My first thought exactly, and one I've easily debunked for at least myself.
Anecdata point of one, YMMV, but I definitely have learned more by myself than I ever have from a teacher or mentor. I can go at my own pace, stop to look things up, try things out, and never have to feel pressure due to falling behind or waiting for others.
Even in the case of the paper's specific area of learning (visual and spatial), I can watch a video, slow that video down, skip around, etc, much more effectively. And for many things, there are usually plenty of them - that's actually how I learned to tie a bowtie, after failing to learn from a friend who tried to show me.
This allows you to get 5+ people looking at one screen close up in detail, which is hard on a physical screen. This also allows for long sessions which is hard on a physical screen as usually if it's more than 2 or 3 people then some people are standing up.