History of distance education in Puerto Rico

By: Carlos Robles

The history of distance education in Puerto Rico is widely unknown and poorly documented. It
is in recent years that some information has surfaced about this topic. Even though this is true,
Puerto Rico has had this modality for many years. Melendez (1998) even mentions that Puerto
Rico even had Distance education before many countries that are now considered pioneers in the
area today. Back at the beginning of the 1900’s according to Ortiz (as cited by the Department of
Education website, 1990), Puerto Rico had the need to teach its population to read and write
since 1900 census showed that 79.6% did not know how to read or write. It is then that the
government began considerable efforts to create schools for adult learners. It is in 1936 when the
Department of Public Instruction (now known as the Department of Education) created a radio
program called “La Escuela del Aire” (School in the air) to reach people via radio waves at least
until the second world war. After this program, the Department of Public Instruction (DPI)
created what was called the Morovis Plan (Plan Morovis) in which according to Cruz Fernandez
(1981) consisted of

Printed modules aimed to the children of the island that covered traditional academic
subjects. The absence of teachers to continue the government project of massing formal
education in the center of the isle was the motive that initiated the program. The children
worked with helpers or aids since there were no teachers. This program ceased to run by
the 1970’s.

In the 1950’s according to Melendez (1998) the Public Television Station (WIPR) and the DPI
worked in jointly to offer a new program called Opening Roads (Abriendo Caminos) which
offered equivalence courses via the TV station. Following this example, the Ana G Mendez
Institution has its Educational TV channel in which began transmitting prerecorded educational
courses. Recently, many institutions offer distance education using the Internet modality. One of
the most prestigious is the Universidad Interamericana offering the first Doctoral program in
Distance Education in which we have the honor of participating. We can also mention the
Universidad Internacional Iberoamericana UNINI the first fully online Institutions in Puerto Rico
(Recognized UNINI as the first, n.d.), Ana G. Mendez, National College University, Universidad
Internacional Iberoamericana (UNINI), Universidad Adventista de las Antillas (UAA) and
Herbert Fletcher University (HFU) are only a few of the institutions that use this modality. Some
offer blended courses, Telecourses, hybrid; others offer courses completely online even without
physical classrooms like in the case of UNINI and HFU. What it is not seen is MOOC courses
offered by Puerto Rican universities. These “Flavors” that are available to the students are
growing steadily through the years. According to Friedman (2016), a reported for US News &
World Reports, in 2014 about 5.8 million students enrolled in at least one online course in 2014.
That was an increase of 3.9 percent from the previous year. Hopefully, Puerto Rico will take this
opportunity to expand their program offerings and make Education reachable to the masses that
need this type of education.

Bibliography:
Cruz Fernández, S. (1981). Plan Morovis. Monografía inédita, Universidad de Puerto Rico.

Friedman, J. (2016, February 09). Study: Enrollment in Online Learning Up, Except at For-
Profits. Retrieved March 17, 2017, from https://www.usnews.com/education/online-
education/articles/2016-02-09/study-enrollment-in-online-learning-up-except-at-for-profits

Melendez, J. (1998, May). Historia de la Educación a Distancia en Puerto Rico. TECNE, 3(2), 3-
22.

Ortiz, D. (1990). Historia de la Educación de Adultos Retrieved March 17, 2017, from
http://www.de.gobierno.pr/ofrecimiento-academico/191-educacion-de-adultos/441-historia-de-
la-educacion-de-adultos

Recognized UNINI as the first fully online university in Puerto Rico. (2011, January 14).
Retrieved March 17, 2017, from https://en.unini.org/news/recognized-unini-first-fully-online-
university-puerto-rico