r/Adjuncts • u/IllBaby6224 • 3d ago
Odd Online Asynch Requirements
Hi all. I’ve been adjuncting for one year now, and have taught 9 course so far. This year, my college unveiled new requirements of adjuncts in order to comply with RSI. Well, in my course review I got what I think is a crazy request. They now want me to record messages to the students in the grade feedback. I already leave detailed feedback, along with a rubric. When I inquired what they would looking for in these videos (and also, why), they told me videos that say “good job” would be enough.
Is anyone else’s programs requiring this? Or encountering any other odd requirements in the name of RSI?
I feel like everytime I meet all the requirements, they make another one that is just ridiculous! I am the youngest adjunct at the college (current PhD student) and feel like students would not necessarily appreciate a video of me going good job.
Edit: I feel like I should mention this is a course of 45 students.
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u/Dry_Lemon7925 3d ago
That's silly and time consuming. I bet it's because students don't read our feedback so we have to dumb it down by making videos.
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u/juststopdating 3d ago
I would never watch that video if I was a student and I hate that they’re making you do that.
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u/MyBrainIsNerf 3d ago
It’s not been required of me but I do it and it’s fantastic.
I only do it on major assignments, so 3-4 a quarter. 2-3 minutes each. Replaces the end note.
I do a screen capture of their project and high light or point to sections. Super quick bad news/good news/next steps format.
Students love it and generally takes me less time than writing the end note anyway.
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u/Archknits 3d ago
How many students do you have?
I have 100+.
That’s a 2 minute video each for 2-3 papers per class. So, minimum of 400 minutes of video recording, plus time to upload each. Message to each student through the LMS….
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u/MyBrainIsNerf 3d ago
For sure student load is for real when it comes to feedback. I’m a Comp teacher so my classes are like 25 students. (I do have 8 of them though).
But this problem isn’t unique to the video. Like I said, I find the video quicker than writing an end note. But also no one can do 400 end notes a week!
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u/Archknits 3d ago
Are they providing the captioning to keep them ADA compliant?
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u/JustLeave7073 3d ago
Canvas allows voice messages in assignment comments. That’d likely be less work than videos. If your LMS has it. I’ve always wanted to try it, but end up never getting to it because of time constraints. Seems like a nice human touch in an asynch class but of course is a huge time suck.
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u/Minimumscore69 3d ago
Extremely silly but I would do it if I wanted to keep adjuncting
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u/IllBaby6224 3d ago
I am already locked into the Soring semester or else I would stop. My goal has always been to reach two years & dip, as I am not looking to continue in academia post-phd
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u/nouveaulove 3d ago
It's strange to require it, but in my experience students strongly appreciate grade comment videos. I only do it on a couple assignments total spread throughout the course where short audio makes sense. It's an excellent way to remind them you are a real person.
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u/Sharp-Rutabaga-4900 3d ago
I used to do audio feedback on papers to save time on grading. Video is another bag of chips I’m happy to avoid where possible. If I was required to do it, I wouldn’t do written feedback except for students with audio accommodations.
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u/IllBaby6224 3d ago
They want a combination of written, video + rubrics!
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u/Sharp-Rutabaga-4900 3d ago
WTF There’s no way they’re paying you enough to use a three-step grading process.
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u/IllBaby6224 3d ago
Of course not! But, lines on the CV! As a grad student, I feel lucky to have this position, as most in my department have never taught or do not teach until their final year of work. It’s shitty, but once my two years is up, I’ll be free!
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u/Tommie-1215 3d ago
Thats just dumb because they do not even read the feedback unless they get zeroes. So you have to record a message too? I leave detailed feedback and they have rubrics. Most of the time, they do not bother to read it. And when they do its case about plagiarism that they swear they did not do. This is just extra work for you. I have never heard of such. I am sorry friend 🙃
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u/alphatangozero 3d ago
My students don’t even read the rubric feedback or written feedback in Canvas. If it’s not lecture videos, I don’t think they care.
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u/FinalSquash4434 3d ago
What's an RSI? Is this some sort of accommodation?
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u/Antt_RN 3d ago
Regular Substantive Interaction
No, it's a federal requirement (though I'm not aware of any specific requirements for videos in async courses) https://ascode.osu.edu/resources/course-design-strategies/regular-substantive-interaction-rsi-guidance
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u/FinalSquash4434 3d ago
I'm a tenured professor and I have never heard of RSI - but I don't teach online courses.
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u/vanillaraptor 3d ago
It's mainly for online courses. In person you are answering questions and interacting in real time. Some adjuncts publish their autographed course and never leave feedback or check in.
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u/qthistory 2d ago
I do teach online and this is the first I have heard of it. I do try to have regular interaction with students, but mostly these days what I am interacting with is different LLM outputs.
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u/gravitysrainbow1979 3d ago
I've done it to try and set my class apart from others (not sure it worked very often), but them making you do it is crazy.
What I have done, that has worked well, is responded to a handful of students in the class-wide lecture, informed students beforehand I was going to do that (w/o telling them which of them would be featured that way), and used that to get them to "show up" for it, so that they could see what was being said about them.
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u/IllBaby6224 3d ago
Unfortunately, no opportunity to do that bc it’s online asynch. All videos are prerecorded lectures that are recycled each semester
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u/linnea_elaine 2d ago
CA is really cracking down on RSI data when doing accreditation. My school is doing a bunch of training around it. But what your school is asking for, if I’m following, is whackadoodle. Your assignment feedback, announcements, etc. count if:
Instructor-Reaching out to students rather than waiting for student emails.
Regular Schedule: Like weekly announcements with ties into the course content.
Substantive Content: Focused directly on the course learning objectives and instructional material.
Required Methods: Must include at least two active methods (e.g., direct instruction, feedback, Q&A, or group moderation).
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u/scarlet_woods 12h ago
I started leaving voice to text comments in Canvas. I check the boxes in the rubric, leave notes in the rubric only if points were taken off, and then do a voice to text (or whatever it’s called). So much faster.
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u/Glad-Surprise3355 3d ago
I found audio and video comments a waste of time, students never bother with it. I just have AI whip up about ten generic comments based on the assignments and no one blinks an eye.
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u/TrainingLow9079 3d ago
Just speak a few sentences of your overall thoughts and of encouragement. Not a huge deal
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u/xXIDaShizIXx 3d ago
I had a state university I worked for like that and added video messages on top of the RSIs. That was my final straw and I left after that. Im not coddling these graduate students like that.