Regular Substantive Interaction (RSI)

Regular Substantive Interaction (RSI) is the ongoing and meaningful engagement between students and instructors in online courses, focused on teaching, learning, and assessment. This interaction is directly related to the course content and learning objectives, and is aimed at fostering active learning, critical thinking, and knowledge application. RSI does not include interactions solely with machines or technology that lack an instructor's involvement. 

RSI plays a crucial role in online learning by creating a supportive and dynamic learning environment. It helps students feel connected to their instructors and peers, reducing the sense of isolation that can be common in online courses. Additionally, RSI encourages active learning and critical thinking, which are essential for student success. As a requirement set forth by the Department of Education, RSI also ensures that institutions maintain a high standard of education in their online courses.

Incorporating RSI into online courses offers numerous benefits for both students and faculty:

• Enhanced learning experience: Students benefit from a more engaging and effective learning experience, as RSI promotes active participation, critical thinking, and knowledge application.

• Improved student satisfaction and retention: RSI helps students feel supported and connected to their instructors and peers, leading to higher levels of satisfaction and retention in online courses.

• Better academic outcomes: By fostering active learning and critical thinking, RSI contributes to improved academic performance and achievement for students.

• Faculty development and growth: Integrating RSI into online courses provides faculty with opportunities to refine their teaching strategies, adapt to the evolving needs of online learners, and continually improve their courses.

• Compliance with educational standards: Implementing RSI helps institutions comply with Department of Education requirements and maintain accreditation, ensuring the quality and credibility of their online courses.

1. Create One Announcement Per Week: Craft a personalized weekly announcement that highlights upcoming deadlines, course updates, and any relevant news or resources.  Encourage student engagement by including discussion prompts or questions related to the course content or by asking students to share their insights, questions, or concerns. This way, the announcement not only provides important information but also fosters dialogue and interaction between the instructor and the students, constituting RSI. To kick it up a notch make it a video announcement brief (5-10 minutes) weekly video message should incorporate one or more of the following RSI characteristics).

2. Personalized feedback: Provide individualized feedback for each student's assignment within the video, demonstrating a direct connection between the instructor and the student.

3. Responsiveness to student needs: Address student questions or concerns raised during the week in the video, showing the instructor's active engagement with the class.

4. Summative feedback with instructional interventions: Model instructional interventions through the context of student work and accompany it with additional opportunities for student interaction and engagement.

Engage in interactive practices such as whole-class discussions, D2L Discussions, tools like Perusall, or embedding questions or prompts in videos for students to respond to, fostering dialogue between the instructor and students. These activities promote collaboration and a deeper understanding of course materials while also meeting students' expectations for increased interaction with their professors.

To ensure faculty participation meets RSI standards, follow these condensed guidelines:

• Engage meaningfully: Respond thoughtfully to students' ideas and encourage critical thinking.

• Address individual contributions: Personalize responses, highlighting specific insights or challenges.

• Foster collaboration: Facilitate interaction between students by posing questions or prompts.

• Be responsive and timely: Regularly participate and address concerns in a timely manner.

• Provide guidance: Offer clarification on complex concepts and course material.

• Encourage application: Ask students to apply course concepts to real-world situations or problem-solving exercises.

Regular Substantive Interaction (RSI) is the frequent, meaningful, and educationally relevant interaction between instructors and students that supports student learning and academic success in online courses. RSI is characterized by regular, predictable, instructor-initiated interactions that are directly related to the course content and learning objectives and foster active learning, critical thinking, and knowledge application.

RSI is important in online courses because it enhances the learning experience for students by promoting engagement, active learning, and critical thinking. It also helps students feel connected to their instructors and peers, reducing the sense of isolation that can be common in online learning. Additionally, RSI is a requirement set forth by the Department of Education, ensuring that institutions maintain a high standard of education in their online courses.

While grading itself is not considered Regular Substantive Interaction (RSI), personalized feedback that accompanies a grade and evaluates student work could be considered RSI. This is because the personalized feedback demonstrates an active engagement between the instructor and the student, addressing the student's strengths, areas for improvement, and any questions or concerns they may have. Such feedback promotes a supportive learning environment and helps students to better understand the course material and improve their performance.

                   To meet the RSI requirements in your online course, consider incorporating the following recommended practices:

• Create one regular video communication per week.

• Create one regular personalized announcement per week.

