This monograph provides policy makers and administrators with an overview of distance education principles, technology, and application as they exist today. Section I discusses elements of a distance education process. General headings are personnel, hardware, and software. Section II considers the historical development of distance education and its current application. Section III addresses advantages, such as flexibility in relation to students and faculty, built-in quality control, easy evaluation and revision, separation of student and teacher, and lower cost per student, as well as disadvantages (resistance, lack of student interaction, teacher certification, turf questions, issues of cultural diversity). Section IV discusses the potential value of distance education for vocational education. Examples are provided that illustrate the variety of possibilities for distance education. These include skill updating of power station control technicians in Queensland, Australia; teaching of employability skills in Colorado Springs, Colorado; and offering of electives in Oregon public schools through a program originating in San Antonio, Texas. The following sections (V through VII) discuss costs and benefits, teacher training needs, and evaluations of current distance education programs. Section VIII provides brief descriptions of four model programs. A summary addresses getting started and distance education for vocational education. A list of definitions is appended. Ninety-nine endnotes are provided. (YLB)