Distributed learning is in experimental stages. Imagine linked computer classrooms, each computer equipped with individual audiovision cameras. Students see the instructor as a television picture on a small portion of their screens and hear through headsets, even when the students are at the originating site. All interaction is computer mediated or electronically transmitted voice. Carefully planned classes use multimedia presentation and require students to use the keyboard and mouse to perform tasks.
Distance learning is the most familiar method for offering courses at multiple sites.
Kent's argument is that distance learning is best suited to traditional lecture presentations and is more difficult to use for active student involvement than distributed learning software. Distance learning is not, by this definition, on line, so this is the last time I'll mention it. And finally, the portmanteau category. I believe I am the only Kent instructor currently offering a course mounted on the World Wide Web using E-mail and a course listserve discussion group for asynchronous interchange of information, and my use of available on line resources is rudimentary at best. A quick look at syllabi for other online courses will show more interactivity in MOOs or in computer mediated classrooms using commercially available software like Norton's Connect or Daedalus.