Hey there,
I realise this was posted a while back and I'm not sure if you've gotten your answer, but I did EI through distance in 2021. If you really want to do research and you're really interested in something I would highly recommend you do it. I chose EI as my seventh subject because I was very terrible at the subject I completed in 2020 and I definitely think doing EI has given me some hope for my ATAR. I thought distance ed would be very complicated to navigate as I based it on other peoples experiences doing other subjects like Literature and Humanities but I can assure you it's actually not as bad as other people make it to be. There's generally a lesson after school once a week, it's recommended you attend some of them (like preparation for the critical thinking test and tips but most are for question and time with the teacher) but you don't have to because EI is a subject which doesn't need a teacher there all the time. I used to focus on my research and call my teacher whenever my home school gave me a study session. The teacher is only there to guide you, not teach you!!!. for example, my teacher guided me on how I can form my question and what I was interested in. I usually came up with ideas and presented them to the teachers, they helped me to realise whether I was going in a good direction for my research. I would ultimately say that EI is the best subject to do through distance and it's very much worth it if you are passionate and unfortunately did badly in your 3/4 subject this year. Sorry, that was a lot but I hope it made sense and it was helpful for you.