由於時代環境的變化，以運用媒體科技為主的遠距教育躍居為現代教育改革運動 的主流，但多數遠距教育的工作者常喜新厭舊，揚棄成熟、具有成效的舊媒體，一味追求昂 貴、新奇的高科技，他們忽略了課程的特質、教學的目標及學生的接受性，因此迷信明星式 的新媒體，不但喪失了成本效益，而且嚴重扭曲遠距教育中大量、普及教學的理想。 本文歸納目前適用在遠距教育中的各類媒體為：印刷媒體、聽覺媒體、視聽覺媒體、電腦媒 體及網路媒體五類，並就教材、教學、輔導及行政四方面，分別討論這些媒體可以發揮、應 用的優缺點；我們強調：沒有任何一種媒體是可以經濟有效的單獨應用在遠距教育這種異質 性極大的情境中，只有截長補短混合利用多種媒體，才能發揮工業化模式的效益，實現遠距 教育的目標。

　　　　　The rapid changes in technology have promoted distance education into the spotlight of recent education reforms. There is no doubt of that distance education should be based on technologies. However, many educators are so fascinated by novel and expensive high-techs that they discard all the existing media no matter how inexpensive and effective they are in instructional settings. Those enthusiasts simply ignore the characrteristics of course content, the instructional objectives, and the acceptability of students toward media. Their adopting high-techs distorts the basic principle of promoting distance education in an industrialized mode. In this paper we have summarized and discussed those media suitable for use in distance education context into five categories: print media, audio media, audio-visual media, computer media, and network media. We pointed out the potential benefits and difficulties of using these media in aspects of course materials, instruction, guidance, and administration. It is emphasized that there is no one medium which is applicable, effectively and economically, to all the heterogeneous distance educational environment. Only appropriately mixing different media to get their most can we realize the ideal of massive and lifelong distance education.