• Participate in one regular "Advanced RSI Activity" (e.g., whole-class discussions, D2L Discussions, Perusall).

                    Examples of RSI activities include:

• Providing personalized feedback on assignments.

• Hosting live virtual office hours.

• Leading interactive discussion boards.

Examples of non-RSI activities include:

• Pre-recorded lectures without opportunities for student interaction or feedback.

• Automated or generic feedback on assignments.

• Static course materials without any accompanying interactive elements.

Videos that meet RSI requirements typically include the following characteristics:

• Interactive elements: Videos that embed questions or prompts for students to respond to, fostering dialogue between the instructor and students.

• Personalized feedback: Videos that provide individualized feedback for each student's assignment, demonstrating a direct connection between the instructor and the student.

• Responsiveness to student needs: Videos that address student questions or concerns raised during the week, showing the instructor's active engagement with the class.

• Summative feedback with instructional interventions: Videos that model instructional interventions through the context of student work, accompanied by additional opportunities for student interaction and engagement.

Videos that do not meet RSI requirements typically have the following characteristics:

• Static content: Videos that are one-time lectures without any accompanying interactive elements or opportunities for student engagement.

• Generic feedback: Videos that provide general feedback without addressing individual student contributions or providing personalized guidance.

• Lack of instructor interaction: Videos from external sources used as the primary course content without any accompanying discussion, reflection, or analysis led by the instructor.

To assess whether your course meets the RSI requirements, review your course materials and activities to ensure they include regular, meaningful interactions between you and your students. Check that you are providing personalized feedback, engaging in interactive discussions, and incorporating a variety of RSI practices. You can also seek feedback from your students or collaborate with instructional design teams to evaluate your course.

Not meeting the RSI requirements can result in a less engaging and less effective learning experience for your students, which may lead to lower student satisfaction and retention rates. Additionally, failure to comply with the Department of Education's RSI requirements could lead to potential loss of accreditation, financial aid eligibility, or other penalties for your institution.

To improve your existing course materials for better RSI incorporation, consider adding interactive elements such as quizzes, polls, or discussions that encourage student participation. Review your feedback practices to ensure they are personalized and meaningful. Also, consider offering live virtual office hours or video conferencing to increase face-to-face interaction. Collaborate with instructional design teams to evaluate and enhance your course materials further.

• I feel that some online course instructors rely too heavily on youtube videos. I prefer when professors post videos of themselves lecturing, not videos that anyone can access on youtube. 

• Instructors need to interact more with the class. Need more personalized videos.

• Wish there was more face to face interaction with the professor. More like a video conference where we could ask questions.

• The instructor could guide discussion between students, provide sample questions, critique, etc.

• Most professors don’t give timely feedback. By the time you realize what you did wrong on a test or assignment, it’s too late.

• The feedback section of D2L assignments is used appropriately to give negative feedback, but when I fulfill an assignment's requirements I rarely get more feedback than "good job."

• It would be great if all instructors could send out weekly emails about the week's upcoming expectations and assignments. I really liked the video messages that some instructors created. It is a good way to stay connected with students and helps me understand assignments better.

• My other classes all had videos from the instructor to go with the reading. I would like to see more video lectures on the topic or more interaction in the discussions with the professors. 

• The hardest part of this online program has been the lack of instructional videos. I knew going into an entirely online program the majority of the time I would be reading and self-teaching but I did expect more instructional videos with navigating

• Some teachers provided video walkthroughs and explanations which makes learning more complex math formulas a bit more doable. I can remember being so glad to have walkthrough examples for my tax class and also having them available when preparing for exams. 

• I definitely think instructors online should have to “teach” in video lessons rather than just provide a multitude of readings to sift through what students think may be important. 

• My instructor posts videos for us, telling us about upcoming lessons, providing overall feedback, etc. I had a previous online instructor at Pima do this and it was wonderful. You felt like there was an actual professor there and not just some self-guided online course without feedback or instruction.

• I have taken a few online classes from other schools and one thing I find helpful is if there is a pre-recorded presentation of the material I am learning.

• I wish online courses had information written or screen recorded by the actual professor themselves. I feel like I’m learning all on my own and not in the class. I don’t want to watch videos by other random people. It's confusing and I feel it's not helpful.

• I found that the videos provided for online learning were not a good substitute for a teacher going through a lesson. In my experience, I often had to use youtube videos to fill in the missing gaps of knowledge.