Embedded Files
A Nicolet College Interpretation of Regular and Substantive Interaction
An interpretation and view of Regular and Substantive teaching is based on good teaching and learning practices. Angelo and Cross (1993) share effective teachers use a variety of methods, to identify how well and to what degree their students are learning. Providing students with opportunities to learn and improve in their educational journey is foundational to how Nicolet College operates.
The College has many ways to promoting and focusing on good teaching and learning.
Online Suny Course Quality Rubrics (OSCQR)
Visible Learning Framework
High-Impact Practices
Faculty Quality Assurance System (FQAS)
Faculty Mentors and Onboarding
Curriculum Projects and Support throughout the Academic Support team
What is Substantive?
A distance education course needs to provide at least two of the following:
1. Direct instruction (Department of Education intended this to be in a synchronous environment where instructors and students are present.)
a. Video lecture which is synchronous would be considered direct instruction. A recorded lecture (on its own) would likely not count as direct instruction. (Providing an interaction along with the video, would count).
2. Assessing or providing feedback on student’s coursework
a. Computer graded or auto-graded assessments do not count towards substantive interaction
3. Providing information or responding to questions about the content or a course or competency
4. Facilitating a group discussion regarding the content of a course or competency
5. Other instructional activities approved by the institution’s or program’s accrediting agency
a. At this time, we are considering Brightspace’s intelligent agents tool as a form of interaction approved by Nicolet College.
A course can have the elements described above that do not count as substantive interaction if at least two other elements of the course or competency are evident.
What is Regular?
Substantive interactions (see above) with the instructor are on a predictable and scheduled basis based on the length and content of the course or competency. The course or competency has a cadence, a flow, a timeline. The student should be able to understand the substantive activities scheduled in the course or competency. An example of “predictable” would be a new lesson starts every Monday, Friday, or some equally predictable timeframe. An example of “scheduled” would be the course syllabi in outlining when activities will happen in the course or a course calendar. Office hours/student availability will satisfy the regular interaction requirement, but must be scheduled on a specific time regardless if student chooses to attend. The term “prompt and proactively” can be satisfied through a course syllabus on how quickly a student can expect responses from their instructor.
Monitoring student’s engagement and success – The Department of Education shared its expectation that instructors take a proactive approach to determining whether students needed assistance. At Nicolet College an instructor has a variety of options for monitoring and should approach monitoring as a tool to help in student success. Students that are struggling with course or competency success may need documentation of our response to intervention to support our strategies and approach with that student. Documenting (data) engagement with students that are deemed to need further support can lead to using the data to further support student success.
Examples may include: Brightspace (many items could be used for monitoring such as grades and class progress), web conference attendance reports, email communication, outlook calendar events, traditional face-to-face evaluation, tests and quizzes, and evaluating each student’s performance in regular class sessions or in regular assignments. *Instructors have to have access to pull reports or tracking, if need be, but do not need to constantly gather this information.
Examples Present in Course
Interaction should be started by the instructor to count as regular and substantive. There should be an active presence in initiating and guiding a range of interactions with students.
· Welcome announcements
· Announcements during the semester on academic topics
· Instructor provides a kickoff meeting for the course or competency
· Instructor provides a check-in opportunity
· Instructor participates/facilitates in discussion forum
· Instructor asks a student to visit during student office hours
· Instructor provides individualized substantive comments through audio, video, or writing on student assignments
· Provide an overview video to accompany a course activity
Examples for scheduled and predictable
Interaction should be reasonably frequent and consistent throughout the course. The mode of interaction may vary throughout the course, but there must be a presence the entire term or student’s completion of course or competency. Daily communication is not required, but at a minimum instructors should be available during office hours and respond to student emails within 24-48 hours.
· Syllabus provides a schedule of learning topics, modules, and learning activities to complete.
· Course announcements posted weekly or on a consistent basis.
· Post weekly office hours when students can reach you online more than one time per week
· Using Brightspace Intelligent Agents
· Participation in regularly scheduled learning sessions (where there is an opportunity for direct interaction between the student and the instructor).
Examples for a focus on course subject
Interactions should pertain to the course content and contribute to the students’ progress towards the course outcomes. Routine procedural reminders aren’t substantive on their own, neither are numerical grades unless accompanied by personalized feedback or suggestions for improvement.
· Send a message or post an announcement to students previewing concepts introduced in the next unit and/or listing questions for students to consider while reading the textbook chapters
· Post an example of how a real-world situation relates to the assigned content
· Provide specific robust feedback on course work
· Personalized comments (in any medium) for any academic question
What is RSI – Regular and Substantive Interaction
1. A legal federal requirement which distinguishes between distance education and correspondence courses. Institutions offering more than 50 percent of their total course offerings via correspondence or enrolling more than 50 percent of their student in correspondence are not eligible in Title IV financial aid programs.
2. Definitions
34 C.F.R. §660.2 defines a correspondence course as:
1. A course provided by an institution under which the institution provides instructional materials, by mail or electronic transmission, including examinations on the materials, to students who are separated from the instructor. Interaction between the instructor and the student is limited, is not regular and substantive, and is primarily initiated by the student.
2. If a course is part correspondence and part residential training, the Secretary considers the course to be correspondence course.
3. A correspondence course is not distance education.
34 C.F.R. §600 defines distance education as:
1. Education that uses one or more of the technologies listed in paragraphs (2) (i) through (iv) of this definition to deliver instruction to students who are separated from the instructor and to support regular and substantive interaction between the students and the instructor, either synchronously or asynchronously.
2. The technologies that may be used to offer distance education include:
i. The internet;
ii. One-way and two-way transmission through open broadcast, closed circuit, cable, microwave, broadband lines, fiber options, satellite, or wireless communications devices;
iii. Audio conference; or
iv. Other media used in a course in conjunction with any of the technologies listed in paragraph (2) (i) through (iii) of this definition.
3. For purposes of this definition, an instructor is an individual responsible for delivering course content and who meets the qualifications for instruction established by an institution’s accrediting agency.
4. For purposes of this definition, substantive interaction is engaging students in teaching, learning, and assessment, consistent with the content under discussion, and also include at least two of the following –
i. Providing direct instruction;
ii. Assessing or providing feedback on a student’s coursework;
iii. Providing information or responding to questions about the content of a course or competency;
iv. Facilitating a group discussion regarding the content of a course or competency; or
v. Other instructional activities approved by the institution’s or program’s accrediting agency.
5. An institution ensures regular interaction between a student and an instructor or instructors by prior to the student’s completion of a course or competency –
i. 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
ii. Monitoring the student’s 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.
Google Sites
Report abuse