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Thursday, September 11, 2014
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UNIVERSITY
LEGACY
One year in, MOOCs still face issues
Former band director dies, leaves longlasting legacy
By Alex Wilts @alexwilts
It’s been a year since UT launched its first massive open online courses, or MOOCs, and, despite low completion rates, Steven Mintz, executive director of the UT System’s Institute for Transformational Learning, said they are the learning platform of the future. After looking at data from the University’s first eight MOOCs from the fall 2013 and spring 2014 semesters,
Mintz said a total of about 281,000 people from all over the world enrolled in the courses. Of this number, only about 1-13 percent complete the MOOCs. Mintz, who is also a history professor at the University, said there might be several reasons for the low completion rates, including the age of MOOC students and their motives for taking the free online courses. “Your parents aren’t paying $10,000 for you to be sitting in a class, and they expect
you to finish,” Mintz said. “It’s a very different experience. Also, most MOOC students are older. They often have degrees. They’re doing it either out of interest or because of professional credentialing. They’re not there to get a BA for the most part.” In 2012, the UT System invested $5 million into edX, an online learning platform and provider of MOOCs and pledged an additional $5 million to be used for course development. Founded in 2012,
edX first offered MOOCs created by Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before expanding to offer content from other universities. Mintz said UT is increasing the spread of its international image, and its ability to compete with other top colleges by being one of the first universities to use MOOC technology. “We play football in the big leagues, and, academically, we need to be in the big leagues,” Mintz said. “Faculty members
of the caliber that UT-Austin has need to feel that they have exactly the same opportunities as a Princeton professor or a Harvard professor, and I want to make sure they have those opportunities.” Engineering associate professor Michael Webber, who taught the “Energy 101” MOOC, said teaching these free courses is beneficial for the University because professors become better at teaching
MOOCS page 2
CAMPUS
McEwan presents new novel at HRC By Nidia Cavazos @thedailytexan
Award-winning novelist Ian McEwan presented his new novel, “The Children Act,” at the Harry Ransom Center on Wednesday. McEwan is well known for his short stories and novels for adults and has won various awards for his distinguished works, including “Amsterdam,” “First Love” and “The Child in Time.” The Ransom Center, a humanities research library and museum at the University, became home to McEwan’s archive in May. The archive includes drafts of his already published novels and some unpublished material from his adolescent career. McEwan said his newest novel was born from his interest in how one makes judgements. “As ethical decisions are to
AUTHOR page 2
Daulton Venglar | Daily Texan Staff
Author Ian McEwan signs books after a reading of his new novel, “The Children Act,” on Wednesday evening. McEwan’s archive now resides in The Harry Ransom Center on campus.
By Eleanor Dearman @ellydearman
Vincent DiNino, a retired UT band director, died Tuesday night at age 95. He was with his family members at his home in Bay City, Utah, after being transferred from St. Luke’s Medical Center in Houston. DiNino was hired as the first full-time UT band director in 1955 and served in the position for 30 years. After retirement he remained involved with the program throughout his life. Director of Bands Jerry Junkin said DiNino was generous with the department both financially and as a mentor. “All of our current students knew him, who he was, and loved him,” Junkin said. “They adored as much as the students who were in the band when he was a director.” Junkin said DiNino had an incredible memory and a “flare” about him that came naturally and made people feel like his best friend. “He could remember and could recall, I’m sure to his dying days, the names of virtually every student he ever taught,” Junkin said. “But not only that, where they were from, their their parents names were, what they did for a living, the names of their children and all of that.” According to Robert Carnochan, the current director of the Longhorn Band, when DiNino was first hired the band had only white male
DININO page 2
CAMPUS
CAMPUS
Chevrolet announces UT-edition truck
UT keeps position in top 20 in Teach for America
By Lauren Velez @thedailytexan
Chevrolet announced its plan to release a UTedition Silverado in October as a part of their longstanding partnership with UT Athletics. Chevrolet’s product specialist Ben Reinke said Chevy wanted to make a special truck for Longhorn fans, when the new truck was announced earlier this month. “The Chevy Silverado is a major part of Texas culture,” Reinke said. “The truck is not only popular among UT students and coaches but also embodies Texas as a whole.” The University has over 20 corporate media and promotional sponsors, who all advertise heavily at UT sporting events. Christine Plonsky, director of UT women’s athletics, said Chevy is considered an integrated partner of Texas Athletics and is proving to be one of UT’s most significant sponsors. Plonsky said she thinks
By Elias Thompson @thedailytexan
Photo courtsey of UT Athletics
Chevy’s new release of the sunset orange metallic Silverado could help to boost Chevy’s image within the University community. “It takes a high level of commitment for a business to be able to call itself an ‘official sponsor,’” Plonsky said. “These partnerships are typically worth up to six or seven
figures. Chevrolet has stepped up significantly with wanting to be a part of Texas athletics. They know the state of Texas is a huge market for this particular product.” According to Plonsky, UT’s marketing team and fan base will play a large role in marketing the truck because of the
collaborative nature of Chevy’s relationship with Texas athletics. “We’re very much a part of these pitches,” Plonsky said. “We approve all the artwork you see, right down to the color. It’s a collaborative partnership. Every single
TRUCK page 2
For the seventh consecutive year, UT held its position in the top 20 largest colleges and universities whose students join the Teach For America program. This year, 63 graduates from the University joined Teach For America, or TFA, placing fourth among large universities with alumni involved in the organization. TFA is a nonprofit organization, founded in 1990, in which recent college graduates and professionals teach in low-income communities for two years. Since TFA’s establishment, more than 28,000 members have completed their two-year mission to help eliminate educational inequality, according to the nonprofit’s website. TFA employees can become members of AmeriCorps, a federal service organization, and receive student loan forgiveness, educational awards and payment to
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Visiting professor discusses arcade games. PAGE 3
Students and professor remember where they were on 9/11 and what it meant to them.
Texas women’s crew team seeks to rebuild team. PAGE 6
Throwback: “Boyhood” director on his love of Austin. PAGE 8
Freshman libero hopes to become next great McCoy. PAGE 6
Documentary on war in Afghanistan premiers at UT. PAGE 8
Missed yesterday’s paper? We’ve got you covered online at dailytexanonline.com.
Michael Dell’s son builds app with UT students. PAGE 3
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pursue further education after spending two years with TFA. Lexie Heller, national recruitment team manager for TFA, said the University continues to make the list every year because of the energy of its graduating students. “Longhorns are passionate, diverse, service-oriented and high-quality in terms of their academic abilities and leadership potential,” Heller said. According to Heller, TFA provides graduating students with opportunities to help underprivileged children achieve academic success. “My experience with TFA was overwhelmingly positive,” Heller said. “I taught high school social studies in San Antonio, and my students achieved truly unprecedented academic success.” Undeclared freshman Brandon Chan said he did not know much about TFA, but he was skeptical about teaching students who didn’t own a computer.
TFA page 2 REASON TO PARTY
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