I found a presentation from www.TeachingCollegeMath.com that was posted April 1, 2010.

This presentation discusses using technology to engage today's students. The presentation covers where the technology started and the opportunities that today's technologies allow for. One of those elements was Discussion Boards as part of the overall use in online learning. There was also discussion of the use of web 2.0, games, interactive manipulative materials, online homework, videos and synchronous online communication.

So are Discussion Boards enough for today's learners? I believe that as a stand alone communication tool, they are not enough. I do think that they should be used, but with a conglomeration of other opportunities to discuss and communicate, like the use of blogs and chat features that we use in this Moodle course.