When I took the open water course, we had very little classroom work. I bought a book, was told to complete the chapters before the first class day, read it, answered the knowledge reviews and waited until the first day of the class. When the class started, we talked for a bit to introduce ourselves and then changed clothes to start the pool sessions. There was no class room instruction before the pool work. At the end of day 1, we reveiwed the materials in the chapters so we could take the chapter quizzes but did not have any lectures. The instructor was available to answer any questions but no lectures. Day two ran similar to day 1 but after the chapter quiz we took the final test. Again the instructor was there to explain stuff but there was no lecture/classroom work.
I looked into the internet class, but went through the LDS. I thought it would be better for me incase I had questions but I found that I would have been fine had I done the book work on line. I also think the LDS wanted to sell me a book along with the other stuff I bought (before I found the online dive stores). I am cool with supporting and buying my stuff at my LDS, just wanted to know what the mark up is/was before buying.
However, I should say that a while ago (before I was a lawyer), I got a ticket and when I had my court appearance I had the option of taking the in class version or driver safety with my court supervision or doing the online version. I choose the online version and had 6 months to get it done. I had to go to court and ask for an extension because I kept putting it off. I then had three months to do it and spent the evening before the deadline completing the class on my computer for 4 hours so I would not have to beg the judge and get yelled at.
I am not sure if the online diving class would have worked out the same way but it is possible.
What ever you decide to do, I hope that you do it soon, so you can come out to enjoy the beautiful underwater world we are all obsessed about.