Schooling served more than 3 million learners. These weren’t fringe experiments. They were mainstream.
When schools shut down in March 2020, millions of teachers scrambled to adapt. Many had never used Zoom or Google Classroom. But the infrastructure was already there. Platforms, training, and student expectations had been building for decades. What changed in 2020 wasn’t the technology - it was the scale. Suddenly, distance learning wasn’t an option for a few. It became the only option for nearly everyone.
Why Distance Learning Stuck Around
After the pandemic, many schools went back to in-person teaching. But distance learning didn’t disappear. Why? Because it solved real problems.
- Working parents could fit classes around shifts and childcare.
- Students with chronic illness or disabilities could learn without physical barriers.
- People in small towns could access courses from top universities without moving.
- Adult learners could earn degrees without quitting their jobs.
Employers started noticing. Companies like Amazon and Google began offering tuition reimbursement for online degrees. In 2023, the U.S. Department of Education reported that over 30% of all college students took at least one course online. That number was 12% in 2010.
Distance learning isn’t a temporary fix. It’s a permanent part of education. It’s not better than classroom learning - it’s different. And for many, it’s the only way to learn.
What Distance Learning Looks Like Today
Today’s distance learning isn’t just video lectures and PDFs. It’s interactive. It’s adaptive. It’s personalized.
Platforms like Coursera, FutureLearn, and Khan Academy use AI to adjust lessons based on how you answer questions. You might get extra practice on algebra if you struggle with it, or skip ahead if you master it fast. Some programs even use video analysis to check if you’re paying attention - not to punish you, but to help you stay focused.
There are also hybrid models. Many universities now offer "flexible attendance" - you can attend live lectures or watch recordings later. You can join a discussion in person or post online. The classroom isn’t a place anymore. It’s an experience.
And the tools keep improving. Virtual reality labs let nursing students practice procedures. Language learners use AI chatbots to practice conversations. Students in rural Kenya can take physics courses from Harvard - not because they moved, but because the internet brought the course to them.
It Wasn’t One Moment - It Was a Movement
So when did distance learning become a thing? It wasn’t 2020. It wasn’t 1994. It wasn’t even 1840.
It became a thing when enough people realized that learning shouldn’t depend on where you live, how much money you have, or whether you can sit in a chair for six hours a day. Every letter sent by post, every radio broadcast, every online quiz, every Zoom call - they were all steps in a long, quiet revolution.
Distance learning didn’t replace traditional education. It expanded it. It gave people who were left out a way in. And that’s why it’s still here - because education, at its best, isn’t about location. It’s about access.
Was distance learning invented in the 20th century?
No. The first distance learning course was offered in 1840 by Isaac Pitman, who taught shorthand through mailed lessons. This predates the 20th century by over 50 years. While technology like radio and TV expanded its reach later, the core idea - learning without being physically present - began in the 1800s.
Did the internet make distance learning possible?
No, but it transformed it. Distance learning existed for over 140 years before the internet. Radio, TV, and postal mail were the main tools. The internet made it faster, more interactive, and scalable. It allowed real-time feedback, video lectures, and global access - but it didn’t invent the concept.
Was distance learning only for adults?
Not originally, but mostly. Early distance learning focused on working adults - like Pitman’s shorthand students or postal college courses for teachers. But by the 1970s and 80s, schools began using TV broadcasts for K-12 students. Today, distance learning includes everything from preschool online storytime to PhD programs. It’s for everyone.
Why did universities start offering online degrees?
Universities started offering online degrees to reach more students and generate new revenue. But the deeper reason was recognition that many learners couldn’t attend campus - due to work, family, location, or disability. The University of Phoenix’s success in the 1990s showed there was a massive, underserved market. Other schools followed to stay competitive and meet demand.
Is distance learning as good as in-person learning?
It’s not better or worse - it’s different. Studies show similar learning outcomes when courses are well-designed. The difference is in experience. In-person learning offers social interaction and immediate feedback. Online learning offers flexibility and control. Many students perform better online because they can learn at their own pace. The key isn’t the format - it’s the quality of teaching and support.