This page provides guidance on how to find evidence of Regular and Substantive Interaction (RSI) when evaluating an online course.
The following are examples of interaction you can look for in online classes. You want to find examples of interaction between the instructor and students, as well as among students.
Instructor and Learner
- Welcome Letter: Does the instructor send a welcome letter? This would be sent prior to the start of class, or in the first week, containing important preliminary information about the instructor, Canvas, the course, and initial activities. This may not be visible as an observer, so you’ll have to ask about it.
- Communication Plan: Do students know how and when they can expect to hear from the instructor? For example, what communications methods will be used? Will the instructor be interacting in the discussions? How and when are office hours offered? Often these will be in a welcome or orientation module.
- Introduction Discussion: Is there a getting to know you discussion board with interactions between the instructor and the students with introductions? You can look for messages between the instructors and the students in the discussion boards.
- Module Discussions: Are there discussion boards on course content in the modules? These could be about course content, and to be an example of faculty-student interaction, you want to find examples of discussion between the instructors and the students in the discussion boards.
- Weekly Video-Check In: Some faculty send weekly videos about course content, what is coming up, or even personalized messages to individual students using the media recorder from the SpeedGrader. This may be visible if included as announcements, but may not be visible if sent to individual students or through the Canvas Inbox or email, so you’ll have to ask about it.
- Gradebook Feedback: Feedback from the gradebook, both messages sent and speed grader comments are great examples of personal interaction between the instructor and students, but aren’t visible to the observer. You’ll have to ask the instructor about if or how they use the gradebook and SpeedGrader to communicate with students.
- Announcements: Instructors often use announcements to communicate with students about upcoming assignments, class content and relevant examples. To see the announcements sent, you can click on the announcements tap in the left navigation bar.
- Weekly Office Hours: Look for easy to find information about when office hours are held, and how to access them. Even if office hours are offered, but the information about them is hard to find, that can be very helpful feedback for instructors!
- Canvas Mail: Many faculty use the Canvas Inbox to communicate with students, and these individual messages are a great example of instructor and student interaction. These messages are not visible to observers, so this is another item to ask about.
Learner and Learner
- Introduction Discussion: Looking at the same getting to know you discussion board mentioned above, look for students connecting. You’re looking for examples of posts and replies between the students in this discussion board.
- Module Discussions: In the discussion boards on course content in the modules, look for regularly offered assignments where students are discussing the course content together.
- Group Projects or Assignments: Some online courses have group projects where students work together on assignments. In assignment instructions, look for information about group size, roles or responsibilities. You may also want to ask the instructor about these.