It's no easy thing for a technology to go from introduction to universal adoption. And if trends over the last 200 years are any indicator, the honor is not eagerly doled out, no matter how useful the innovation is. It took nearly 50 years after their arrival in 1801 for chalkboards to become a classroom staple, paving the way for teachers to provide instruction to large classes, eliminating the need to handcopy materials for each student. Since then, just one presentation technology has enjoyed the same level of acceptance: the overhead projector. And despite how overhead transparencies have made it practical for teachers to prepare notes and drawings ahead of time to project during class, it took 40 years to get the technology into their hands. Current presentation technologies far surpass overhead projectors, but none has seen ubiquitous classroom adoption.

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