In my course, depending on which professor was the unit coordinator for a particular unit of study, they'd either make everything online submission or everything handed in personally. I found it pretty annoying when I got mixed up and logged on an hour before the due time and found that I had to race into uni to physically hand in my essay, but I guess your story is the other side of the coin. My professors were always adamant that if they didn't feel confident using the technology to access our assignments and grades, they wouldn't use it.