Why might professors in an online masters program give fewer assignments and less feedback than those in an in-person program? When I was a graduate business student some 20 years ago in a major state university in south central US, my general impression was that almost all professors, with very few exception, were spending lots of time with the students' learning, in that they were behaving the same way as if they were teaching undergraduate students.

Now I am taking a second master degree in math with another state university, but this time around I am taking it online. My general impression here is the exact opposite of my past experience. Almost all teachers are spending less time with teaching, meaning that they passed out only class notes, rarely (if at all) gave assignments, and much less returned them with feedback.

For your info, my school is a non flag-ship school in the state university system, almost all students are HS math teachers whose only goal is getting master degree in math for job purpose, and I suspect lots of them do not even have enough math prerequisite. I am also a HS teacher but I think I am the only one who have middle name in math. I am not venting here but here is my question:


  Is there any hardship or predicament on the professors' side that the public are not aware of, that cause them to behave the way they did?


Thank you for your time and effort.
As someone who has taught both the answer is actually pretty simple.  When you're in class you can't help but make a physical connection to students.  Online, you have to make an effort to do that.  Some teachers  do, but many don't.