Instructors¶
Office Hours
Simon Wu he/they
Hey everyone! I’m Simon, and I’m so excited to be your instructor this quarter! I recently just graduated from UW with a double degree in Computer Science and American Ethnic Studies. I started my journey at UW with no intention of taking a single CS class at all, but on a whim, I decided to sign up for CSE 142 (the old CSE 121!) and the rest is history. I’ve deeply involved myself in the computing education community here at UW, having been a TA for 7 quarters across all three intro courses, as well as for CSE373 (data structures and algorithms for non-majors). I’m currently also involved in accessibility research for computing education, and am super passionate in exploring interdisciplinary applications of computer science, particularly across issues of equity and justice.
Outside of teaching, I love playing video games, listening to kpop, and cooking! In the past, I’ve also been a lead volunteer at the Seattle Aquarium and a debate coach for Interlake high school. Looking forward to meeting everyone this quarter, and please feel free to stop by my office hours if you’d like to chat about whatever topic!
Teaching Assistants¶
Colton Harris he/him
Quiz Section: N/A
Hey y’all! I’m a third year majoring in computer engineering with a minor in physics. I love playing board games so if you have any good recommendations please reach out! I’m looking forward to meeting as many of you as I can this quarter :)
Hannah Hempstead she/her
Quiz Section: AC
Hi! My name is Hannah and I’m majoring in computer science. I’m super excited to be a TA this quarter and meet you all! Outside of classes I like to hang out with my friends, be outdoors, and eat popcorn. I also really like fish (both looking at and eating). Feel free to reach out anytime – I can’t wait to get started :)
Jolie Zhou she/her
Quiz Section: N/A
Hi, I’m Jolie! I’m a junior studying computer science and linguistics. Some of my hobbies include transcribing music, crocheting, and baking. Looking forward to meeting everyone /ᐠ .ᆺ. ᐟﾉ
Mia Onodera she/her/hers
Quiz Section: AD
Hi everyone, I’m Mia! I’m currently a Junior studying Electrical and Computer Engineering. Outside of classes, I enjoy weightlifting, reading manga, and baking.
I am excited to meet everyone in person! If you have any questions or want to chat, feel free to email me anytime.
Trey Adams he/him
Quiz Section: AD
Hey everyone I’m Trey! I grew up in Steilacoom, WA and I’m a sophomore. This is my 3rd quarter TAing! I like coding (crazy ik), but in my free time I like reading, weightlifting, and playing video games. This is gonna be an awesome quarter lets have some fun!
Vivian Wang she/her/hers
Quiz Section: AB
Hi everyone, I’m Vivian! I am currently a third year Electrical and Computer Engineering student. While I was born in Highland Park, Illinois, I’ve spent most of my life in Portland, Oregon. In my free time, I enjoy reading books, swimming, and painting. I also love traveling and going on long walks. I am so excited to be your CSE 121 TA this quarter! Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or need support. I look forward to meeting you all :)
Ziao Yin he/him
Quiz Section: AA
Hey everyone! I’m Ziao and I am currently a sophomore majoring in CS and biochem. When I’m not busy, I enjoy spending time outdoors, traveling, making music, and skiing. Looking forward to meeting everybody!
Getting Help¶
Having questions or getting stuck on something is entirely expected in the learning process. If you find something challenging with your studies, that is a sign you are learning! Learning is not something that you need to do alone though! In fact, connecting with your peers or asking a member of the course staff for help can add extreme depth to your knowledge.
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Synchronous Help (Office Hours): One place to go to get help is our Office Hours hosted throughout the week. TAs staff office hours for many hours a day to provide you the help you need when you need it! This is a great place to go if you want to review a particular course concept, work on a practice problem with the help of a TA or your peers, or get help on a Creative Project or Programming Assignment if you are running into difficulties.
Tip
A common misconception is that you can only go to office hours with specific homework questions. That is not true! If you have any questions about course concepts (e.g., from class that day), you are super encouraged to go work on that concept with a member of the course staff at office hours! Getting help with a concept earlier, when you first are feeling unsure, is much better than saving it until you need it on the homework.
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Asynchronous Help (Ed Discussion): With a class of our size, directly emailing a member of the course staff is not always recommended. There are many of you and only few of us, so if you email one person directly we can’t make a guarantee how quickly we can respond! To alleviate this one-on-one communication of email, we have a course discussion board that will be a much more lively place for discussion and a way to make sure you can are helped more quickly. The message board is set up so that all of the course staff can help you, which will make it more likely for you to receive a quicker response!
Ed Tips
- If you are asking a general question about the course logistics or content, you can make a public post. This way other students can benefit from seeing your question, and you can even answer each other’s questions to share your perspectives!
- If you want, you can choose to post anonymously so that other students in the course can’t see your name. Note that anonymous posting does not hide your identity from the course staff.
- You’re encouraged to answer each other’s questions as well! Explaining a topic to someone else (even on a discussion board) is a great way to help you better understand the material. The course staff will still look over student answers and can nicely point out some misconception if there is one so that everyone benefits.
- If you have a question that’s pretty specific to your homework solution, or, is about some personal details that you would not want to share with the class (e.g., DRS accommodations), you can make a private post on Ed that is only visible to the course staff. This way, any member of the staff can respond to get you the help you need!
- For sensitive matters that you only want to discuss with Simon, you can instead email Simon if that makes you feel more comfortable. Note that the response time for the instructors’ email is longer than posting on the Ed board.
- If you are asking a general question about the course logistics or content, you can make a public post. This way other students can benefit from seeing your question, and you can even answer each other’s questions to share your perspectives!