• nhilliar@purdue.edu
  • (765) 494-3569
About

About


Nathanial C Hilliard

Despite my long history in academia, I find that I am a latecomer to the formal education arena. This should not imply that education and instruction are unfamiliar territory however, as I often find myself required to alternate between the roles of learner and teacher, trainer and trainee, often spanning across a variety of different fields. My academic and professional career has transitioned over time from the life sciences, through computer science, into forestry, agriculture, and environmental engineering, and finally emerging in learning deign and technology. Throughout this transition, I have also observed the evolution of social culture and technology, both having profound effects on the expectations and effectiveness of teaching and learning. As I attempt to understand education (as it was, as it is, and as it is becoming) I use my range of personal experiences as a lens to shape my own novel interpretations of theories, both new and old. I am not one to quickly grasp for the new and popular because it is so, nor do I eschew the old and unfashionable before understanding why. I consider each opportunity for learning on its unique merits and hope to provide learners with a means to achieve a lasting, fundamental change in their understanding. As both a scholar and a design professional, I hope to foster the deep and meaningful consideration and application of educational decisions, both in others and in myself.