ARTS
THEATER
SOFTBALL
Inmates to escape in upcoming play
Short memory of success
The School of Theater and Dance will premiere “Old Country” Friday evening.
Even though though they are sitting with a 5-1 record, the Cougars’ focus is to continue to work on what they struggled on in the previous tour. SEE PAGE 5
SEE PAGE 8
FEBRUARY
CALENDAR CHECK: 26
Film. Kill Bill 1 and 2 will be screened from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. in the New UC Theater.
THE DAILY COUGAR
T H E
O F F I C I A L
S T U D E N T
Issue 78, Volume 79
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
Thursday, February 20, 2014
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ONLINE EXCLUSIVES AT THEDAILYCOUGAR.COM
CAMPUS
First massive open online courses launch Free enrollment open for AP calculus, statistics and class management Amanda Hilow News editor
Students preparing for college by getting an early start earning credit with advance placement or dualcredit courses will now have a cheaper option for getting ahead. The UH System became a Coursera partner, launching its first three massive open online courses on the education platform, with unlimited participation and access free of charge. Out of the 10 United States state universities that joined Coursera in May 2013, the UH System now has the most upcoming courses. “We’re hoping these courses will be effective in our outreach efforts with the community, empowering people who might not otherwise have access to this level of education,” said Jeff Morgan, associate provost of education innovation and technology.
The first two classes, “Preparing for the AP Calculus AB Exam” and “Preparing for the AP Statistics Exam,” will begin March 17 and last for six weeks. The courses will consist of weekly lecture videos, quizzes and optional homework assignments and class discussion forums to help students understand the material and better prepare for the AP exams. Practice exams will be given at the end of each course. “We hope to help enhance high school dual-enrollment programs, offering these MOOCs to schools that lack instructors qualified to teach college-level content,” Morgan said. “Next year, we will offer full-year courses in AP Calculus and AP Statistics through Coursera.” According to The College Board’s 10th annual AP Report to the Nation, the number of AP exams administered increased by about 1.8 million from 2003 to 2013. However, almost 300,000 students in the class of 2013 who had potential to succeed in AP exams never participated in matched courses.
Potential UH students can begin to earn college credit by taking free massive open online courses to prepare for placement tests like AP exams. | Izmail Glosson/The Daily Cougar According to a UH press release, the combined enrollment in these two courses has already reached more than 3,000 students. Morgan, however, said he is hoping to see more people enroll. “There isn’t a cap on enrollment
in these MOOCs, and we eventually hope to see a combined enrollment of 10,000 students in these initial offerings,” he said. The third MOOC, “Applying Principles of Behavior in the K-12
Classroom,” was developed by UH-Victoria and will begin April 7. The fourweek course is designed to help high school teachers and administrators MOOCS continues on page 3
CYBER SECURITY
Pitching a shutout The Cougars couldn’t have hoped for a better start as they remain undefeated at 4-0 after taking down the nationally ranked Owls, 3-0, on their turf. The pitching staff has played lights out as it pitched three shutouts in its first four games. See page 6 for coverage of the game. — Caitlin Hilton/The Daily Cougar
Campus battles phishing waves Jacob Wolfe Contributing writer
While the rapid advancement of technology in recent years has given the nation useful new appliances, there is also a downside — phishing. A form of spam found on the Internet, phishing can create problems such as identity theft or malware attacks for users who fall for the scam. Mary Dickerson, executive director PHISHING continues on page 11