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Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment

Regular and Substantive Interaction

The U.S. Department of Education requires that all distance education courses for which students may use federal financial aid include regular and substantive interaction between the students and instructor(s). Regular and Substantive Interaction (RSI) refers to meaningful, instructor-initiated engagement between faculty and students in an online course. RSI is designed to ensure that online education meets the same academic standards as traditional face-to-face instruction. To qualify as RSI, interactions must be:

  • Regular: Occurring consistently and predictably throughout the course, interactions that happen not just at the beginning or end.
  • Substantive: Focused on course content and academic progress rather than administrative tasks.
  • Instructor-initiated: Proactively led by faculty rather than relying solely on student inquiries. 

RSI is crucial for maintaining academic integrity and ensuring student success in online learning environments. Key reasons for its importance include:

  • Compliance: RSI is a federal requirement under the
  • Student Engagement: Regular faculty interaction enhances student motivation, participation, and retention.
  • Accreditation Standards: Institutions must demonstrate RSI to maintain accreditation and eligibility for federal financial aid programs. 
RSI Defined


An institution ensures regular interaction between a student and an instructor or instructors by, prior to the student鈥檚 completion of a course or competency鈥 

  1. 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
  1. Monitoring the student鈥檚 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, and also includes at least two of the following鈥

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

  • The Department of Education outlined the following 5 factors of RSI as their focus:

    1. The institution鈥檚 online instruction is delivered through an appropriate form of media;
    2. The instructors with whom students regularly and substantively interact meet the requirements of the institution鈥檚 accrediting agency for instruction in the subject matter;
    3. Instructors engage in at least two forms of substantive interaction meeting the regulatory requirements for the course or competency;
    4. The institution has established scheduled and predictable opportunities for substantive interaction between students and instructors and create expectations for instructors to monitor each student鈥檚 engagement and substantively engage with students on the basis of that monitoring; and
    5. Instructors are responsive to students鈥 requests for instructional support.

    By adhering to these RSI standards, faculty can create an interactive, supportive, and academically rigorous online learning environment that benefits students and meets institutional and federal requirements.

Examples of RSI

Examples of regular interactions:

  • Having regularly scheduled office hours
  • Sending out announcements at a regular and predictable time each week
  • Having consistent discussion or interactive activities
  • Using the monitoring tools in Canvas to track student progress 

Examples of substantive interactions:

  • Providing personalized comments and feedback on individual student's work - these can be text, audio, or video feedback through Canvas.
  • Engaging students in group work that is moderated by the instructor
  • Having online discussions that are moderated by the instructor 
  • For example, respond to each student introduction in a forum
  • Add a course Q&A forum, and respond to posts in a timely manner 

Examples of instructor-initiated interactions:

  • Individualized messages to students
  • Personalized feedback on assignments
  • Scheduled virtual office hours 

Examples of regular, scheduled and predictable interactions:

  • Holding a required one-hour online review session every other week during the term
  • Routinely posting announcements or course-specific messages
  • Actively facilitating a required online discussion for every course unit
  • Creating weekly videos to offer clarifications to questions regarding content or assignments 

Definitions 

On July 1, 2021, the Department of Education released the final set of proposed regulations stemming from the 2019 Negotiated Rulemaking process (the Distance Education and Innovation Regulations).

Instructor:

An instructor is an individual responsible for delivering course content and who meets the qualifications for instruction established by the institution鈥檚 accrediting agency.

Distance Education:

Education that uses one or more of the technologies listed in paragraphs (1)(i) through (1)(iv) of this definition to deliver instruction to students who are separated from the instructor or instructors, and to support regular and substantive interaction between the students and the instructor or instructors, either synchronously or asynchronously.

The technologies that may be used to offer distance education include 鈥

  • The internet;
  • One-way and two-way transmissions through open broadcast, closed circuit, cable, microwave, broadband lines, fiber optics, satellite, or wireless communications devices;
  • Audio conferencing; or
  • Other media used in a course in conjunction with any of the technologies listed in paragraphs (1)(i) through (1)(iii) of this definition.

Regular Interaction:

An institution ensures regular interaction between a student and an instructor or instructors by, prior to the student鈥檚 completion of a course or competency鈥

  1. 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
  1. Monitoring the student鈥檚 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.

Predictable and Scheduled Interaction:

An example of 鈥減redictable鈥 would be to say that a new lesson is released every Monday, Friday, or some equally predictable timeframe. An example of 鈥渟cheduled鈥 is the course syllabi in outlining when activities will happen in the course.

Monitoring a Student鈥檚 Engagement and Success:

The Department of Education stated that its expectation was that instructors take a proactive approach to determining whether students need assistance. The Department gave some examples of how this may be done, such as:

  • Using sophisticated systems of technology to monitor student activity
  • Traditional person-to-person evaluation
  • Using tests or quizzes
  • Evaluating each student鈥檚 performance in regular class sessions or in regular assignments

Substantive interaction:

is engaging students in teaching, learning, and assessment, consistent with the content under discussion, and also includes at least two of the following鈥

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

Course Credit Calculations:

Course credit earned at 帝王会所 is defined in terms of semester credit hours. In the typical lecture setting, a semester credit hour is awarded for at least 750 minutes of formalized direct instruction that carries an average of 1,500 minutes of indirect instruction completed by students outside the classroom. Thus, each credit hour entails at least 2,250 minutes of instruction (both direct and indirect) for the semester. For a course taught in the typical lecture setting over a standard 14-week semester, this comprises one clock hour (55 minute) meeting per week of in the classroom supplemented by at least two hours of out-of-classroom work. This requirement of at least 2,250 minutes of instruction remains in force for courses taught using alternative semester formats.鈥

Resources:

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