Education. Even as an adult with a full-time job, you know how important it is. You know it can elevate, enable, and transform. You also know that, despite your busy schedule, getting an education is something you can do. In fact, it’s something you’re already doing; you recently ordered a remote algebra course through BYU Continuing Education.
Your course should be here within the week. Every time you open the mailbox, you hold your breath, hoping to see a thick sepia envelope with papers spilling from the seams. In the peace that follows the Great War, you’re aware of just how precious education is.
That’s right; BYU has offered independent courses since the early 1920s. Correspondence courses were delivered straight to the learner’s mailbox to be completed with paper and pen. Despite the nostalgic form factor, it produced results much like today’s digital offerings; it fostered learning that educated, enabled, and inspired. Here are a few facts that highlight BYU Independent Study’s century-spanning impact.
- Missionaries were among the first students.
In the early 1920s, BYU’s Bureau of Correspondence (as it was then called) served 255 students, nearly half of whom were missionaries preparing for the field. Courses like genealogy and doctrine helped missionaries feel spiritually anchored and academically prepared for the challenges their service would present. Even in its infancy, BYU Independent Study was about more than grades. It was about growth that would leave an impact.
- Enrollment skyrocketed during WWII.
By the mid-1940s, BYU Independent Study was swamped, in the best way. A whopping 700 out of 1,064 enrolled students were servicemen and servicewomen studying through the United States Armed Forces Institute. Soldiers around the world, many of whom would never set foot on campus, were learning through BYU. And while completion rates weren’t always ideal (war has a way of interrupting homework), the vision was clear: Learning stays with us even in the trenches.
- BYU once mailed 2,300 study packets, with a letter from Joseph Fielding Smith, to servicemen.
In 1955, the Church launched the Study-While-You-Serve initiative with the help of BYU. Booklets titled “An Invitation to Learning” were mailed to Latter-day Saint servicemen across the globe, encouraging self-education and spiritual development while in uniform. Each packet included a message from President Joseph Fielding Smith himself. That’s right; your study materials might’ve arrived with a dash of prophetic encouragement.
- By the 1970s, BYU Independent Study was among the largest in the nation.
In 1972, the department served nearly 8,500 students, and by 1980, that number surpassed 13,000. BYU ranked third in the nation for college-level correspondence registrations, trailing only California and Penn State. If BYU Independent Study were a campus, it would have been one of BYU’s largest.
- You could once get feedback on your homework . . . by fax.
Yes, fax. In the 1990s, BYU Independent Study introduced Speedback and Faxback, which were systems that allowed students to send in answers and receive rapid computer-graded feedback. It wasn’t quite Canvas, but it worked. And just like today’s digital portals, it cut turnaround time drastically, enabling students to learn faster and more flexibly.
So next time you boot up a digital course, think back on everything that’s come before. Education has triumphed over distance barriers long before the advent of the Internet and will continue to do so. Today, BYU Independent Study offers more flexibility, higher quality, and better support than ever. There’s never been a better time to become a lifelong learner!