Distance education fosters new kinds of collaboration--some intended, others unintended--among students and between students and instructors in college classes. The authors report the incidental learning activity within a complex of asynchronous online and compressed desktop video courses at a mid-sized university. Learning to use technology and assessing individual and group attitudes and behavioral patterns are the two particular outcomes. The results of the study illustrate the importance of incidental learning and of developing a learning environment that fosters positive outcomes. Theory and application concerning teaching and learning in online distance education courses and desktop video conferencing courses may differ.