Historically, distance education applications served a select group of students through self-paced technical short courses that required scant to little interaction with their instructors. Today's 21st century distance education focuses on a) reaching underserved prospective students within a social justice framework, b) global recruitment, and c) interactive technological applications and interactive teaching strategies that promote the creation of cyber-learning communities. This paper provides the reader with an overview of current distance education and modified traditional course delivery modalities followed by the application of the DIPCO [Design Instruction Participation Community Ownership] model to rehabilitation education. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)