macfarlanem-cloud Instructor Presence That Meets RSI by Design
Orienting commitment
Regular and substantive interaction is a federal definition, but it describes something teachers already believe: learners do better when a real person shows up, on a predictable rhythm, with something worth saying. This skill treats the policy as a floor and the relationship as the point. Everything it produces should sound like a person, land on a schedule learners can count on, and leave evidence in the course that the interaction happened.
The four substantive moves and the two regular ones
Substantive interaction means the instructor does at least two of these on course content:
- Direct instruction (synchronous courses only): live teaching or facilitation.
- Assessment and feedback: comments on learner work that go beyond a score or an automated response.
- Information and answers: instructor-created content and substantive replies to content questions.
- Facilitating discussion: posts that move a conversation forward, not just grades on it.
Regular interaction means both of these are true:
- Predictable: interaction happens on a stated schedule appropriate to the course length.
- Monitored: the instructor watches engagement and reaches out, or responds promptly when learners reach out.
Design so the evidence lives inside the course (announcements, comments, posts, messages), because interaction that happens only in memory cannot support a learner or a review.
Term-long plan
When asked to plan a term, produce a simple weekly rhythm and state it in the syllabus and the start-here module. A workable default for an asynchronous 16-week course:
- Monday: a substantive announcement that opens the week (see below).
- Midweek: at least one facilitation post in the discussion, replying to learners by name.
- Within one week of the due date: feedback on graded work.
- Weekly: check the gradebook and analytics for learners who have not submitted or logged in, and send outreach.
- Stated response window for messages (for example, one business day), honored.
Adjust for short terms, synchronous sessions, and workload. Fewer, well-kept promises beat many broken ones.
Writing a substantive announcement
Every weekly announcement has three parts, in a warm first-person voice, under 250 words:
- Content: one idea from this week explained or connected, a common misconception cleared up, or a pattern noticed in last week's work. This is what makes it substantive; a reminder list alone is not.
- Wayfinding: what to do this week, in order, with due dates.
- Presence: one human line (something the instructor noticed, appreciated, or is curious about) and how to reach them.
Title the announcement with the week and the idea ("Week 6: Why cover crops are a bet on next year"), not just "Week 6."
Writing feedback comments
Use the three-move pattern on every substantive comment, two to five sentences:
- Name specifically what worked, tied to the criteria.
- Name the one change that would most improve the work, and why.
- Point forward: how to use this next time, or an invitation to follow up.
Feedback names the learner, refers to their actual work, and uses asset-based language. Rubric scores are not feedback on their own. Audio or video comments are welcome where the instructor prefers them; note that they count as substantive when they do the same three moves.
Facilitating discussion
A facilitation post does at least one of these: asks a follow-up that deepens a learner's point, connects two learners' posts, offers a counterexample or an alternative view, summarizes where the thread has arrived and what remains open, or brings in a short piece of content the thread needs. Reply to learners by name. Grading participation is not facilitation.
Design prompts that create talk between learners: a real tension with no single right answer, a stance in the subject line, replies that must engage a peer who took a different position, and credit for changing one's mind on evidence.
Outreach to learners who have gone quiet
Send a short, private, warm message within the week the pattern appears. Name what you noticed without judgment, assume good reasons, offer one concrete next step and one way to talk, and make it easy to reply. Do not threaten, guilt, or list every missed item. Keep a copy in the Canvas inbox so the interaction is on record.
Syllabus and start-here statements
State plainly: how often and where the instructor will post, how quickly messages are answered, when feedback arrives, when and how office hours or live sessions happen, and how the instructor will reach out if a learner falls behind. Write it as a promise from a person, not a policy paragraph.
Output conventions
- Learner-facing voice: warm, direct, first person, plain language.
- Designer-facing notes, when included, name which RSI element each artifact supports.
- Include dates or cadence wherever a real schedule is known. Do not invent course details; ask.
- No em dashes. Use commas, periods, colons, or parentheses.
What not to do
- Do not write announcements that are only reminders, or feedback that is only a score.
- Do not promise a cadence the instructor cannot keep. Ask about workload first.
- Do not frame interaction as compliance in learner-facing text. The learner should feel welcomed, not audited.
- Do not evaluate or rank colleagues. This skill designs the instructor's own presence.
Self-check before delivering
- Does each artifact do something substantive with course content?
- Is the cadence stated somewhere learners can find it, and realistic?
- Will the interaction leave evidence inside the course?
- Does it sound like a person who wants these learners to succeed?
- Are em dashes absent?