Hi all! Welcome to my blog! My name is Robin. I am a senior studying Economics and the Digital Arts. Outside of class I'm a guitarist, amateur rock climber, and seasoned billiard player–if you're on campus, there's a good chance you can find me at the Collis pool hall. I love Dartmouth and am sharing my journey through this blog. So if you're a prospie, parent, or Dartmouth enthusiast, you've come to the right place!
In this class, I'll be learning about stellar evolution, the origin of the elements, the deaths of stars, black holes, the structure of our Galaxy, other galaxies, dark matter, the expanding universe and the big bang.
In this class, we explore the issues of mark, line, scale, space, light and composition. I'm not naturally a great artist, but I love art and am taking this course to improve my skills.
This course studies the economic behavior of employers and employees as they interact in the labor market, covering topics such as human capital investment, the structure and determinants of financial compensation and benefits packages, contract negotiations and arbitration.
Painting I is an introductory class in oil painting techniques, painting language, and critical thinking. Major topics that will be covered include: basic color theory, color mixing, paint application, and color composition.
This course explores how the brain controls our motivation to pursue goals and how drugs of abuse hijack those systems, exploring in detail how narcotic drugs (opioids, stimulants, alcohol, cannabis) act in the brain and the mechanisms underlying the transition from drug use to addiction.
Teaching Assistants (TAs) are an essential part of the learning experience, helping students fill gaps in their learning and helping professors understand students' needs. In most colleges and universities, TAs are graduate students and often teach lectures alongside, or in place of, the course professor. At Dartmouth, the undergraduate and graduate programs are quite separate, so most TAs are undergraduate students who scored well in the course—anyone can do it! In fact, I am a TA myself!
This term, I am TAing Introduction to Programming and Computation, also known as CS1. I took the course my first-year spring and it was one of my favorites to date. So, I've thought about applying for the position since then, and finally was able to fit it into my schedule my junior winter. It's only been a month or so since I started, but it's been one of the best on-campus jobs I've had thus far.
So, what does a CS1 TA do? For starters, one of my responsibilities is to hold weekly recitation sections. Recitation is an additional hour of class where a TA reviews topics of the week, and helps students through practice problems to reinforce learning. Next, each TA holds three office hours per week, where students can come in to ask for clarification on coursework, labs, and anything that's on their mind.
With these, and grading, TAing can be a busy job. However, I've found that it's a great way of improving my own understanding of the class, and to help other students get a good introduction to computer science.
Many classes hire TAs—and some have Learning Fellows (LFs). LFs are a lot like TAs, except that they do not grade assignments, and that they attend lectures to facilitate in-class activities. So, at Dartmouth, there are lots of ways of getting involved in your favorite classes and to make some pocket money at the same time!
Unlike some other universities, many of the STEM lecture classes at Dartmouth require concurrent enrollment in a laboratory section. What is it like navigating that time as a student?
