Issue 120, Volume 78

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Wednesday, July 24, 2013 // Issue 120, Volume 78

WEEKLY SUMMER EDITION

THE DAILY COUGAR

T H E

O F F I C I A L

S T U D E N T

N E W S PA P E R

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T H E

U N I V E R S I T Y

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H O U S T O N

S I N C E

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NATION

Wheels turn on loan deal despite discord Mary Dahdouh News editor

The Senate plans to vote on bipartisan legislation this week that will tie the student loan interest rate to the financial market in an effort to mend loan rates that doubled this month, despite division among Democrats. According to USA Today, the deal is likely to pass Congress and be signed by President Barack Obama

because, without action, students will face higher fixed interest rates on loans in the coming academic year. On July 1, student rates doubled to 6.8 percent from 3.4 because Congress could not reach an agreement on how to handle the loan rates. Under the new legislation, federal student loans will be calculated and fixed to the interest rates on the 10-year Treasury bill and will

allow all undergraduates this fall to borrow at a 3.85 percent interest rate, graduate students at 5.4 and parents at 6.4. The House approved a similar Republican bill in June to tie loan rates to the financial markets; yet, liberal Democrats were afraid that this motion could allow rates to rise higher than the 6.8 percent rate set by Congress. The final deal was agreed upon

after Democrats won a protection for students in the bipartisan debates that set certain ceilings on the interest rates — 8.25 percent for undergraduates, 9.5 for graduate students and 10.5 for parents. The deal secures these rates only through the 2015 academic year. With higher rates still looming in the near future, the deal has attracted a great deal of criticism. According to Fox News, students

with subsidized loans could easily be paying higher rates than the average person paying off a car loan. “The U.S. loans to big banks at less than 1 percent interest, and here we turn around and demand profits on the back of our kids. That’s wrong,” Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren told The Boston Globe. “We need to invest in our LOAN continues on page 3

FOOTBALL

Cougars get new threads In midst of change-filled offseason UH adds fresh uniforms to its updating list Christopher Shelton Sports editor

With so many changes for the Cougars’ 2013 season, it’s only fitting that an aesthetic update followed. After joining the American Athletic Conference, replacing prominent senior leaders on defense and their leading rusher from last season and possibly a quarterback, unveiling eight new uniform options on Tuesday was a relatively small step. For head coach Tony Levine, the changes that the Cougars will face this season set them up for recruiting success.

“We’ve got a number of recruits for 2014 and this has all played a huge factor. There are major things they look at, whether it’s proximity to home (and) exposure. At the end, the move to the American, the new stadium (and) the new practice fields, it all adds up,” Levine said. “Social media has changed. When you put out new helmets, new uniforms, new turf practice field, new stadium, new conference; it becomes national news instantly and again, recruits see that.” The new threads, which were modeled by senior offensive lineman Ty Cloud, sophomore running back Kenneth Farrow, junior linebacker Derrick Mathews and senior defensive back Zachary McMillian, should help the Cougars UNIFORMS continues on page 5

UH debuted four versions of its new uniforms, which feature cut-off sleeves that don’t allow opponents a good grip, on Tuesday in the Athletics/Alumni Building. | Courtesy of UH Athletics

ACADEMICS

Professors ponder new web-friendly practicum

395

Courses Offered

14

9.5

Million Enrollments

Natalie Harms Managing editor

Months since launching

COURSERA

73 Universities or systems as partners

BY THE NUMB3RS

195 Countries represented in the student body

219,650,076 Cumulative minutes of learning

All data gathered from www.coursera.org Graphic by Andres Garcia

Hundreds of distinguished professors from 73 universities like Rice, Princeton and Yale are contributing to the 395 massive open online courses Coursera offers. When UH announced an agreement with Coursera in May, several UH professors joined those ranks and are contributing to select courses. “There are a number of faculty members who are currently creating exciting MOOCs in a variety of areas, from the history of human space flight to the programing of handheld devices,” said Jeff Morgan, interim associate provost for education and technology innovation.

“At present, none of these are courses taught at the University of Houston, although a few of them are related to courses that we teach.” The contribution will allow eager learners all around the world to experience an education for free — and for college credit in some cases, Morgan said. In addition, some of the learning materials will become supplements to kindergarten through 12th grade education worldwide. Ioannis Pavlidis, professor and director of the Computational Physiology Lab in the Department of Computer Science, leads an instructional team creating a course for Coursera in ubiquitous computing and supports a team creating a course in science

ethics. Pavlidis finds teaching for the web vastly different than in the classroom. “There is need for a lot more visuals, think YouTube. There is need for formulating quizzes and problems for mass online delivery, ensuring effectiveness and fairness; and there is need to incorporate some sort of discussion and interaction via social media,” Pavlidis said. “A great challenge — to which no one has an answer right now — is to engage and maintain some modicum of personal connection with thousands of people you never met or saw.” MOOCS continues on page 5


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