The best professors I had in my time in university were the ones who didn't let technology get in the way of effective teaching. The ones who grabbed the newest technology were the ones willing to waste combined days of time (that's a big lecture hall; there could easily be hundreds of students in that class).

I guarantee the university would have let her expense a laser pointer, but those break, run out of batteries, and can be harder to place accurately or spot. Sticks just work.