This booklet is intended as a reference on the application of the technology of communication systems to distance education. An introductory section addresses the nature of the interaction imposed by use of various technologies. The next section overviews current telecommunications applications based on these major technologies: radio, television (closed circuit television, cable television, instructional television fixed service, slow scan television, broadcast television, teletext, viewdata, telidon), and telephone (interactive teaching, telephone links to data systems). Two stand-alone systems, which may have outstanding applicability to distance education, are then briefly mentioned--the intelligent video disc and the Open University's Cyclops System. The final section addresses terrestrial telecommunications in the Australian context with projections for 1990. A list of possible applications is provided. (YLB)