First published in 1989, Understanding Distance Education explores important issues surrounding distance education and provides a framework on which to build the future of distance education. The author begins with an analysis of education in general and the process that supports it, identifying two-way, interactive communication as a defining feature of the educational process. He shows that the unique challenge in distance education is finding appropriate and effective ways of supporting this kind of communication when contact between teachers and students is at a distance.

Using communication as a theme, Dr Garrison describes the technology of distance education, discusses the roles of distance education, and explores the interrelationship of adult and distance education. He looks at distance education organisations and gives an account of developments towards more open learning systems, developments which he believes will eventually guide the integration of distance and conventional education into an efficient system serving the educational needs of all learners.