Introduction to Learning Management Systems

Formal university-based distance education has been around for over 100 years. For example, Cornell University established the Correspondence University in 1882, and Chautauqua College of Liberal Arts in New York was awarding degrees via correspondence courses in 1883 (Nasseh, 1997). Soon many other educational institutions, including the University of Chicago, Penn State University, Yale University, and Johns Hopkins University were offering these non-traditional learning options for their students. With the entry of the personal computer into homes and workplaces in the 1980s, learning started to become more technology driven. However, it was not until the 1990s, with the proliferation of the World Wide Web, that the concept of technology-enhanced education began to change drastically.