1st Virtual College in the U.S. − 1 January, 1976
Submitted by Lisa Lehmberg
“Coastline Community College, having no physical campus, became the first Virtual College in the United States.” Retrieved January 25, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_virtual_learning_environments
Coastline Community College, a part of the California Community College System, was designed as a virtual college to serve the needs of students who were employed full time, or who had family responsibilities. When Coastline first began operation, transfer, vocational, and general interest courses were offered. Coastline soon became a national leader in distance learning, and built extensive facilities to support and enhance its distance education programs. New facilities included an instructional resources center, a cable origination center, and a technology-enhanced learning center which housed videoconferencing equipment, as well as equipment for producing cablecasts. Since the 1980s, Coastline has provided distance learning for many branches of the United States military. Today, the national marketing and distribution center of the college, Coast Learning Systems, produces instructional media and has won several awards, including 14 Emmys.
Retrieved January 25, 2007, from http://army.ccc.cccd.edu/history.htm
Technological Developments in 1976:
In April, the Apple I home computer was invented by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. It made its debut in Palo Alto, CA, at the Homebrew Computer Club. Consumers who purchased the first Apple I model paid $666.66.
Retrieved January 25, 2007, from http://apple-history.com/?page=gallery&model=al Cray Research produced the first Cray Supercomputer, at a cost of $8.8 million.
It operated at a world record speed of 160 million floating-point operations per second (160 megaflops), and had a memory of 8 MB (1 million words.)
Retrieved January 25, 2007, from http://poynter.org/content_view.asp?id=75857
Wang Labs introduced a CRT-based word processor system, and also developed 5-1/4” floppy disks.
Retrieved January 25, 2007, from http://poynter.org/content_view.asp?id=75857
“Coastline Community College, having no physical campus, became the first Virtual College in the United States.” Retrieved January 25, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_virtual_learning_environments
Coastline Community College, a part of the California Community College System, was designed as a virtual college to serve the needs of students who were employed full time, or who had family responsibilities. When Coastline first began operation, transfer, vocational, and general interest courses were offered. Coastline soon became a national leader in distance learning, and built extensive facilities to support and enhance its distance education programs. New facilities included an instructional resources center, a cable origination center, and a technology-enhanced learning center which housed videoconferencing equipment, as well as equipment for producing cablecasts. Since the 1980s, Coastline has provided distance learning for many branches of the United States military. Today, the national marketing and distribution center of the college, Coast Learning Systems, produces instructional media and has won several awards, including 14 Emmys.
Retrieved January 25, 2007, from http://army.ccc.cccd.edu/history.htm
Technological Developments in 1976:
In April, the Apple I home computer was invented by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. It made its debut in Palo Alto, CA, at the Homebrew Computer Club. Consumers who purchased the first Apple I model paid $666.66.
Retrieved January 25, 2007, from http://apple-history.com/?page=gallery&model=al Cray Research produced the first Cray Supercomputer, at a cost of $8.8 million.
It operated at a world record speed of 160 million floating-point operations per second (160 megaflops), and had a memory of 8 MB (1 million words.)
Retrieved January 25, 2007, from http://poynter.org/content_view.asp?id=75857
Wang Labs introduced a CRT-based word processor system, and also developed 5-1/4” floppy disks.
Retrieved January 25, 2007, from http://poynter.org/content_view.asp?id=75857
Comments:
DistEd (January 27, 2007. 01:08pm)
Submitted by Lisa Lehmberg
Development: Distance Learning vs. Technology
It appears that technology seems to be ahead of distance learning at this point in time. I could find no information on distance education delivery systems used by Coastline in its first years of operation, but I am guessing that they consisted of instructional television and/or print-based media. Even though the Apple I was invented in 1976, it would be many years before personal computers became common items in middle-class households.
On a personal note, I remember using the PLATO supercomputer at about this time as an undergraduate at the University of Illinois. PLATO took up a whole city block! At that time, students could access it through 4 or 5 computer labs on campus. I remember taking music education tests on PLATO. It was the first time I had ever used a computer and it was very exciting! For more information on Plato, please visit this website: http://www.physics.uiuc.edu/history/PLATO.htm