Need Homework Help? Ask Dan…

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 08:08:49 -0500
news, other

A Sophomore Computer Science major, Dan Maselko has been a tutor in the Computer Science Help Center since last fall.

Dan Maselko got hooked on computer science in high school. “When I took my first computer programming course in tenth grade,” he says, “I realized how easy and fun it was for me to get computers to solve problems.” Since then, Dan, a Sophomore, has been working towards his Computer Science degree while helping those who struggle with the subject.

Last Fall, Dan applied to be a tutor in the Computer Science Help Center. “The best thing about tutoring is getting the chance to help other students learn,” he says. “Every time someone walks out of the door of the Help Center with a better understanding of the material they had questions about, I just feel good knowing I could help them learn something.” Though Dan mainly helps students in CMSC 104, 201, and 202, the center provides help for students in most lower-level Computer Science courses including CMSC 100, 203, 313, 331, and 341, he explains.

The Computer Science Help Center—located in ITE 201-E—offers tutoring on a walk in basis. “Anyone enrolled in a Computer Science course at UMBC can be tutored by the Help Center,” says Dan, “and it’s completely free.” Dan compares the challenges of tutoring to those faced by computer scientists.

“The good challenge is trying to figure out how to make the computer science topics make sense to different people with different ways of thinking,” explains Dan. “Trying to understand so many diverse strategies is a lot like solving a problem in computer science.”

Dan has plans to continue tutoring until he pursues a Master’s degree in Computer Science. Once in graduate school, his teaching aspirations will not cease: “I do hope to eventually become a TA.” Though Dan enjoys helping others, he’s not set on a career in teaching, though he’s still considering it. “I…want to work at a job that’s exciting and requires collaboration,” he says. “Right now the thing that excites me most is cyber security.”