This 40 page, 2013 report from the New America Foundation flows from interviews with past and present American distance learning gurus. It does a good history (with pictures) of early correspondence (Pitman Shorthand), through to first credit from 'extension" branches of Universities, to the founding of the British OU and later Athabasca, through to the dot com era bursts and busts - inlcuidng entry of the privates.

The ending is a discussion (with living examples) of 5 types of State or InterSate collaborations between public universities.  I couldn't help trying to pin where Campus Alberta sits  in this mix.

This could/should be a must read for 601 students and 605 management, as a good, but American history of the DE world in past two centuries and lots of current facts and graphs about trends to today.