That was precisely my experience as well. In the first shop where I worked, the Director of Instruction absolutely refused to use online learning. In class after class, students would show up for the class sessions not having done a blessed thing. I politely told them they would have to come back later, but other instructors would try to talk them through the materials in the amount of time scheduled for going over the completed knowledge reviews. Then the course director agreed to a pilot program for online learning. That was so successful he opened it to everyone. That was so successful we went to 100% online learning.When I taught for a PADI shop, the owner wouldn't do anything but book work. We'd have students show up totally unprepared for the quizzes so there was 6-8 hours of lecture that had to be done to get them up to speed on the material that they'd allegedly read. When Covid hit, the owner finally moved to eLearning. I was absolutely shocked the first time I taught students who'd completed the online course. The poorest students understood and retained the material better than anyone I had taught previously.
These days I principally teach SDI. The open water course isn't as slick as PADI's, but the result is the same - a more prepared student. I still do lecture, but instead of reiterating the basics, I spend my time teaching more advanced information.
I then moved to another shop, and they were still insisting on book learning. Then they tried the online and, lo and behold, they switched to 100% online.
I cannot remember how many online students I had before I finally had one miss a question on the final exam.