??????? Really? My dd is taking two classes online this semester (part of Florida's state university system).
There is plenty of interaction with the professor (as this is dd's first semester, she had no idea that one does not challenge the teacher -- so far the prof has corrected several quizzes and reworded two labs).
In both classes, the teachers are available at their offices on campus, by telephone, or by internet. Plenty of feedback (including a warning from the teacher that she wants Office XP used, not Office 97, so she took 2 points off a test. That upset my 14-yo who is not used to getting less than 100).
The meteorology class has a term paper requirement, along with an oral defense of it. And both classes met the first day to have instructors and students get to know one another; both will have final exams on campus.
My dh also took classes from OSU (OK)-- tests were administered by a proctor the school agreed upon. Off-campus classes are nothing new -- what is new is the lack of cost: seems to go with lack of academic credit, unless the student can take a CLEP exam.