The foundations, development, and delivery of distance education were examined through a literature review and first-hand experience in administration and teaching in an international online school. The evolution of distance education was traced from the 1800s, when it was a print-based method of instruction conducted at a distance, through the 1960s and 1970s, when advances in technology led to large-scale use of open broadcast technology in education and development of England's Open University. Special attention was paid to the development of computer-based teleconferencing and communication in the early 1980s and establishment of the Q-Link Tutoring Center and Community College, which began in 1986 as an online academic tutoring center and soon became the first nationally available real-time community education center in the United States. Recent developments in the areas of text-based, real-time teleconferencing through self-contained online networks and the Internet were highlighted, and the implications of other technological advances for the future of distance education were discussed. It was concluded that continued technological advancement and the tremendous demand from the global community for instruction through distance delivery systems are making it imperative that traditional institutions learn to apply technology for distance learning in an affordable way. (Contains 11 references.) (MN)