Video Conference and Blackboard Discussion Boards

Ever try to explain an assignment to students working in groups over video conference? It can be confusing and at best cumbersome. My experience with teaching Video-conference (VC) for over 7 years is that one piece was missing.

The questions, “What are we doing again?” “What is it that you wanted?” or that what I was getting back from the students in their presentations didn’t match my expectations.
The fact is most of our learners are not auditory learners and need clear and concise written instructions. So the question was how do I do that in the VC environment. The answer was right in front of me in blackboard by using the discussion board!
In each of my VC classes I created a “Classroom Activity & Presentation” discussion board. This allowed me to posted instructions and handouts for activities that we would complete in class. The other benefit was that students could post their presentations as a reply and that allowed anyone in the class to see their work. I also allowed groups at multiple VC sites to work together!

Now I am able as part of my class preparation to create the class activities so I can hit the ground running before the class begins for the day.
A very simple solution right in front of me!