Back Channel Assistant: Student Responsibilities

The Back Channel Assistant (BCA) provides the instructor facilitation support to remote attendees in a BlendFlex, Hybrid, or Synchronous Online course Links to an external site. during each scheduled class meeting throughout the semester. The primary role of the BCA is to monitor the activity of remote students and carry out tasks that the BCA and instructor have agreed to. The BCA is not a replacement for FGCU Helpdesk support but can assist the instructor with contacting FGCU Helpdesk if an issue occurs. 

Scope of BCA Responsibilities  

The BCA is responsible for assisting instructors with the facilitation of remote students. Below is the scope of responsibilities of the BCA. If you have not yet met with the instructor to discuss these in more detail, locate the instructor information on the BCA registration confirmation and contact the instructor. 

• Address distractions (e.g. remind remote students to mute their microphones or disable video feeds).
• Assist late-arriving students as they enter the online meeting space.
• Assist students who are disconnected from the meeting to reconnect.
• Assist students with selecting their camera/mic from the web conferencing settings.
• Assist students with moving in and out of breakout rooms.
• Monitor the chat window.
• Notify the instructor when remote students have questions, comments, and raise hands. 
• Direct remote students to the class meeting material, such as a PowerPoint deck in the Canvas course.
• Change student roles (e.g. change from attendee to presenter to allow a student to give a presentation).
• Remind students to enable live captioning (if available).
• Start and stop the recording (if the instructor has the course setup for recordings).
• Download the user/attendee list and send to the Instructor
• Summarize remote student activity. For example, summarize questions asked, class meeting user/attendee list, and general observations. What to include in the summary is determined by the instructor of the course.
• Contact FGCU Helpdesk if an issue with the podium, camera, mic, etc. occurs.

Learn to use the Web Conferencing Tool

Training resources for each of the four main web conferencing tools used at FGCU are in this orientation (Adobe Connect, Canvas Conferences, MS Teams Meeting feature, and Zoom). Click "Modules" from the course menu. Locate the module for the web conferencing tool the instructor is using and begin reviewing the material. Email elearning@fgcu.edu if you have any question.