To comply with rules for federal financial aid related to distance education, GHC ensures:
- Adequate evidence of attendance is provided by distance education courses,
- Regular and substantive interaction between students and faculty is a required part of course design for all distance education courses,
- A periodic internal audit of distance education courses ensures they include regular and substantive interaction between faculty and students, and that this interaction is documented in the Learning Management System,
- The findings of the internal audits are shared with faculty for purposes of ongoing improvement of online courses
- Ongoing training is provided to faculty based on results of regular internal reviews and on developments in online learning pedagogical practice
The Associate Dean for Library, E-Learning, and Learning Support Services shall create and maintain guidelines further describing specific types of actions, and how to implement these within the Learning Management System currently in use by the college.
The Associate Dean shall regularly review online courses to observe compliance with the above requirements, and share the results of such observations with the Vice President for Instruction or designees as described in Administrative Procedure 325.01.
The Associate Dean shall submit an annual summary report of compliance with the RSI requirements to the campus community, and prepare recommendations for faculty training if so indicated.
The Associate Dean shall work with the Assessment, Teaching, and Learning Council and the E-Learning Coordinator to insure that relevant training opportunities are provided to faculty on an ongoing basis.
Guidelines for Regular and Substantive Interaction
What is evidence of Attendance?
Description/Definition: (evidence of attendance can include interactions which are not considered to be either regular or substantive, although they must be academic in nature.)
- Record of Academic Attendance: A record should be kept of students’ academic submissions to verify their initial attendance and last date of attendance. Simply visiting the course or logging into the learning management system are not considered academic activities and are therefore insufficient for verifying attendance. Taking a quiz, submitting an assignment, or participating in a graded discussion are sufficient.
- To be verified by checking these areas of a Canvas course:
- Assignments
- Discussions
- Grades
- People
- SpeedGrader
What is evidence of Substantive Interaction?
Description/Definition:
- Direct, personalized, interaction between the student and instructor related to pursuit of a course outcome, initiated by the instructor. Students should be hearing from their instructor even if they are not struggling and do not specifically request assistance from the instructor.
- This feedback provides substantive critique, comment, and/or evaluation for work submitted by individual students or groups, referring to additional sources for supplementary information where appropriate.
- The feedback process continues the learning experience, adds depth and insight to the discussion already provided by the student, and affords the instructor an opportunity to reaffirm key concepts as well as provides closure. The interaction is robust and individualized, providing explanation of how to improve
- When a rubric is used, specific feedback tailored to the student’s performance is provided above and beyond the standard text within the rubric categories.
To be verified by checking:
-
- Syllabus
- Modules
- Grades
- SpeedGrader annotations
- Communications
What is evidence of Regular Interaction?
Description/Definition:
- In a ten or eleven week quarter, weekly meets the expectation for “regular.”
- Only interaction which is substantive (as described above) can be used as evidence of being regular.
- Use of multiple channels is encouraged.
To be verified by checking:
-
- Syllabus
- Modules
- Discussions
- SpeedGrader
- Comments on quizzes and assignments
- Documented or recorded communications