| Charles A. Wedemeyer | |
| Birth Date: | 1911 |
| Birth Place: | Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
| Known For: |
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Charles A. Wedemeyer (1911–1999) was a pioneer in the field of independent and distance learning. He challenged university administrators to expand access and opportunity to autonomous learners. "Educational change is evolutionary, and its tempo is glacial,"[1] he wrote.
Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1911, to parents of modest means, Charles Wedemeyer developed a sense of excitement for what he described as “self-initiated” learning. His parents, Adrian August Wedemeyer and Laura Marie Marks Wedemeyer strived to provide books and magazines and an environment conducive to learning. An avid reader, the young Wedemeyer made great use of his local library in his quest for knowledge.[2] He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Education with a major in English, later pursuing a master's degree in English, both from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Northwestern University. As a young educator, he taught English and Science to disadvantaged youth. It was at that time that he began to formulate his progressive ideas on extending educational opportunities as integral to the democratic project.
| 1930s | English teacher—used WHA radio to expand access | |
| 1942-1946 | Naval instructor WWII | |
| 1954-1964 | Director University of Wisconsin’s Correspondence Study Program | |
| 1958 | USAFI contract for course development for 250,000 service men and women | |
| 1961 | Ford Foundation grant to study correspondence schools in Europe | |
| 1961 | Chair Committee on Criteria and Standards (NUEA); Kellogg Fellow UK | |
| 1963 | Criteria and Standards document — endorsement of 86 university-sponsored institutions | |
| 1963-1966 | Brandenburg Memorial Essays on Correspondence Instruction | |
| 1965 | Carnegie Corporation AIM grant | |
| 1966 | World Trends in Correspondence Education | |
| 1967 | William H. Lighty professorship in Education | |
| 1968-1971 | Governor's Task Force on Open Learning | |
| 1969-1973 | UK Open Univ; ICCE/ICDE President; Institute on Independent Study | |
| 1969-1976 | Research organisation EDSAT | |
| 1972 | UNESCO Consultant at HSI University Ethiopia | |
| 1975 | Doctorate Honoris Causa British Open University |
Wedemeyer considered that "independent study in the American context is generic for a range of teaching-learning activities that sometimes go by separate names (correspondence study, open education, radio-television teaching, individualised learning)."[2]
A lifelong advocate for independent learning, his best known project was the Articulated Instructional Media[3] initiative, which proved influential in the establishment of Britain’s Open University, now known as the UK Open University.[4]