Regular and Substantive interaction can look a number of different ways, as noted above in the checklist and annotations. Please note that you'll need at least two of the choices in order to meet the expectations. Here are some examples of what meets expectations: 

Option 1:

Do you have scheduled weekly office hours for students? If so, please be sure to include this information in your syllabus. (If the office hours are available via Google Meet, please indicate access information for students.) Unfortunately, if your office hours are by appointment only, this does not meet the expectation - there must be a weekly designated day/time.

Option 2:

Do you have at least three discussion forums spread throughout your course? If so, indicating in your syllabus that you will actively participate and respond to students in the forums will meet the expectations. 

Option 3: 

Do you give substantive feedback (beyond a letter or number grade) on assignments? If so, indicate in your syllabus or in the description of the assignment where students will find your written/video/auditory feedback on at least three assignments.

Option 4:

Do you give substantive feedback (beyond a letter or number grade) on tests or quizzes? If so, indicate in your syllabus or in the description of the quiz/test where students will find your written/video/auditory feedback on at least three quizzes/tests.

Option 5:

Do you meet with students in the classroom or in a synchronous online meeting (via Google meet, for example) at least three times throughout the semester? If so, indicate in your syllabus and/or schedule when and how these meetings will occur. 

Option 6: 

Do none of the above apply to your course? Consider: 

  • Including discussion forums in Moodle that you will participate in (at least three throughout the course)
  • Switching from by-appointment-only office hours to scheduled weekly office hours
  • Choosing three assignments for which you can give written/video/auditory feedback
  • Choosing three tests/quizzes for which you can give written/video/auditory feedback
  • Scheduling three synchronous meetings (via Google Meet) for students to attend throughout the semester
What To Do If You Teach Using a Third-Party Tool?

If you use a third-party software (such as Cengage, MindTap, LaunchPad, etc.), consider including any of the above in Moodle (which is easier for us to track if there is an audit). 

You may also consider including any of the above in the third-party tool if it supports this; however, this could be challenging to track down in case of an audit by accreditors. For instance, if you respond to students in discussion forums in LaunchPad, we will not be able to prove this to auditors unless you are available to log in to the course and download this data. Sometimes audits happen years after a course is complete, which sometimes complicates our ability to reach instructors as well.

Please contact Erin McCully at e_mccully@southwesterncc.edu to discuss this or ask questions!

Last modified: Monday, July 25, 2022, 3:43 PM