Overhead Projectors
Do you remember using overhead projectors when you were a kid? I do.
Overhead projectors were a staple in classrooms for a long time but then technology advanced and slowly started making its way into classrooms all around the world.
History
The idea of an overhead projector was started in the 1870s by Jules Duboscq. He was a “French inventor who was also responsible for the stereoscope, colorimeter, and polarimeter.” His invention was a little different than the overhead projector and was called a “viewgraph”, but it got the basic idea and function out for the overhead projector.
The use of these overhead projectors varied from training groups of U.S. Army servicemen during World War II to being used in bowling alleys to project scores, to being a useful and common teaching tool in classrooms.
During the 1900s the overhead projector was a very popular tool. However, in the 1990s, the overhead projectors reached its sales peak and soon after is when new technologies slowly started emerging. Once better technologies were being made, there was a huge downfall in overhead projector sales and in the end overhead projector uses.
Classroom Use
In classrooms overhead projectors were a huge success for their time. They allowed teachers to easily project something onto a board, screen, wall, etc. Some classrooms were lucky enough to have whiteboards or chalkboards but those still meant teachers would have to clean it off if they run out of the room. While with this, teachers would have multiple clear sheets that they would write on. Then if someone was a little slower with notes, the teacher could give them that sheet and continue on with the lesson; or if you stepped out, you wouldn’t miss everything like you would if the teacher had to erase and clean the board. It is also so much more efficient and time-saving without having to clean so much during class.
However, there were some negatives to this too. It could also get pretty hot from them and the light was kind of annoying after a while. The teacher would have to position themselves and the projector usually in the middle of the classroom to project onto the screen well. Which in most cases meant shifting desks and students around? And sometimes the teacher would forget to bring extra clear sheets so she had to clean after every problem or forgot cleaning supplies so she would run out to get some. It just wasn’t very efficient at times.
Transition Period
If you were part of the group of students or teachers who got to experience the switch from overhead projectors to all the new things, then you know it wasn’t easy. Everyone was so lost at first and teachers were hesitant to use the new technology during class in case it didn’t work for them, which happened a lot at first.
I remember when we got our first smartboard that was just standing on the side near the board. It was so cool, and we played with it the first day it came but later we never really used it since no one knew how. Every time we tried using it, it just failed or didn’t work right. It was just super annoying. Then the teachers all got MacBooks and we got fancy new projectors that were mounted on the ceiling and projected onto a smart board that was mounted on the wall. Another cool thing that didn’t work quite as expected. The converters and connectors the teachers were given, didn’t work right or all the time. There were days where it just wouldn’t connect, days where we would have a pink/purple-hued screen, days with extreme lags, etc. It was just such a pain.
However, my brother who is only 3 grades below me, had a completely different experience. His teachers always used their smart boards and made it an interactive class with students coming up to the board. We did this too but with plain old expo markers. He says the pink screens barely happened which really shocked me. And the most shocking thing of all, every student is given a laptop or can bring their own. For me, our teachers could rent a laptop cart, but that cart was for a couple of classrooms and we had to share. Now if you have one you can bring your own, or they will literally give you a laptop to bring home and have. It’s such a huge difference and in not too long of a time period.
Future
Who knows what the future will bring with technological advancements. There have been so many changes in the past couple of years where we went from overhead projectors to HDMI connectors with projectors to smart boards. Now with virtual school and online learning teachers are leaning on Zoom and Google Classroom. In some schools this is already implemented where students use Google Classroom on a regular basis but this experience during the pandemic could lead to more schools using this or teachers using it more in the classrooms.
I am excited to see what new inventions arise in the future and how it changes our lives and experiences for the better.
