Although I am well known as a technology enthusiast*, I have yet to be fully convinced by the time and money that interactive whiteboards take up. I’ve just remembered that I had exactly the same response to overhead projectors, but looking back I think that they had plenty of things going for them that the makers of IWBs could learn from:
1. OHPs are cheaper and never need updates
2. They can’t get viruses or crash
3. You can face the class while you are writing on an OHP
4. You can sit down while you are writing on an OHP
5. You can get make a copy of an OHP slide even when all the printers are broken
6. You can get the slides ready without needing to sit at a computer
7. OHPs aren’t as noisy as the older IWB projectors
8. You can use a whiteboard pen to write on the same board as you project the OHP image on
9. You can project the OHP image anywhere you like, e.g. the ceiling
10. Students can all sit at their tables preparing stuff on OHP transparencies without the need for a laptop each
11. The OHP keeps the teacher warm in a cold classroom
12. You can change the OHP bulb without standing on a chair or step ladder
13. Young learners have never seen an OHP and so are fascinated, and putting a slide on upside down is the only warmer you ever need with under-10s
14. The resale value of OHPs is going up as they become antiques
15. The pens smell good and get you slightly high
It’s true that you can’t show the students videos and the internet on an overhead projector, but isn’t it more creative and personal just to act out the scene with shadow puppets and silly voices or to draw your own version of Google maps? With that in mind, I have decided to go back to the OHP, in the same way that many of us are also going back to CDs.
More on various ways of putting my illegible writing up where students can’t read it:
15 things not to do with an interactive whiteboard (some teachers in Greece apparently paid good money for a publication with a plagiarised version of this article, so it must have something going for it)
15 things to do with an OHP – LINK FIXED
15 things to do with a whiteboard (that’s the old-fashioned meaning of the word “whiteboard” this time) – LINK FIXED
*There are two lies in just that one sentence. The rest of the article can obviously be taken completely seriously though…
TEFLtastic 
Great post Alex! A man after my own heart with regards the use of OHPs. I have always loved using OHPs and I was horrified when I heard recently from my school in UK that they were considering doing away with them (ie sending them to a recycling centre). I wrote to ask that one be saved just for me to use whenever I teach there!!
Like you, I have 100% confidence that if an OHP were to fail (in all my years using one it rarely happened) it would be easily solved by giving it a clean or replacing the small bulb – and that’s it basically. Simple but effective. I have to confess I would trust the OHP more than the computer in terms of reliability.
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I’ll never forget seeing the Macmillan ELT author Tony D Triggs change an OHP bulb at an IATEFL SIG seminar in 1990 or 91.
Just one hand – opening the flap, taking the old bulb out, flipping it into the bin, producing a new one from his trouser pocket and clicking it into place like an SAS man reloading his assault rifle. Then – bingo! – on with the show (and very absorbing too).
I bought a copy of his ‘First Certificate Testbuilder’ when it came out (Macmillan 1996) (with answer key) and would like to get it signed.
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