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Regular and Substantive Interaction (RSI)

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• • What is RSI?

    Regular and substantive interaction (RSI) is a set of practices that aims to create active learning communities in online courses, and is essential for keeping students engaged, promoting learning, and ensuring they stay motivated. It intends to create meaningful and consistent engagement between students and their instructors.  

    Institutions that offer distance learning courses are held to a standard defined at the federal level through the Higher Education Act (HEA) (CFR 600.2), in which the definitions of distance education state that it must “support regular and substantive interaction between the students and the instructor, synchronously or asynchronously." 

    The definition of Regular and Substantive Interaction (RSI) is left flexible such that individual institutions interpret its meaning. At Mt. SAC, RSI is defined in the Administrative Procedure on Distance Learning (AP 4105), which interprets Regular and Substantive Interaction in Distance Learning Courses at Mt. SAC. The full text of AP 4105 is available on the Mt. SAC website, which was last revised in January 2023. 

    This opening paragraph of AP 4105 (immediately below) describes which courses must use Regular and Substantive interaction (RSI).  

    Any portion of a course conducted through distance education must include regular and substantive interaction between the instructor(s) and students (and among students if described in the distance education addendum), either synchronously or asynchronously, through group or individual meetings, orientation, and review sessions, supplemental seminar or study sessions, field trips, library workshops, telephone contact, voice mail, e-mail, or other activities. An instructor is an individual responsible for delivering course content and who meets the qualifications for instruction established by an institution's accrediting agency. 

  • RSI History at Mt. SAC

    In Spring 2019, the Distance Learning Committee (DLC) formed a subgroup in response to negotiated language in the Agreement between the Faculty Association and Mt. SAC District regarding what was then Regular Effective Contact (REC). The DLC made recommendations and created a REC Review Rubric.  

    Changes were made to the both the federal and state language and in 2022 the DLC re-visited the topic of, now, Regular and Substantive Interaction (RSI) in response to Article 13.A.4 of the Faculty Contract which states that: 

    There shall be a certification process for regular and effective contact (REC). This certification process is separate and distinct from the SPOT certification process. The Academic Senate in consultation with the Faculty Association and the District will create a rubric that identifies regular and effective contact. The rubric will be used only to determine regular and effective contact. 

  • RSI Reviews Beginning Fall 2024

    Mt. SAC received a visit from The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) The “Commission determined that the College must demonstrate compliance with...Standard II.A.7 and Policy on Distance Education and Correspondence Education (College Requirement 1) ...that the college ensure that regular and substantive interaction takes place in distance education courses.”  

    In response to this recommendation made by the ACCJC, the Academic Senate approved a recommendation, and a side letter was signed by the District and the Faculty Association to have all Faculty teaching asynchronous, online courses complete an RSI Review Fall 2024/Winter 2025.  A second side letter passed in December 2024 extended the program through Spring 2025.

    • Faculty have the opportunity to earn a stipend for completing RSI Review in Fall 2024 or Winter 2025  

    • If you complete the RSI Review Process in one of your Fall 2024 or Winter 2025 courses, you can earn two (2) hours of compensation at the non-instructional rate  

    • SPOT Recertification will require RSI Review (effective Fall 2024, approved by the Distance Learning Committee (DLC) and Academic Senate)   

    • If you complete the RSI Review Process in one Fall 2024, Winter 2025, or Spring 2025 course, it counts as one (1) hour of RSI Review credit towards your SPOT Recertification 
  • To Start Your RSI Review

    RSI Reviews are conducted on asynchronous online courses. Reviews include these basic steps: 

    Step 1: Sign Up via the RSI Review Registration Form.  Please only complete this form once . You will receive “Getting Started”email upon signing-up.  If you don’t, please contact Sheila Wright or Jenny Gernhart (RSI Coordinators) at rsicoordinators@mtsac.edu 

    Step 2: Review the RSI Hub and Start Your Self-Review After registering,  you may wait a few weeks to be assigned a mentor. Reviews only happen after courses are about 25-40% over. However, you can go ahead and get started by accessing the RSI Hub. This open course provides you with the self-review form, information, templates, videos, and basically everything you need to begin a self-review of your class. You can only hand in your self-review after you are assigned a mentor. Everything in the RSI Hub is available to you except the ability to submit the self-review form. You can use these resources for the formal review and for any other courses where you want to document your RSI (only one course will be reviewed. Asynchronous courses are prioritized because they will be the focus of accreditation review).

    Step 3: Hand in Your Review & Work with Your Mentor Once you are assigned a mentor,  you will receive an email introducing your mentor and letting you know that you've been enrolled in the RSI Hub in your mentor's section and you can now submit your RSI Self-Review Form through a Canvas Assignment in the RSI Hub so your mentor receives it. You will also need to add your mentor as a Course Reviewer into your Canvas course so they can complete your review. If you need help, see the instructions for adding people into courses within the RSI Hub.

    Step 4: Meet with your RSI Mentor by Zoom to go over your results. Make any adjustments noted by your mentor if they are needed to meet RSI. You may also receive some optional recommendations to follow best practices that you can implement based on your preferences. Once you meet the RSI requirements and have met with your mentor, your review is complete. 

    About RSI Review Completion:

    • Reviews are paid for 2 hours for completion. Typically these paid hours are included in the paycheck in the month after the review is marked complete by the mentor.
    • Only reviews that successfully meet RSI count toward the requirement for SPOT recertification. 
    • Successful RSI review completions will be added into your POD Transcript so you can download the certificate and include it in your SPOT recertification form.
    • You only need to put in one course. Asyncrhonous online courses are preferred and prioritized due to their review for accrediation.
    • Several RSI-related workshops are available but none are required. These workshops count toward SPOT recertification and are not paid through PGH/PGI because SPOT certification is tied to salary. 

RSI Coordinators

If you have questions or need more information, please contact the RSI Coordinators, rsicoordinators@mtsac.edu