W ILLIAM B. H URST, P H .D.
321 Madison Pl
Benton, AR 72015
T 501-993-1459
Bwbhurst411@gmail.com
Statement of Teaching Philosophy
Learning is something that every person does from the moment of their lives. It is a
fundamental part of living. Through learning a person grows from a helpless baby into an
adult with children of his/her own. It is through learning that a human being performs any one
of millions of tasks enacted through their daily lives. Yet, I believe the power of education to
alter the context, quality and purpose of a person’s life is still difficult to fully envision, and
often overlooked.
Through the power of education a person can transform herself/himself into any type of
life-role he/she chooses. In today’s world of constant change, the survival of each person
depends on his/her ability to change. Each person must not only be willing to accept change,
but, indeed, to be anxious for the opportunities that change can bring to them. As our world
around us is constantly evolving into tomorrow’s world, so each person must also direct his/her
own transformation into the person of their choosing. Education is the key by which a person
can achieve the desired growth into the person of their dreams.
If the power of learning is what enables a person to determine the direction of his/her growth,
then the profession of “teaching” assumes a role of primary importance to every man, woman
and child alive or yet to be born. If it is the power of education that provides the opportunity
for change, then the teacher is the provider of the tools for change. Through the vision of the
teacher, the doors of all discoveries of the world throughout all recorded history are thrown
open for the student. With each class, the teacher presents the recorded achievements, theories,
concepts and thoughts of all the greatest minds throughout history to fertile enthusiastic minds,
and these budding individuals begin to germinate the seeds of tomorrows greatest discoveries
within themselves.
This power for an individual to transform themselves into the person of their choice involves
work; the student must:
• want to improve his/her life
• have the courage to overcome his/her fear of failure
• have the strength and confidence to try
• invest the time to read the material
• have the patience to perform the homework
• put effort into solving the problems
• grow the seeds of understanding through the effort
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These are the steps I expect my students to perform during each semester. The grading
process is just a method of describing the student’s progress through these steps. While the
ability to remember the material is good, it does not adequately test the growth of the student. It
is the ability to apply what he/she has learned in new ways that indicates whether the personal
seeds of growth within the student have germinated. Unfortunately, this can only be observed
over the lifetime of the individual. The teacher can only evaluate the “perceived growth” of the
student in the short period of time that he/she is with them. Grades are not a final statement
of a person’s potential and should not in any way be used to limit their opportunities. The
potential contributions of a person are entirely unique to that person.
The first step in the teaching process is to give the students the tools to understand the new
material. This is accomplished through a presentation of the fundamental concepts required
to grasp the material. The next step is one of hope. The hopeful waiting for the anxious
questions from the curious enthusiastic minds; those questions that so clearly indicate the
depth of thought and understanding that is passing through the student. If you can manage to
get the students to become actively engaged in your discussion, then you will have earned one
of the greatest joys of teaching. There are many ways for this to happen; get the students to:
answer questions, solve problems, make speeches, give presentations, and write papers. Many
times the initial driving motivation for a student to do the work is the grade.
One of the unique aspects of teaching that I will be able to bring to the students are the
experiences I bring to the students built from having worked in the information technology
arena of business for more than twenty five years. From these personal experiences, I will be
able to better prepare them for the types of activities that are asked of software developers,
system administrators and database administrators than someone who is only presenting theory.
By knowing the skills that are required of these individuals I can uniquely prepare them for
working in those fields. It is my hope that the similarities between the job requests of the classes
and those of the information technology fields will better prepare them for the challenges they
will face when they get into the work environment.
No matter what media format is being used to present the material to the class, technology
can assist in maximizing the learning process. Presentations made during a class should be put
online after the class, so that the student can review the lecture at their leisure. Technology
also broadens the range of students that can be reached through the classes. Video records of
lectures or discussions can also be put into on-demand, video-streaming files; making them
available to students who otherwise would not be able to attend the classes. Another popular
method of extending the range of people reached by the classes the web-based class. All of
these techniques are literally making it possible for any person any where in the world to
attend any class they choose at any location.
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Since we are living in a world defined by change, change is the way of survival. Every
person that invests in education is investing in themselves; enabling their ability to transform
into the person of their dreams, and investing in their own future.
Sincerely,
William B. Hurst, Ph.D.