1.3 Quiz: Satisfying the Substance of RSI

"Regular" and "Substantive"

Okay, so what do "regular" and "substantive" actually mean?  A recent report by the Office of the Inspector General summarized these terms by their "ordinary meaning":

Substantive: Relevant to the subject matter of the course
Regular: Occurring with some reasonable frequency considering the school-suggested length of the course ^[4]
4 See the Final Audit Report, ED-OIG/A05M009 at 14-15.

That's still fairly vague, so in 2017, GHC established a committee to explore our compliance with RSI and produced our own guidelines:

What counts as substantive interaction?

1. 1. 1. Direct, personalized, interaction between the student and instructor related to pursuit of a course outcome, initiated by the instructor. Students should be hearing from their instructor even if they are not struggling and do not specifically request assistance from the instructor.
      2. This feedback provides substantive critique, comment, and/or evaluation for work submitted by individual students or groups, referring to additional sources for supplementary information where appropriate.
      3. The feedback process continues the learning experience, adds depth and insight to the discussion already provided by the student, and affords the instructor an opportunity to reaffirm key concepts as well as provides closure. The interaction is robust and individualized, providing explanation of how to improve
      4. When a rubric is used, specific feedback tailored to the student’s performance is provided above and beyond the standard text within the rubric categories.
      5. To be verified by checking: Syllabus, Modules, Discussions, SpeedGrader, Comments on quizzes and assignment, Communications
         

What counts as regular interaction?

This is not clearly defined by DOE rules or regulations; however, other college’s responses to DOE audits often cite “weekly” as being the expectation for “regular.”  Only interaction which is substantive can be used as evidence of being regular—this includes feedback on assignments and quizzes, and instructor comments in discussions.  Use of multiple channels is encouraged: that is, it does not need to be the same type of communication each time to qualify.

How do I satisfy the "substantive" requirement of RSI?

A recent report provides the following guideline: "the OIG determined that interaction was "substantive" if the course design materials described student interaction with a course mentor or required an individual submission of a performance task for which an evaluator provided the student feedback."

Yet more than examining the letter of the law, it is helpful to think about the intention of RSI regulations.  You were hired to teach a course partly due to your expertise in the subject area, and RSI regulations intend to ensure that students actually benefit from that expertise.  So, a good standard for assessing whether your interactions are substantive is to ask yourself: does this exchange impart the benefit of my expertise in the subject area?  Would someone need my education, training, and professional experience in this subject area in order to provide this information?

Consider the following messages:

"You received a 95% on the quiz.  Nice job!"
"Your grade is a C because you are missing an assignment that was due two weeks ago."
"I just wanted to take a moment to welcome you to the course!"
"Not quite!  Try again!"
"Don't forget that your paper is due on Monday!"

All of these types of messages could be written by anyone with little or no knowledge of your subject area, so they DO NOT impart the benefit of your expertise to the student.  Now, compare to these:

"Great point about the social components of poverty-- have you considered how those social components vary from country to country?"
"If you are still confused about cellular respiration, I suggest reviewing the explanation on pg. 136 and this article."
"You made a mistake in your calculations.  Check your work on line 3."

All of these address academics specific to the teacher's discipline that a person without background in that subject might not be equipped to provide.  That is the point of substantive interaction!

Beyond the Bare Minimum

As will quickly become apparent, while RSI is an essential component of quality online course delivery, it really only reflects the bare minimum.  Best practices recommend many other elements for teacher-student interactions, and even feedback which satisfies "regular" and "substantive" could be considered very poor.  In Part 3 of this course, we will examine other aspects of effective feedback.

Quiz: Recognizing Substantive Interaction

The following questions will present you with some challenging scenarios to test your understanding of substantive interaction.  Read the example interaction and decide if it should be considered "substantive" or "not substantive".

You have two attempts for this quiz.