Editing Overhead projector (section)

=== Use in education ===
Overhead projectors were widely used in education and business before the advent of computer-based projection.<ref name="Power">{{cite web |last1=Power |first1=Stephen |title='The pedagogic perfection of the overhead projector – and why interactive whiteboards alone won't ever match it' |url=https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-views/pedagogic-perfection-overhead-projector-and-why-interactive |newspaper=[[TES (magazine)|TES]] |date=March 6, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180110054541/https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-views/pedagogic-perfection-overhead-projector-and-why-interactive |archive-date=January 10, 2018}}</ref><ref name="Kavita">{{cite journal |last1=Kavita |first1=GU |last2=Shashikala |first2=P |last3=Sreevidyalata |first3=GM |title=Use of Over Head Projector for teaching and learning Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology skills to undergraduate students and their perception |journal=Journal of Educational Research & Medical Teacher |date=2015 |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=31–33 |url=http://jermt.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/10.pdf |access-date=November 2, 2019}}</ref>

The overhead projector facilitates an easy low-cost interactive environment for educators. Teaching materials can be pre-printed on plastic sheets, upon which the educator can directly write using a non-permanent, washable color marking pen. This saves time, since the transparency can be pre-printed and used repetitively, rather than having materials written manually before each class.

The overhead is typically placed at a comfortable writing height for the educator and allows the educator to face the class, facilitating better communication between the students and teacher. The enlarging features of the projector allow the educator to write in a comfortable small script in a natural writing position rather than writing in an overly large script on a blackboard and having to constantly hold their arm out in midair to write on the blackboard.

When the transparency sheet is full of written or drawn material, it can simply be replaced with a new, fresh sheet with more pre-printed material, again saving class time vs a blackboard that would need to be erased and teaching materials rewritten by the educator. Following the class period, the transparencies are easily restored to their original unused state by washing off with soap and water.