Field experience is a core element in an initial or preservice teacher education programme. It allows students to enact and reflect on their developing philosophies of teaching and is the "testing ground" for theory/practice links. Educational theorists and programme planners in distance delivered teacher education programmes acknowledge the centrality of field experience. Yet for distance education students, that experience is often minimalized because of administrative costs and a range of supervision factors. For distance students it is essential that their field experience is of comparable quality and rigor to that of their oncampus counterparts so that a distance gained teaching qualification meets the same standards as one gained oncampus. This article examines the literature on field experience and explores some of the ways field experience can be implemented in distance delivered teacher education programmes. An international comparative study of distance delivered preservice teacher education is drawn on to provide examples of field experience. Finally, the use of computer mediated communication (CMC) is considered as a means of providing new responses to the challenges that have been identified.