At College of DuPage in the 1970s, I taught an independent learning course; & developed course taught over radio

So online learning is just an extension what I did in those pioneer efforts of course instruction in independent learning situations.  But in those days, college students were unused to "being on their own."

However, even then meeting with an instructor was always an option, if not periodically required as part of the instruction package.  And there was always office hours for consultation one-on-one.

I even offered a course in the classroom where my lectures were presented via tape.  That wouldn't necessarily be the case that I was not physically present for a lecture's presentation on tape--to answer questions, interact with students.

Motivating students to regularly and systematically study I found more difficult a challenge for learning to occur than when offering the regular teaching through the classroom.  But I even took courses in college at the time via independent learning, so to indicate my dedication to the method.  It just requires training to learn that way, i.e., the independent method of learning.

The point I'm getting to is that there are very great advantages to learning independently vs. learning through the typical classroom setting--I am convinced!