2022-23 Regular and Substantive Interaction Process

If you’ve been teaching online courses for a while, you’re probably familiar with the phrase “Regular and Substantive Interaction (RSI).” This is a part of the federal Department of Education regulation that governs financial aid for asynchronous online courses. Among other things, it requires that faculty interact with students in their class, about the course material, on a regular basis. It also requires that institutions regularly review online sections to ensure instructor-initiated regular and substantive interaction is taking place.

During negotiations this summer, HCEA and the college administration negotiated a new process for the RSI review. This new process is substantially different from the process used last year, and will require all faculty teaching online to self-assess one section, and provide documentation, at some point during the year. 

Three things you should know now:

• In fall quarter, 50% of the instructors teaching an online section will be required to conduct a self-assessment of a course. 
• Instructors who are selected for each quarter will receive notification by Wednesday of the first week of the quarter. 
• EdTech will be hosting workshops to talk about RSI and the new process: Thursday, September 29, 2:00-2:50pm on Zoom Links to an external site., and Friday, October 7, 1:00-1:50pm, also on Zoom Links to an external site..

Details about this are now available in the Remote Teaching course, including:

• Details about the review process including the checklist
• The college’s definition of instructor-initiated RSI, along with what that means and tips for implementing RSI 
• A link to the new HCEA Agreement - See Memorandum of Agreement #8, the last four pages of the document.