Correspondence Education

I

Introduction

Correspondence Education, method of instruction often conducted through the mail by a school or other qualified provider. In correspondence education, students work independently in what is known as a “class of one” and submit their assignments or exams to their teachers by mail or e-mail. Many educators consider correspondence education the precursor of distance education. In distance education, students and teachers are also geographically apart but interact frequently through various technologies, including virtual classes broadcast on the Internet, online chats, and instant messaging. Correspondence education provides instruction in almost every branch of knowledge and leads to hundreds of academic degrees. Students can take correspondence classes for vocational and professional training and for personal enrichment. Correspondence courses are especially suitable for the geographically isolated, adults with many demands on their time, and the homebound. Business and industry and the armed forces make extensive use of correspondence programs.

II

History

Correspondence education developed in the mid-19th century in Great Britain, France, Germany, and the United States, and spread rapidly. In 1840, the English educator Sir Isaac Pitman taught shorthand by mail. The university extension movement grew out of off-campus lectures given by the Scottish educator James Stuart of the University of Cambridge, England. In the 1870s, Illinois Wesleyan University began a successful home-study program; in 1883, a “Correspondence University” was established at Ithaca, New York. William Rainey Harper developed a correspondence program at Chautauqua, New York, in 1882 and continued this method in the newly established University of Chicago when he became its first president in 1891. In the 1880s, Thomas J. Foster started home-study courses in mine safety using a newspaper to reach his students; these courses were broadened in 1890 to become the International Correspondence Schools. Today, correspondence schools flourish around the world with more than 100 institutions in the United States alone. More than 100 million Americans have enrolled in correspondence courses since the 19^th century.

III

Correspondence Schools in the United States

University extension and correspondence work in the United States was advanced by the enactment of the Co-operative Agricultural Extension Act (Smith-Lever Act) in 1914. The University Continuing Education Association (UCEA) was organized at Madison, Wisconsin, in 1915 to coordinate the correspondence and extension courses of its member schools. UCEA members offer independent-study and online courses, usually at the college level. Member institutions, chiefly state universities and land-grant colleges, receive accreditation for their courses from one of the six regional accrediting associations.

Numerous correspondence schools flourish in the United States; many are accredited members of the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC, formerly known as the National Home Study Council), a federally recognized accrediting association of correspondence schools established in 1926. Among the federal programs, the largest is the U.S. Air Force Institute for Advanced Distributed Learning, which offers more than 350 correspondence, online, and broadcast programs to more than 300,000 members of the Air Force. The U.S. Army and the U.S. Marine Corps also offer DETC-accredited instruction in military skills.

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IV

Instruction Abroad

Correspondence instruction is widely available in Great Britain, Germany, Scandinavia, eastern Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Japan. International agencies, such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), use correspondence courses in developing nations. Correspondence programs are widely used in Australia due to its geographic vastness. The University of South Africa (UNISA), in Pretoria, is a correspondence- and distance-education institution and is one of the largest universities in the world.

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