Regular and Substantive Interaction (RSI): A key to quality and effective online course design

According to the Final Rules on Distance Education and Innovation released by the U.S. Department of Education, distance/online education must meet the requirements of including regular and substantive interactions (RSI). As the name implies, RSI interactions must be both regular, meaning they are scheduled on a routine basis, and substantive, involving discussion commensurate with the learning content.?

But what types of interactions can be considered regular and substantive? An online quality course checklist published by SUNY Empire State College summarized three key criteria:

1. They must be mostly initiated by instructors. Instead of relying on students soliciting help, instructors are responsible to provide and guide the learning activities. This can be done through teacher-guided workshops, virtual office hours, and more.
2. They must be regular. Before the course starts, interactions should already be scheduled on a regular basis. For example, weekly seminars, regular feedback sessions, and more.
3. They must be substantive. The regularly scheduled activities must also be accompanied by features that offer meaningful interactions commensurate with the study materials. These features include preview and review of the study materials, prompts for students to bear in mind while studying, and more.

However, incorporating RSI in online/ hybrid learning design remains a challenge for instructors and course designers. Remote learning, unlike traditional face-to-face classrooms, often leads to less student engagement due to the physical distance. With the recent transformation into hybrid learning, recruiting student engagements across different learning environments becomes even harder. To tackle these challenges, this article will offer some key advice to incorporate RSI into online course design, with the help of the FeedbackFruits tool suite.

Design the course syllabus to ensure regular learning activities

To ensure regular interactions, instructors should provide a clear course syllabus or manual, prior to the start of the course, and detail the schedule of learning activities. In doing so, students will have a clearer understanding of the course content and learning goal, which will help them to learn more effectively. Besides the pre-designed manual detailing learning activities, instructors should also keep track of student’s learning progress and make adjustments when needed. Our Learning Analytics feature can provide teachers with such information, and help them to provide timely intervention and support for students.

Stimulate substantive interactions with interactive learning activities

To make regular interactions also substantive, instructors need to stimulate meaningful engagements commensurate with the learning materials. Our Interactive Study Materials tools, such as Interactive Video and Interactive Document, can help instructors to achieve this goal. Instructors can add prompts and discussion points to the regularly scheduled learning materials. When studying, students engage with these prompts and make annotations. This way, students can meaningfully engage with the study material to achieve a deeper understanding.

Read our full article to learn more about other tips!