V.2 Learning activities foster regular and substantive instructor-student interaction, as well as content-student—and if appropriate—student-student interaction.
◉ REQUIRED STANDARD
Expectations
Research by the developers of the QM rubric shows that engaging the student in an online course is key to them achieving success in the course; ergo, it is essential that you are engaged with your students, and that your content lends itself similarly to be engaging to the students.
Student-student interaction is another important—though not essential—element to engage students in your course.
All courses should provide for interaction between the student, instructor, and content.
Per guidance from the Department of Education (34 CFR 600.2), in order to satisfy "regular and substantive" interaction, the instructor/course must satisfy at least two of the following criteria:
providing direct instruction (e.g., lectures, regular office hours/help sessions, etc.)
assessing or providing feedback on a student’s course work in a timely fashion
providing information or responding to questions about the content of a course or competency
facilitating regular group discussions regarding the content of a course or competency
other instructional activities approved by the institution’s or program’s accrediting agency
Examples
instructor-student interaction examples:
self-introduction
providing lectures (live/recorded)
hosting office hours
discussion postings and responses
providing feedback on project assignments
evidence of one-to-one email communication
student-content interaction examples:
essays
term papers
group projects
self-assessment exercises
student-student interaction examples:
self-introduction discussion or exercise
group discussion postings and replies
group projects/assignments
peer review/evaluation
References
QM FIPSE rubric V.2