1. Continuing education is an educational activity for all members of society, especially adults, after school education, and it is an important part of the lifelong learning system. As the world economy and society put forward higher requirements for continuing education, the practice field of continuing education has been developing and the research scope has been expanding and deepening. In particular, the concept of lifelong education has been accepted by more and more people, and the position, function and methods of continuing education in the economy and society have been preliminarily understood and practiced, and the scientific research of continuing education has also made great progress.

2. Continuing education is a special form of education, mainly to update, supplement, expand and improve the knowledge and skills of professional and technical personnel, further improve the knowledge structure, and improve creativity and professional and technical level. In the era of knowledge economy, continuing education is the main way and basic means to develop human resources, and focusing on developing the potential ability of talents and improving the overall quality of the team is an important content of the construction of professional and technical teams. Judging from the time of continuing education in recent years, continuing education has attracted more and more attention and participation, and the concept of continuing education is also deepening and expanding.

3. Online education is one of the qualifications for adult education. It refers to the teaching mode using TV, Internet and other media, which breaks through the boundaries of time and space and is different from the traditional teaching mode of staying in school. Students who use this teaching mode are usually amateurs. Because you don't need to go to a specific place to attend classes, you can attend classes anytime and anywhere. Students can also learn from each other through various channels, such as TV broadcast, internet, special counseling hotline, class research club and face-to-face teaching (correspondence). It is a new concept after modern information technology is applied to education, that is, education by using network technology and environment. Enrollment targets are not limited by age and previous academic qualifications, which provides opportunities for people who have entered the society to improve their academic qualifications.

4. Modern distance education can effectively play the characteristics of distance education. It is a teaching activity opposite to face-to-face teaching, separation of teachers and students, and non-face-to-face teaching organization. It is a cross-school and cross-regional education system and teaching model. Its characteristics are: students and teachers are separated; Adopt specific transmission system and media for teaching; There are many ways to transmit information; The place and form of study are flexible and changeable. Compared with face-to-face education, the advantage of distance education is that it can break through the limitations of time and space; Provide more learning opportunities; Expand the teaching scale; Improve the quality of teaching; Reduce the teaching cost. Based on the characteristics and advantages of distance education, many people of insight have realized the significance and broad prospects of developing distance education.