1.9 The RSI Review and Documentation Process
Learning Objective: Faculty can name how to effectively document their RSI practices.
Introduction
The RSI regulations state that not only do instructors need to be engaged in regular and substantive interactions in their courses, but that the college is required to ensure that RSI is happening. To do that, we regularly review classes, document that RSI is happening, and help clarify places were an RSI practice may not be met.
The regulations ask you to show that you are doing these practices regularly and for a significant number of students. While you must do the practices every week, Highline's process only requires you to document a handful of weeks.
The purpose of this class was to help you prepare to meet RSI guidelines in your course and be able to successfully document the practices you are using for RSI purposes during your RSI review.
It can be tricky to figure out the nuance to some of the requirements. A check-in email where you connect with a student about how they are doing in the course won't meet RSI standards, but add some guidance about upcoming course content and now it is. Making sure your RSI activities span at least two of the four categories can also be tricky. Adding something in SpeedGrader to respond to something a student wrote in a discussion might be feedback (category 2) or it might be a substantive contribution to the discussion (category 4).
While you are working on your RSI documentation, you may want to refer back to pages in this course, examples from your RSI plan, or connect with a member of EdTech for support.
The Review Process
After you have completed either the Initial RSI course or the RSI Refresh course (depending on how long you have been online teaching at Highline), you will be on the path towards and RSI review. You have a choice for how that review is conducted.
- Complete a self-assessment of a course which is evaluated by the EdTech team.
- Ask EdTech to review the course for you.
- Have a member of your post-tenure committee complete the review (if you are in post-tenure at the time).
If you self-assess a class
If you choose the self-assessment option, you'll submit documentation of your RSI practices via the assignments in the Review Canvas course (which you will be invited to during your review period). A member of the EdTech team will then review what you submit. After they're done, you will receive feedback from the EdTech team regarding your implementation and documentation, and a determination of whether those met standards for RSI.
See the next page for more details on the self-assessment process.
If EdTech reviews a class
If EdTech conducts the review, you'll identify which class you'd like them to review. A member of the team will go through the course and collect evidence of RSI. They may also schedule time to have you show some of the methods of doing RSI that they can't see. (For instance, messages you've sent from your Canvas Inbox.)
After they're done, you will receive feedback from the EdTech team regarding your implementation and documentation of RSI practices, and a determination of whether those met standards for RSI.
If a member of your post-tenure committee reviews a class
If a member of your post-tenure committee reviews a class, you can substitute that review for a class observation. The person doing the review needs to have either successfully completed an RSI review or successfully completed the RSI Refresher course or initial training within the last two years.
EdTech will provide access to a form for completing the review, and the review must be completed on that form. After the review is done, you will receive feedback from the EdTech team regarding your implementation and documentation of RSI practices, and a determination of whether those met standards for RSI.