I really enjoyed being a part of the team of a UCSD CSE course. Being behind-the-scenes and helping to deliver course content to students made me feel like I was a part of the students' academic journey. When I would help them understand a particular concept they were stuck on or explain how they should think about a problem, it felt fulfilling to see them have an "aha" moment.
What I wish was different
I honestly wish students were more open to asking for help from tutors since the Zoom format can sometimes tend to shy so students away if they are not comfortable with it. I would have loved to see more faces!
Advice
If there's one thing to share from tutoring over the summer it's that as both a CSE student and a CSE tutor, I understand the struggle of students who are stuck on their programming assignment. They might need assistance from a tutor but may feel embarrassed to ask for help. I noticed this sometimes when a student would come to my tutor hours and speak in a hesitant voice about their issue. They would often add a little remark at the end saying that they were having issues because they were too dumb to correct them. I always found it interesting that they would say that, and I would always explain how I also needed a lot of help in the class when I took it last year. What was important was that they were able to seek help when they needed it and be open to learning. So my one piece of advice to students would be to not be afraid to seek help when you don't understand something, it's all part of the learning process!
