The evolution of e-learning from 95-99  − 1 January, 1995

By Cherie Dilley

As the web evolved, training providers began exploring how this new technology could improve training.  The advent of email, Web browsers, HTML, media players, low fidelity streamed audio/video and simple JAVA began to change the face of multimedia training.  Basic mentoring via email, intranet CBT with text and simple graphics, and Web-based training with low quality intermittent delivery web casts emerged. (http://www.knowledgenet.com/corporateinformation/ourhistory/history.jsp)  

Here are some major landmarks between 1995 and 1999:

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_virtual_learning_environments)

1995:

-Professors Michael Gage and Arnold Pizer develop the WeBWork Online Homework Delivery System at the University of Rochester

-Many online schools appear on the educational scenes after working with Convene International, some of them emerge as leaders of Internet Education.

1996:

-KnowledgePlanet introduced the world’s first Web-based Learning Management System

-Microsoft announces MS Exchange at Networld+Interop.

1997:

-In 1997, Instructional Design for New Media – an online course on how to develop online courses was created using forums, interactive exercises and the notion of

collaborative learning by a community of instructors and students.

-University of Maryland University College (UMUC) offers its first classes using WebTycho, a customized "program developed by UMUC to facilitate course delivery via the World Wide Web.

1998:

-CourseWork, a web-based, problem set manager, was developed by the at Stanford University's Learning Lab. It formed the core of the CourseWork CMS. This version supported authoring, distribution, completion, and reviewing of automatically graded assignments by students and instructors

-The Cisco Networking Academy Management System (CNAMS) is released to facilitate communication and course management of the largest blended learning initiative of its time, the Cisco Networking Academy. It includes tools to maintain rosters, gradebooks, forums, as well as a scalable, robust assessment engine. Cisco Networking Academy Program.

1999:

-In January, 1999 CoursePackets.com goes live, serving dozens of courses at the University of Texas at Austin. The service allowed for the posting of course packs online at a substantial discount over the cost of printed materials. By May, 1999, CoursePackets.com begins work on a courseware system for launch in January, 2000. The courseware system is comparable to Blackboard, and actively marketed as "CourseNotes.com" beginning in the summer of '99.

-Scholastic Corporation publishes Read180, an application for Macs & PCs to improve reading skills in schools. Read180 shipped with sets of CD-ROMs on various topics, each with video presentations and interactive tests. Audio recording sessions by students were sent over the network to a teacher's workstation for evaluation. (http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/read180/research/timeline.htm)