Technical complications aside, though, she summed up her DL experience as a very positive one. I thought I would miss talking with students. It wasn't like that at all. The discussions are all you need. In fact, in the beginning, I had to fight against the 90-minute daily time limit.
Many people end up on one side of the fence or the other.
What we should remember is that like other emerging technologies, distance education is not going to evaporate. It will become an integral part of our future lives, for better or worse. Whether it will be a significant improvement over current educational approaches remains to be seen. Balancing virtual and 'real' interaction will be one of the key educational challenges of the 21st century. In my opinion, DL has much to offer.