I'm distinctly of two minds about this. On one hand I believe interacting with other people is essential to learning. That studying together, or talking about a text, or hacking on a project together is where the best sort of critical thinking germinates. In that sense I am happy to see some evidence in favor of my hunch.

On the other hand, the course material that online classes are making available for free is tremendously valuable. I've never finished an online course but I have begun to regularly use online course materials as a supplemental resource to books I'm reading and to projects I'm working on.

I'm concerned that enthusiasm for publishing course materials online will dry up if evidence shows it's not a silver bullet for the world's higher education problems. In other words, I'm concerned that expectations are far too high and that educators and institutions are going to lose interest in a fantastic innovation just because it doesn't solve all our problems.