Chapter 2 Reflection

Chapter 2 discusses Howard Gardner’s learning theory of multiple intelligences. I think educational technology can be integrated to touch on any of these intelligences to benefit learners. As educators we are frequently taught to teach in a variety of ways that calls on all the possible intelligences of our students. Technology makes this task simple since technology can be adapted to benefit any student’s intelligence. For example, students with a “linguistic” intelligence may use any kind of word processing software, or educational game that builds on their word vocabulary and structure. A student with a “spatial” intelligence can greatly benefit from the visual presentation that comes with the smart board and projectors. A student with “musical” intelligence may benefit from a number of Macintosh programs such as Garageband or iMovie.

As the text discuss, getting funding to support technology integration may be especially difficult. Oftentimes this is not just the case for technology, but any number of resources that the teacher sees as a necessity but cannot get the administration to assist them with. While this is a pitfall that educators cannot do much about, I think we need to push for it anyhow. A large part of the reason administrators are so reluctant to provide funding is that they do not see the purpose of it. However, if we as educators can demonstrate our expertise with technology, as well as its relative advantage, I think we will have the power to persuade both our administrators and the school board to allocate extra funding for technology integration.