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(PDF) United States of America

United States of America

2018, Open and Distance Education in Australia, Europe and the Americas

Nearly 50 years ago, urged universities to become aware of life 'beyond the stable state ' and Toffler (1970) predicted that the information age would force academia to accommodate an 'accelerating pace of change.' Their prescient observations about the future have characterized American higher education for nearly 50 years, perhaps best exemplified by the role distance education (DE) has played in this process. DE's remarkable progression in the US arena began well before the electronic era, extending over a 225-year period. It is a phenomenon that perhaps represents the most significant transformation within academe in a millennium, presenting exciting opportunities and formidable challenges. This chapter offers a descriptive analysis and commentary of key aspects of DE at the post-secondary level in the US, with perspectives gained from the author's 35 years of scholarship and practice in the field. Caleb Phillips can be credited as the 'father' of distance education in the US, who in 1728, advertised in the Boston Gazette that any persons in the country desirous of learning shorthand could be sent weekly lessons via the postal service, and be as well instructed as those living in Boston. Anna Tucker, founder of the Bostonbased Society to Encourage Study at Home (1873-1897), might be considered the 'mother' of American correspondence education. In 1883, Illinois Wesleyan College founded the Correspondence University, and