Communicating with Students

Communication and interaction with students are integral components in online and blended courses, more so in fully online courses. Faculty play a critical role in both the frequency and quality of communication with their students throughout the course duration, whether it is in the form of setting clear expectations, engaging in discussions, responding to questions, or providing feedback. The resources below provide the range of avenues through which faculty can communicate with their students in an online course.

Visit the LSU Training & Event Registration website to view and register for an upcoming offering.

Regular and Substantive Interaction: A strong instructor presence and regular constructive interactions with qualified faculty differentiate a quality online course from a correspondence course. This basic premise forms the foundation of the Regular and Substantive Interaction (RSI) rule established by the Department of Education. Our students are eligible for financial aid because of the RSI component in our online courses as compared to correspondence courses. The Regular and Substantive Interaction in Online Courses document provides guidelines for incorporating RSI in online courses. Additionally, check out Module 4 in the Faculty Resources for Learning Design & Teaching course to learn more about RSI components that must be included in all online courses. 

 

Time-on-Task: For credit-bearing courses, time on task is the amount of work represented in intended learning outcomes and verified by evidence of student achievement that reasonably approximates one hour of classroom instruction and a minimum of two hours of out-of-class student work each week. One credit equates to 15 hours of in-class time; therefore, for a 3-credit course, student engagement and study time should total 135 hours.

WCET Frontiers: Regular and substantive interaction is defined by four elements, outlined in more depth in the article Interpreting what is Required for Regular and Substantive Interaction.

Course Time Calculator: Use the Wake Forest University Workload Estimator 2.0 to calculate time estimates for your course.