As an early adopter of computer-based educational technology, I have significant first hand experience in the advantages and disadvantages of utilizing this methodology in the classroom. Without a doubt, the quality and reliability of computer graphics, computer projection equipment, and operating software have dramatically increased over the past 10 years. Technology equipped or so-called "smart" classrooms have become more readily available to most of us.

Nevertheless, there are still times when the technology fails, either in a mechanical sense, or in a pedagogical sense. Computer projection equipment malfunctions, computers lock up, there are software incompatibility issues, or you forget to bring your compact disk with today's PowerPoint lecture to your class on the other side of campus. In addition, most students now view the technology that formerly inspired audible "Wows" in my classroom some years ago as rather commonplace. In pedagogical terms, this approach has lost a lot of its early "pizzazz", i.e. its innate ability to capture students' attention. Furthermore, despite the fact that this technology may make lecturing easier for teachers, it may not always result in a better lecture for our students. At a recent national meeting, one of my colleagues sarcastically referred to this technology as "PowerPointless" to express his concern about the potential misuse of this teaching technique. By inference, I believe he meant that overuse of this technology may inhibit rather than promote critical thinking in our students. There are occasions when the astute instructor senses that it's time to turn off the computer projector and use a different teaching technique.

Like many of my colleagues, I have begun to depend on programs like PowerPoint and associated computer projectors for a significant portion of my traditional lectures. And like many of my colleagues, I've had the unpleasant experience of some failure in the technology. What to do? As a teacher, there are few things more frustrating than to walk into a classroom and watch your well planned lecture fall apart.

I've developed a relatively easy backup plan that allows me to efficiently utilize the significant effort I've put into developing PowerPoint based lectures. It involves developing and printing overheads from the PowerPoint slides already developed. The default page format in PowerPoint is almost always a page size of 10 inches wide and 7 ½ inches high. To convert PowerPoint slides to a format that will print suitable overheads, it is simply a matter of reversing the page size selections. After selecting "Page Setup" from the "File" menu, simply type in a width of 7-7 ½ inches and a height of 9 ½ -10 inches (your specific choice will depend on what size margins you prefer on your overheads), and click "OK" before closing the menu. I've found this page size setting prints out well on standard overheads. Printing color overheads gives you a well organized, graphics rich lecture alternative that employs the ubiquitous and relatively dependable classroom overhead projector. To promote interactivity, you can leave out some of the information that would have otherwise appeared in your PowerPoint presentation. Putting students in groups and letting them speculate about the missing information can promote critical thinking.

Some additional revisions to font size and formatting may be needed to create well-designed overheads, but I've found it is well worth the effort to have a backup lecture that can be easily carried to my lecture room in a three-ring binder. And the simple act of switching teaching techniques can help maintain my students all-important attention span.