The current study involves a comparison of student levels of engagement, ability to learn autonomously, and interaction with peers and faculty in two different learning settings: a large lecture hall and online. Results suggest that learning mechanism drives the styles of learning and teaching practiced in traditional and online learning settings. Students in the online course were more reflective in their learning practices, spending more time independently preparing for the course, as well as being more involved in class discussions. By comparison, students from the traditional lecture hall reported being more collaborative in their learning with classmates. (Contains 3 tables.)