Without the slightest desire to embitter those who undertook the task of distance education in Greece - and you wouldn't say that they succeeded in their mission -, distance education has existed on the planet since there have been post offices. With the pandemic, more than 1.2 billion children in 186 countries have resorted to this method, so that they can continue their lessons during the months when schools are closed.
However, even before Covid-19 appeared in our lives, there was a huge growth in e-learning, with related investments reaching 18.66 billion dollars, across the planet in 2019. As the We Forum reports, the 'market' is estimated to be it will be worth $350,000,000,0000 by 2025.
There are those who support, there are those who argue that this sudden move will lead to poor results, since there is no relevant training, the preparation was of short duration and the bandwidth is limited. The teachers who have been involved for years explain that data is changing the way we have known teaching until now, with teachers being able to approach their students in a more multifaceted and efficient way, through chat groups, video meetings and sending documents.
Research proves that eLearning takes 40 to 60% less time for a student to learn something compared to a traditional classroom, because they can move at their own pace, go back to something they didn't understand or use tools that will do more understandable any content. Other research shows that on average students 'retain' 25 to 60% of information (material) online, compared to the 8 to 10% they retain in the classroom.
All of this applies, as long as the work is done as it should be and not as experienced by the vast majority of students in Greece - where a computer was not even a given for every student. Like in Indonesia where only 34% of students have access (in Switzerland the figure reaches 95%).
In order to fully understand what those who undertook the task of distance education in our country failed to do, we need to cite some facts regarding distance education.
✎ The first recorded case of distance learning was that of 1728, when Caleb Phillips, a resident of Boston, advertised in the Boston Gazette that he was giving private shorthand lessons by mail.
✎ In the 1840s Sir Isaac Pitman sent postcards to his shorthand students, with the work he assigned them - and they responded by mail.
✎ In 1858 the University of London became the first college to offer degrees through this method.
✎ In 1873, the first official educational program by correspondence became a fact. It was the 'Society to encourage home studies'. It focused on women and their access to higher education. It was inspired by author and educator, Anna Eliot Ticnor, from Boston. She went down in history as 'the mother of correspondence schools'.
How it worked: students received instructions by mail and used the same way to send their assignments or direct any question they wanted to ask the professors. Apparently there was some delay, with times improving when the postal service improved its systems.
✎ In 1888, Pennsylvania's largest non-profit institution, the International Correspondence Schools, was founded , to offer the opportunity for migrant miners to develop into mine inspectors or foremen. In 1897 it had 2500 new students, in 1895 it reached 72,000 and in 1906 900,000. The increase was entirely dependent on sending out not one lesson at a time, but entire books and 'recruiting' 1200 program 'salesmen'.
✎ In 1892, the term 'distance education' was mentioned in the advertising brochures of the University of Wisconsin Madison . In 1906 the same university was recording lectures and sending them to students, in phonograph form.
✎ In 1911 the University of Queensland in Australia became the first to acquire a correspondence course. Advances in technology took over next. With the advent of radio, universities could now 'broadcast' information to students. The first of its kind was Pennsylvania State College, which 'stepped' into radio broadcasting in 1922. There was an objective problem:communication was one-way - students could not pose questions or questions to the professor. Ten years later, the University of Iowa became the first to use television as a 'tool' for learning and in 1946 the University of South Africa became the 'champion' of what is called 'distance education'. Today it is the longest of all.
✎ Forbes article states that in 1956 Chicago Public Television (WTTW) in cooperation with the Board of Education, 'broadcast' classes for credit . In a five-year period, more than 15,000 students paid. The example was followed by others, with the New York Times devoting a page in 1962 to 'the first housewife to earn a degree, with lessons from television'.
✎ In 1969 Harold Wilson, of the Labor government, founded the 'Open University'. It was the first to include only distance learning - via radio and television.
✎ In 1970 the habit went to Canada and in 1974 to Europe, with FernUniversität The Hague becoming the continent's first 'open university'. It still exists.
Each technological advancement added yet another option to the ways a college or university could satisfy the 'wants' of its students, without a physical presence. Telecommunications made processes faster in the 80s. Since then, students have been able to communicate with professors - and tumbleweeds - in real time.
✎ In 1984 the National Technological University established the first certified virtual university , with the financial support of companies such as IBM, Motorola and HP. The trend has reached the point where large companies allow their employees to attend these 'virtual' courses, on television.
✎ You will have understood that the great revolution took place in the '90s, with electronic computers. In 1989 the University of Phoenix became the first educational institution to offer bachelor's and master's degrees over the web. In the same year, Tim Berners-Lee had proposed the development of an online document sharing system, which he had described as a 'web of notes with links'. You know it as the World Wide Web.
✎ In 1995 Jerrold Maddox, of Penn State University became the one to teach the first course entirely via the web. It was entitled 'Commentary on Art'.
✎ In 1996, entrepreneurs Glen Jones and Bernard Luskin launched Jones International University as the first fully Internet-based accredited university.
✎ In 1999 eLearning emerged as a term.
✎ Since the late 90's distance education had become part of many educational institutions and the one that could handle the huge demand (with systems that 'handled' 100,000 students and more). Followed by satellite virtual classrooms, mobile phones and today's favorite videoconference. Nowadays, you will hardly find an educational institution that does not have an online program. With all this, it becomes clear that everything was available when the time came for those in charge to decide how to manage the new reality. But they 'missed'.