1.3.3_KYSU_Online_Standards_of_Instruction.pdf — PaddleOCR-VL (Baidu)

KENTUCKY STATE UNIVERSITY POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

Online faculty are responsible for ensuring that students are academically engaged with their online courses and that regular and substantive interaction occurs between instructors and students.

Regulatory Background and Definitions

The instructor in an online course must engage students with regular and substantive interaction. According to the Department of Education,

“[S]ubstantive interaction is engaging students in teaching, learning, and assessment, consistent with the content under discussion, and also includes 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” (34 CFR 600.2 “Distance education”).²

Furthermore, an institution ensures regular interaction between instructors and students by –

“(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” (34 CFR 600.2 “Distance education”).³

Several characteristics of regular and substantive interaction emerge from this information: teaching, learning, assessment, assignment feedback, responding to student inquiries, facilitating discussions, etc. Additionally, its timing is predictable, scheduled, proactive when needed, and responsive when contacted.

These federal regulations for Distance Education provide the framework for effective online interaction between KYSU Online faculty and students.

See also Regular and Substantive Interaction: Background, Concerns, and Guiding Principles.4

KYSU Online Policy for RSI

Online programs require regular and substantive interaction (RSI) between faculty and students. While physical distance can separate faculty and students, asynchronous online learning presents additional challenges to RSI for faculty and students.5

2 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-34/part-600#p-600.2(Distance%20education)3 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-34/part-600#p-600.2(Distance%20education)4 https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED593878.pdf

5 The nature of teacher-student interaction in distance education can make it more time-intensive than needed for traditional courses, as noted by the American Association of University Professors’ Special Committee on Distance Education and Intellectual Property Issues “Statement on Online and Distance Education” (https://www.aaup.org/report/statement-online-and-distance-education).