e-Learning: any different from "regular" learning?

Penn State has gone one huge step with online learning: now online classes are increasingly offered as regular alternatives to tradition resident instruction. I.e., as more and more faculty offer courses online, Penn State students will be able to take online classes even though they are right there on campus. Cool, eh!

Naturally, online teaching itself was met with questions and reservations. Here is an excerpt from their report:

Of utmost importance is a concern that the report is framed around a distinction that is increasingly invalid: “e-learning” as distinct from “resident instruction.” Several years ago, e-learning was largely identified with the World Campus, which is directed to offcampus, nontraditional students. However, today, e-learning plays a significant role in teaching traditional students--on campus and inter-campus, as well as at a distance. For every Penn State student, learning is now a blend of curricular and
co-curricular experiences that take place online and face-to-face. The issues need to be framed in this emerging context. The basic questions that we must ask as an institution are: In what ways are the differences between teaching and learning online and in a classroom consequential? How can we ensure that the consequences do not affect quality adversely?

As I noted earlier, online means that the focus will be only on learning, and the course objectives. Now, how about we begin to emphasize that for regular face to face instruction too?