What should faculty do to address Regular and Substantive Interaction in their online distance education courses?

Faculty with online distance education courses that include standard weekly or bi-weekly required synchronous Zoom sessions (not just optional Zoom office hours) where they provide direct instruction on course content, facilitate a meaningful exchange about course topics, answer questions, and provide students feedback will likely satisfy RSI requirements.

Faculty with completely asynchronous online distance education courses could consider two options:

1. Incorporate weekly or bi-weekly synchronous Zoom sessions that incorporate the attributes noted above.
   
   
2. Determine and document how their completely asynchronous course will satisfy the two dimensions of the RSI requirements. This includes addressing:
   
   

   Regular interaction between a student and an instructor or instructors by, prior to the student’s completion of a course or competency

   * Providing the opportunity for substantive interactions with the student on a predictable and scheduled basis commensurate with the length of time and the amount of content in the course or competency; and

   * Monitoring the student’s academic engagement and success and ensuring that an instructor is responsible for promptly and proactively engaging in substantive interaction with the student when needed, on the basis of such monitoring, or upon request by the student.

   Substantive interaction is engaging students in teaching, learning, and assessment, consistent with the content under discussion, PLUS TWO of the following:

   * Providing direct instruction;
   * Assessing or providing feedback on a student’s coursework;
   * Providing information or responding to questions about the content of a course or competency;
   * Facilitating a group discussion regarding the content of a course or competency; or,
   * Other instructional activities approved by the institution’s or program’s accrediting agency.

It is recommended that a statement is added to the syllabus to articulate how regular and substantive interaction is achieved. Specifically, what is the standard schedule for faculty and student interaction, and which two of the substantive activities are part of the course.

Example:

In (course code / course name), regular and substantive interaction are achieved through weekly online discussion boards that facilitate a meaningful exchange about key concepts and topics in the course. In addition, the instructor will respond to student questions in the weekly online discussion board and provide information about course content. Students can also expect timely feedback and assessment of their coursework.