So in a fit of successful marketing I was sent this visualisation of the history of distance university education and thought I would share it with you. It came from a website offering help to find on-line courses, so fair enough – I’m not advertising, simply citing sources. And it’s interesting, not just because I was talking about visualisations becoming the new ‘thing’ in economics elsewhere, but it’s something we are slowly seeing in a few sessions at the HES conference, and now here’s one on history – even if it is a very specific bit of history. Turns out the University of London was first to offer distance learning back in 1858, and by 2005 over 2 million students took at least one course entirely on-line. The world is moving fast it seems. Click the image for a bigger size, and have a look at the time-line at the bottom which is particularly nice.
Anyone fancy a go at visualising some other aspects of the history of thought?
History of Economics Playground Redux 
I didn’t know that distance learning has been part of our lives in the early days. But thanks for your wonderful insights.