A few months of further research yielded countless books, journal articles, blogs, newscast interviews, and podcasts on male pioneers in the field (see, for example, Bates, 2016; EDEN Secretariat, 2016; Kentnor, 2015), but negligible results showcasing female pioneers. One periodical, the Journal of Learning for Development (JL4D), included a paragraph or two on a handful of women in a series of articles in Volume 4, Issues 1–3 (2017) and Volume 5, Issue 1 (2018) on leaders in DE from across the globe. A second periodical, the International Women Online Journal of Distance Education (intWOJDE; www.wojde.org/; Demiray, 2012), initiated in 2012, also invited (and continues to invite) submissions on the history of DE. A single podcast featuring one pioneer was uncovered. The remaining collection of pioneering women’s contributions seemed to be found on educational institution faculty web pages, which typically offered a short biography, research interests, and some publications, and was usually written by the pioneer. It seemed that Bainbridge’s speculations held credence. Although the authors viewed themselves as pure feminists in that they believed in gender equality, neither came from the feminist tradition with regard to research or active feminist ideology. Nonetheless, both felt that it was a grave injustice to history and a profound loss of insight into our field to ignore the contributions that these outstanding female pioneers had made, and continue to make, to our field. It was determined that the most comprehensive, timeless offering that the authors could produce would be a reference book. To be most valuable, this book had to reflect, if not amplify, the living voices and comprehensive works of female pioneers in online learning from around the world.

Originally, the authors thought about including female pioneers within the broad context of DE. This would mean, however, that first-person pioneering accounts would be unlikely, if not impossible, since original print-based, snail mail correspondence traced back to the 1700s (Anderson & Simpson, 2012). Educational radio broadcasts began in the 1930s (Foss, n.d.), and educational television broadcasts dated back to at least 1958 (Zaitz, 1960). The authors faced a conundrum if they relied on second- or third-hand resources to piece together the stories and contributions of pioneers. How could the authors determine what resources were truly authoritative? If they could speak for themselves, would the pioneers agree with these sources? In other words, how could the authors assure stakeholders that the information gathered authentically represented the pioneers’ voices and contributions? Second- or third-hand sources were simply not acceptable.

As the first interviews began to unfold, it became apparent that the authors needed to focus on female pioneers of online learning. This was the era in distance learning where the greatest number of female pioneers were still alive and able to tell their stories in their own words.

Although initially driven by passion and dedication to this worthy undertaking, the authors had little idea that they were about to embark on such an epic journey. Wild tales about hitching with gun-toting guerrillas in far-off jungle islands and heart-wrenching stories about unimaginable life-or-death suffering at the hands of those who systematically denied others the right to education were peppered amongst amusing tales about the novelty of red hair, being covered from head to toe in correcting fluid and ink, and Coca-Cola truck deliveries of DE materials. Through the recruitment, interview, data analysis, and writing process, these pioneers secured a special place in the hearts and minds of the authors. By sharing so much of themselves so openly, and often with such great humour, the astounding pioneers in this book have invited all of us to experience the world of DE and online learning through their eyes.

A related aim is to provide stakeholders with a handbook that affords easy access to a comprehensive, chronologically organized list of each woman’s publications in the field. This list is found at the end of each pioneer’s chapter in this book.

A third aim is to assist stakeholders in acquiring new insight into the perspectives, experiences, and contributions made by female pioneers in online learning. To achieve this, data from the pioneers’ individual and collective interviews are analyzed and assessed in this book to determine patterns of commonality between pioneers, unique characteristics of individual pioneers, and what remains to be uncovered by future research.

After purging the authors’ list of potential candidates whose profiles did not meet the established criteria, the authors used a snowballing strategy to garner the names of more pioneers. This strategy (explained in greater detail in the Research Methodology section of Chapter 32) involved asking the female pioneers participating in the study to volunteer the names of other females who might be candidates for the book. This two-stage approach to identifying candidates resulted in the inclusion of 30 pioneers in this volume. Each of these women’s profiles matched one or more of the guiding terms and the date criterion established by the authors.

The authors believe that the 30 women included in this book fairly represent female pioneers from across the globe, especially those who are able to communicate in the English language (Table 1.1). The inception and expansion of the Internet and the expansion of the World Wide Web occurred in American institutions, spreading across North America and into other English-speaking countries, before expanding into the rest of the world (Berners-Lee, 2021; Press, 2015). The advent of these emerging technologies precipitated the development of online learning. The number and distribution of female pioneers included in this book reflect this historic pattern of development in online learning.

Outside of literary citations intended as luminary references for understanding specific phenomena or patterns in research findings, the scope of this book is limited to direct contributions by the participating pioneers and the authors’ interpretations of these contributions. Direct contributions published in this volume are located within each pioneer’s chapter. These contributions include a recording of their interview (accessible through embedded YouTube links and QR codes in the chapters), a transcript of the interview that has been edited and verified by the pioneer, and a list of publications and related references provided by the pioneer.

The authors offer no attempt to clarify existing definitions used in our field for such terms as distance education, online learning, and educational technologies. Our field possesses a plethora of “authoritative” multimedia resourc...