The History of INTELECOM….In Brief

In the late 1960s, when local television station KABC offered to assist a group of colleges in the production and broadcast of college-credit courses, eighteen community colleges responded and the Southern California Consortium for Community College Television was established as a joint powers authority.  After creating a production unit, two courses were produced in 1970 and delivered to students via KABC broadcasts.  The concept of “distance learning” quickly caught on.   By the summer of 1976, over 150,000 students – including working mothers, veterans, and middle-aged students – had enrolled in 22 courses, most of them transferable general education courses.   

A Leader in Distance Learning

In the early 1980s, the Consortium established, as its fiscal and legal agent, a non-profit corporation to be known as INTELECOM Intelligent Telecommunications.  The next two decades saw INTELECOM garner many of the most coveted and prestigious awards in educational television and distance learning.  Production values evolved to a superior level – featuring interviews with world-renowned subject matter experts, on-location footage, case studies, dramatic re-creations, and animated graphics.  Relationships with entities such as the PBS Adult Learning Service and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting were formed.   Numerous high-impact, award-winning telecourses were produced, including Oceanus, Taking the Lead, and The Mechanical Universe.

Partnerships and Collaboration

The 1990s saw a major collaborative between INTELECOM, numerous state education agencies, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Immigration and Naturalization Service that fostered the creation of four ambitious and highly-acclaimed video and print series designed to teach English to speakers of other languages (Crossroads Café), citizenship and civic education, and adult basic literacy skills.


A Vision for Online Learning

With the dawn of the 21st century, the world of distance learning experienced dramatic and rapid change.   The Internet and other technological developments spurred the beginning  – and the subsequent exponential growth – of online education.  In response, INTELECOM – with its reputation for superior production – has charted a new path to meet the changing needs of colleges, faculty, and students.  In 2008, INTELECOM released a new product – a digital repository and subscription database called the INTELECOM Online Resources Network® – comprised of short-form, object level, streaming video clips for use in support of online, hybrid, and face-to-face classes.  


Looking Forward

Today, INTELECOM is uniquely positioned as a premier provider of digital learning resources and curriculum-based courseware for higher education. By combining the best in educational content, technology and instructional design, INTELECOM will continue to offer educators and lifelong learners alike high-quality content that enhances the learning experience.