For my Masters degree, most of my courses were absolutely like this. Our assignments were difficult and heavy. There was no expectation that you should complete them without Google or reference material.

In contrast, the "final exams" were either non-existent or extremely easy and account for only 10-20% of the grade, where they existed.

I really liked this approach. Make your assignments very difficult. Alternatively, give difficult 10-15 minute quizzes every other week. IMO, it's a much better way of evaluating students.