There are several historical phases of distance education that preceded the development of the LMS.
Correspondence teaching The first known document of correspondence teaching dates back to 1723, through the advertisement in the
Boston Gazette of Caleb Phillips, professor of
shorthand, offering teaching materials and tutorials. The first testimony of a bi-directional communication organized correspondence course comes from England, in 1840, when
Isaac Pitman initiated a shorthand course, wherein he sent a passage of the Bible to students, who would send it back in full transcription. The success of the course resulted in the foundation of the phonographic correspondence society in 1843. The pioneering milestone in distance language teaching was in 1856 by Charles Toussaint and
Gustav Langenscheidt, who began the first European institution of distance learning. This is the first known instance of the use of materials for independent language study.
Multimedia teaching: The emergence and development of the distance learning idea The concept of
e-learning began developing in the early 20th century, marked by the appearance of audio-video communication systems used for remote teaching. In 1909,
E.M. Forster published his story 'The Machine Stops' and explained the benefits of using audio communication to deliver lectures to remote audiences. In 1924,
Sidney L. Pressey developed the first teaching machine which offered multiple types of practical exercises and question formats. Nine years later,
University of Alberta's Professor M.E. Zerte transformed this machine into a problem cylinder able to compare problems and solutions. This, in a sense, was "multimedia", because it made use of several media formats to reach students and provide instruction. Later, printed materials would be joined by telephone, radio broadcasts, TV broadcasts, audio, and videotapes. The earliest networked learning system was the
Plato Learning Management system (PLM) developed in the 1970s by
Control Data Corporation.
Telematic teaching In the 1980s, modern telecommunications started to be used in education. Computers became prominent in the daily use of higher education institutions, as well as instruments to student learning. Computer-aided teaching aimed to integrate technical and educational means. The trend then shifted to video communication, as a result of which
University of Houston decided to hold telecast classes to their students for approximately 13–15 hours a week. The classes took place in 1953, while in 1956, Robin McKinnon Wood and Gordon Pask released the first adaptive teaching system for corporate environments SAKI. The idea of automating teaching operations also inspired the University of Illinois experts to develop their
Programmed Logic for Automated Teaching Operations (PLATO) which enabled users to exchange content regardless of their location. The term is currently used to describe a number of different educational
computer applications.
FirstClass by SoftArc, used by the United Kingdom's
Open University in the 1990s and 2000s to deliver online learning across Europe, was one of the earliest internet-based LMSs. The first fully-featured Learning Management System (LMS) was called
EKKO, developed and released by Norway's NKI Distance Education Network in 1991. Three years later,
New Brunswick's NB Learning Network presented a similar system designed for DOS-based teaching, and devoted exclusively to business learners.
COVID-19 and learning management systems The suspension of in-school learning caused by the
COVID-19 pandemic started a dramatic shift in the way teachers and students at all levels interact with each other and learning materials.
UNESCO estimated that as of May 25, 2020, approximately 990,324,537 learners, or 56.6% of the total enrolled students have been affected by COVID-19 related school closures. In many countries,
online education through the use of Learning Management Systems became the focal point of teaching and learning. For example, statistics taken from a university’s LMS during the initial school closure period (March to June 2020) indicate that student submissions and activity nearly doubled from pre-pandemic usage levels. Student satisfaction with LMS usage during this period is closely tied to the information quality contained within LMS modules and maintaining student
self-efficacy. From the teacher perspective, a study of
K-12 teachers in
Finland reported high levels of acceptance for LMS technology, however, training support and developing methods for maintaining
student engagement are key to long-term success. In developing nations, the transition to LMS usage faced many challenges, which included a lower number of colleges and universities using LMSs before the pandemic, technological infrastructure limitations, and negative attitudes toward technology amongst users. == Technical aspects ==