We had the OHP handwritten essay style of lectures as well, primarily in maths, but I seem to recall one computer science topic that stooped that low. We definitely had one pre-prepared essay type, but most of these were lecturers would just freely write on OHP reels instead of the blackboard. I found that a lot worse, due to people trying to write legibly/exaggeratedly on blackboards but writing 'normally' (and totally illegibly) on OHPs. But my sympathies for the overhead essays, I've been there.
On the handwriting note; some of the lectures at UW in bifurcation, chaos and some others were part of the 'UW Engineering Extension' program ( or something similarly named. ) It was really great because only the best professors with the best handwriting got to be on TV. Enrolling in the class on campus was a double bonus because we got access to the video recordings of the classes, the teachers lecture notes, and, of course, got to sit in the room with the professor ( if a matriculated student at the main Seattle campus ) and ask questions to our hearts content. The downside was that if we asked a stupid question, it was beamed to the rest of the world.
