The class consisted of correspondences in shorthand, a style of writing used to increase speed by using symbols or abbreviations for words or phrases, sent back and forth through the postal service between students and professors. A decade later in 1840, Sir Isaac Pitman, inventor of the most commonly used form of shorthand, devised a similar course designed to teach students how to write in shorthand (Pappas). In Pitman's class, students copied sections of the Bible in shorthand and sent the assignments back to Pitman through the mail, much like Phillips course. However, the limitations of teaching through the postal service were soon realized and new, innovative forms of distance education were conceived with the aid of emerging technologies. .
The invention of telecommunications allowed distance learning to instantly reach multitudes of students. The first university to attempt to teach distance education via telecommunications was Penn State; the school began broadcasting courses over the radio in 1922 ("Distance Education Timeline - Baker's Guide to Christian Online Learning"). Three years later, the State University of Iowa followed in Penn State's footsteps and began offering five radio courses eligible for college credit ("Distance Education Timeline - Baker's Guide to Christian Online Learning"). Eventually in the following years, over 200 universities obtained licenses to broadcast courses over the radio (Dunn). The next obvious phase was to educate students over the phone and, thus, the University of Wisconsin began to offer telephone-based courses throughout the state in 1965 ("Infographic History of Distance Education"). Subsequently in 1968, Stanford took distance learning to the next level and initiated the Stanford Instructional Television Network, a television network used to broadcast courses to part-time engineering students ("Infographic History of Distance Education").