This comprehensive resource offers historical background and context for understanding the origins and evolution of distance education, which advocates believe has the potential to change the national and international educational landscape in ways we have not seen in generations. And yet, because it burst onto the scene so quickly in the form of shifts to remote learning in primary and secondary schools around the world, teachers, students, administrators, and parents all became immersed in its operations without having a true understanding of what it entails and what it harbors for the future. Today's students, parents, and teachers are all seeking greater understanding of what distance education is and how it might look in the future. This book seeks to offer answers to those questions, while at the same time recognizing that it is a field that is changing at a rapid pace.