The coronavirus pandemic that occurred during spring semester 2020 led to the sudden termination of conventional in-class learning systems. Online distance learning (ODL) has been employed as an alternative tool. The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of utilizing the ODL on the students' knowledge acquisition skills; taking the cases of two courses offered for second-year students studying architectural history at the Hashemite University, Jordan. Courses were taught by the same instructors and were organized utilizing both systems of conventional and ODL. Data were collected from students enrolled in both courses. Findings indicate that ODL does not necessarily compromise students' skills in acquiring knowledge. It advances the architectural history curricular paradigm positively while developing active learning methods.