Reviews distance education advances and suggests prospects for the future. The roles of the federal government and state governments are discussed, a classification of technology-based information systems is presented, the likelihood of a shift from rural to urban uses of distance education is suggested, and slow-scan video systems are described…

The most widely accepted classification system of institutions of higher education, the Carnegie system, does not provide any sub-groupings for the category of two-year institutions. This lack of precision has inhibited the understanding of the diversity among and between community colleges, their missions, functions, curricula, students, and…