I think there has to be consideration of the question, what is education for? So much discussion seems to be about its utilitarian purposes rather than the idea of developing oneself as a well rounded decent human being.

If all we see education for is creating the cogs in the giant wheel of capitalism we’ve set the bar really really low.

Being in higher ed myself, and on the fielding end of a lot of phone calls wondering if the institution I work at accepts on-line credits, I am intrigued as well about the findings of this study. My biggest question would be the subjects being taught for comparison. The major issue over here is lab sciences. On-line students simply lack the facilities to complete lab sciences the same way they would in a classroom.

I think you have a very good point about college being about more than just classes. For me personally, I recall much more learned about personel management than I do about various class room theory.