The nature of asynchronous communication and interaction opens the door to true reflective thinking over time. While this type of reflection does occur in face to face courses, it does so in a different way. In the online setting, the students and instructors can easily review posts, resources, and types of interactions to then present a fully-considered opinion or reflection. Conversely in a face to face class, the students usually do not have access to all of those factors instantly the way it happens in an online course.

Again, this is not to say one is better than the other. It's to acknowledge the advantages and disadvantages of each setting.

In the face to face environment, students who are more extroverted can still engage in a manner that brings them joy and satisfaction. At the same time, students who tend to be more introverted can experience that same sense of joy and satisfaction as well.

I see the reflection aspect of the online course as being connected to the learning strategy of spaced repetition. While it can and does happen in face to face classes, it occurs in a different way in the online setting -- but the important part is that it can still occur.

We tend to view choices in terms of value -- ie good vs bad. For example, I value eating chocolate ice cream and label it as good, more than I value eating broccoli, which I label as bad. However, I have to exert extra effort to acknowledge the value and advantages of both types of food.

As people, we're wired to follow the path of greatest reward for least effort. That's a psychological challenge that we as the learning designer community face in discussions on viewing F2F and online learning as different and not as good vs bad..

In the same way, I believe that presenting the case of different instead of better requires the instructor or designer to exert extra effort as well.

By saying something is different, we're leaving ourselves open to more choices and more uncertainty. It's much easier on the brain to say "In person is better than online teaching/learning". If we accept that they are different, this will require us to do more work to maximize the value of each one. It's necessary work, but it's still a perception that requires more thought and effort.