Distance education undergraduate course is a new educational form developed by using modern information technology such as network technology and multimedia technology. It is an online undergraduate education based on modern electronic information and communication technology (supplemented by face-to-face, correspondence and radio and television (audio-visual) teaching). It takes learners as the main body, and students and teachers, students and educational institutions mainly use various media and interactive means to carry out systematic teaching and communication.

Modern distance education is relative to traditional forms of distance education such as correspondence education, radio and television education. Network education is a new concept after modern information technology is applied to education, that is, education by using network technology and environment. In some documents issued by the Ministry of Education, modern distance education is also called network education.