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Beyond the Checklist – Making RSI a Meaningful Practice for Instructors and Students
Regular and Substantive Interaction (RSI) is more than a compliance checkbox, it’s a way to design courses where interaction drives learning. This teaching tip reframes RSI as a shared practice across four channels: Instructor → Student, Student → Instructor, Student ↔ Student, and Student ↔ Community. You’ll find a quick self-check for the first two weeks, simple scripts and grading nudges that turn feedback into dialogue, and low-lift structures that help students help each other. A concrete example shows how community touchpoints (interviews, artifact “bring-backs,” and a final portfolio) keep interactions purposeful and academic. The result is a course culture where presence is predictable, responses are expected, and students practice habits of asking better questions, building on evidence, and closing feedback loops, which translates to deeper engagement and higher persistence.