Teaching Statement
Julia Ann Smith
My career as a teacher started already in high school, when I taught dance routines.
From 1994 to 1997, I served as Assistant Leader, Co-Leader and Registrar for the Keystone
Tall Tree Girl Scout Council. During my undergraduate studies, I worked as a tutor
in Accounting, Algebra, Economics, and Statistics for the Academic Development Center
at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford. After obtaining my Bachelors Degrees,
I provided software support for the staff of the Registrar and Enrollment Services
Offices while performing my duties as Data Coordinator for Assessment and
Institutional Research. And during my graduate studies, I have worked as an
Instructor in credit and non-credit computer classes.
Encouraging my students is an important element of my teaching style. I make an
effort to get acquainted with my students and follow their progress throughout
the semester. Engaging students to contribute to classroom discussions and present
problems during class have also been pivotal in increasing student involvement
and enthusiasm. I welcome questions, both during and outside of the class. One
of my main goals as a teacher is to make computers and information science as
accessible as possible.
I discuss many real-life applications of theoretical concepts described in class.
Too often students fail to see the importance of specific concepts when they are
presented. Thus, in order to better motivate the students, my experiences and
experiences from others relating to the application of concepts are discussed. I
have found that real-world experiences better explain why they have to learn
material not only from the class that I am teaching, but also from other classes
that they have taken (or are taking).
I have received positive feedback about these elements of my teaching, both in
the form of formal teaching evaluations and in casual discussions with my
students. As I grow as an instructor I hope to continue to convey my enthusiasm
for computers to my students as well as discover new ways to explore information
science.
The Computer Science and Information Science fields are very exciting areas with
literally new technology being developed daily. While we are not able to give
our students the opportunity to work with every possible new software package or
computer, we should do our best to expose them to representative examples and the
foundations of these new developments so that they are equipped with the "tools"
of knowledge that will enable them to make use of the new technology.
Created and maintained by J. A. Smith