In this section, we will review the 3 most common issues teachers sometimes come across when using a blackboard or greenboard and possible solutions you can apply to correct these issues. The points below apply equally to both blackboards and greenboards. Before recording your video-lesson, please ensure the recording area is illuminated well and free of disturbing sounds and noises.

Issue 1. Text is too small

Problem: An issue you could come across is that the text on the board may be too small to be easily read and understood by your students. Visual activity as a result of staring at a computer or tablet screen for extended periods of time produces, by itself, a strain on a student's eyesight. You don't want to add an additional strain or require the student to have to continually focus in order to understand the text. The text should be easily legible with minimum effort required to see it properly.

Text is too small:

Solution: Before recording a full lesson or course, check to ensure that the output text is appropriate. The best practice here is to first record a brief test clip and then preview the clip on a PC (15" monitor preferibly) and/or tablet to check if the text is displaying properly or to ask someone who is unfamiliar with the contents of the lesson to view it and see if they can easily understand the text and images displayed on the board. Once you have selected the correct brightness/contrast levels and text size to use, make a note of this.

The text below can be read very easily.

 Issue 2. Text is too faint, indistinguishable, or hard to see

Problem: Sometimes, because of the chalk used, or if the blackboard has had quite a bit of use or has not been thoroughly cleaned, the writing on the blackboard may be faint, irregular or poor. When this happens, it may be difficult for the student to understand everything that is written on the board.

Solution: Ensure the writing is clear, visible, legible and regular. You can also use a combination of different colors of chalk to make parts of the text stand out more easily.

Example of text which is easily legible and two different colors being used.

Issue 3. Focus not properly set. Board or presenter becomes blurry at times

Problem: This critical issue typically results from the failure to adjust the camera's focus properly or turn it off completely. As a result, the presenter and board often look blurry as the camera lens continously tries to re-adjust its focus when it detects movement. The camera's focus mechanism should not try to constantly re-adjust itself every few seconds.

Presenter/board keeps shifting in and out of focus:

Solution: Depending on the camera, this issue can be corrected either by adjusting the camera's focus so that the focus point is actually between the board and the presenter or by focusing the camera manually and turning off the auto-focus feature. Once you turn off the auto-focus feature, the camera will stop trying to readjust the lens' focus when it detects changes or movement.