The recent pandemic compelled educational institutions all over the world to shift to online instruction. And now institutions find themselves trying to answer questions like how should we proceed when we come back to normal? Which online instructional innovations should we keep? This research attempts to answer those questions by comparing three modes of instruction: in-class, synchronous, and asynchronous for the same course during a semester taught by one instructor. The research analyzes responses from students on the following instructional characteristics: instructor involvement, interaction amongst students, interaction with instructor, course design, student satisfaction and learning experience. Survey data is analyzed using a repeated measures design with pairwise comparisons to understand the differences in students' perceptions of instructional characteristics across these modes. The study also explores differences in actual learning outcomes. Results showed that students overwhelmingly perceived all instructional characteristics to be better facilitated with in-class instruction than with either of the online modes, except for course design which showed no significant differences. It is also seen that students perceive synchronous and asynchronous instruction to have many parallels. Commentary from students suggests that online instructional practice may need a shift, not just in technology improvement, but also in pedagogical design. Students noted that with the shift to online instructional modes, they would like to see increased flexibility, willingness to personalize support, and timely responses.