This section presents the standards for how online faculty will engage in regular and substantive interaction with students in online courses. These standards provide a framework for ensuring a consistent student experience in KYSU Online courses that combines well-designed online courses with an active faculty presence.
The KYSU Online faculty who receive course load assignments are the course instructors. As such, the instructor is “an individual responsible for delivering course content and who meets the qualifications for instruction established by an institution’s accrediting agency” (34 CFR 600.2 “Distance education”).⁴⁶ Additionally, the online faculty are responsible for monitoring student engagement and satisfactory academic progress in online courses. Online faculty are the primary instructional presence within each online course.
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”).⁴⁷
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”). 48
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.49
46 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-34/part-600#p-600.2(Distance%20education)47 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-34/part-600#p-600.2(Distance%20education)48 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-34/part-600#p-600.2(Distance%20education)49 https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED593878.pdf
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