The term “substantive interaction” is uttered often in online education, but many are unclear on what this means or how to provide it. Come to this session to define this federal requirement and learn about various ways that instructors be sure that they are communicating effectively in online courses.
The term “regular and substantive interaction” is uttered often in online education, but many are unclear on how to provide it in their online courses. Exactly what is it? According to WCET, a leading organization concerning technology-enhanced learning, the term first was mentioned in a September 2006 audit report by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of the Inspector General of St. Mary-of-the-Woods, which focused on a lack of use of technologies in many of their online courses (Poulin & Davis, 2013). “The Audit found that ‘instructors did not deliver lectures or initiate discussions with students….” and that…. “Tutoring and other instruction resources were provided at the student’s discretion” (Poulin & Davis). However, this still doesn’t tell us what it is.
In December 2014, the Department of Education shared in their Dear Colleague letter that, “All Title IV eligible programs, except correspondence programs, must be designed to ensure that there is regular and substantive interaction between students and instructors” (Poulin & Davis). However, it still was not explicitly defined. The Office of the Inspector General offered some guidance on this, sharing four keys to “regular and substantive interaction”: it must be instructor-initiated; “regular” and (probably) somewhat frequent; “substantive,” meaning academic; and with an instructor that meets accrediting agency standards (Poulin & Davis). Basically, the instructor—not a tutor or teaching assistant—must regularly initiate communications about academic matters of the course.
After defining this tricky term, the rest of the session will examine various methods and tools instructors might use in their online courses to be sure that they are meeting this federal requirement. The presenter will recommend implementing weekly substantive interaction in regular semester courses.