QM has provided several wonderful webinars and ideas for me to consider. Tonight I watched the recording for the session “Incorporating Regular and Substantive Interaction (RSI) into Course Design and Delivery.” Jenny Davis from the University of Cincinnati presented an interactive session. Davis explained that in July of 2021, the US Department of Education defined what constitutes regular and substantive interaction (RSI). Many states’ higher education regulations and rules include RSI as well as accreditation reviews and financial aid considerations. RSI is embedded in the best practices and quality assurance standards (QM) 3.5 and 5.3.Regular has to do with predictable and on a scheduled basis interactions to monitor student progress. The substantive part has to do with teaching, learning, and assessment. To meet the definition, at least two of the following need to be included: providing direct instruction, assessing or providing feedback on a student’s coursework, providing information or responding to question about the content of a course or competency, facilitating a group discussion regarding the content of a course, and other categories. For RSI to count, interaction is needed and must be instructor initiated. Davis also explained that assignments that do not require the student to review the material and then interact with the instructor are not RSI. Auto-graded assignments, welcome/general informational messages, reminders of course policies or assignment deadlines, and discussion forums that are not moderated do not count as RSI. Davis suggested regular interaction that occurs at least once per week. This is just the beginning, Davis emphasized. They suggested setting up a structure for RSI-minded delivery. For “Office” hours to meet RSI, they need to be scheduled. “By appointment” is not a specific time the instructor is available. Davis shared specific language examples such as: “As your instructor, I will interact and engage with each of you regularly throughout the term to support your learning by doing the following: providing direct instruction related to the course’s learning objectives, providing personalized feedback on your submitted coursework, posting regular announcements about the course, and engaging in the course discussion areas regarding academic course content. Davis also suggested explaining in the directions how and when feedback will be provided. Creating a plan for RSI can be a helpful way for instructors to plan and achieve RSI.
