Seton Hall's efforts to keep pace technology are apparent in many classrooms on campus, yet many of these rooms are also equipped with what may be considered an ancient technology: the overhead projector.
More often than not, the increasingly out-of-date overhead projector are not used in classes, and Seton Hall is left with a surplus in classrooms and storage.
Ron Myzie, assistant director of the Teaching Learning Technology Center, oversees all technological support for classrooms, excluding network support. This covers installed equipment such as projectors, sending technicians over to solve problems and delivering equipment.
According to Myzie, there are no current plans to rid the overhead projectors from classrooms in the near future.
"At some point they are likely to die out," Myzie said. "But we are going to let them die a natural death, and we aren't going to force the use of them."
Roughly 100 overhead projectors are placed around campus in 100 classrooms. Many sit under desks or in corners collecting dust from lack of use, and continue to do so for a simple reason. "Professors still request them," Myzie said, explaining that they are a supplemental opportunity for professors, just as blackboards are.
Dr. Robert Waters, an instructor in the Music Department, has requested overheads to be delivered to his classes in the past, in order to help supplement materials discussed in the sessions.
"Very rarely do I use the projector in class," Waters said. "I have old transparencies from when I was younger that I have not had the time to translate digitally, so I use the projector."
Waters added that he may only use the projector once a semester.
Other departments use overheads occasionally, such as the Math Department and the Science Department, and the projectors are still delivered to classrooms as a part of the service that the TLTC provides for the university.
"We would probably have to pay someone to take them away," Myzie said. "No one wants them except for us."
In the meantime, overheads will stay in the classroom, and Myzie said that they urge professors to use all of the opportunities available to them and to experiment teaching with other media.
Samantha Desmond can be reached at samantha.desmond@student.shu.edu.
