It is intriguing, I think, that the Chronicle of Higher Education's take on the same research is really quite negative: "The major survey of public colleges and universities found that 70 percent of all faculty members believe the learning outcomes of online courses to be either inferior or somewhat inferior, compared with face-to-face instruction." http://tinyurl.com/lzrjt9
This is a nice piece of resource on Distance Learning. Online classes and blended learning are rapidly increasing due to the increasing trend of distance learning. Online classes also provides a close interaction among students as well as teachers.