Oxford Apologizes for Email Containing Students' Marks University College, Oxford, one of Oxford University's top colleges, has apologize to its students after an official mistakenly sent out a mass email containing interim academic scores and the names of poorly performing students. Students at the college opened their inboxes last Monday to find an email containing a list of students who had not done well in their pre-Christmas exams. "Of course, everyone on the list is just trying to laugh it off," one student told The Tab, a British student news site. But in reality, no one feels comfortable with having something so personal shared with the entire college. The college - one of 38 that make up the university - said the interim scores released were used only to identify academic difficulties midcourse and would not be taken into account in final grades. - CHRISTOPHER F. SCHUETZE Singapore plans to teach computer coding in schools Singapore plans to start software-programming classes in public schools, allowing more students to learn how to write computer programs, the news site Tech in Asia has reported. The website said last Tuesday that the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore wants to introduce the computer-coding classes in the next few months. With the agency still in talks with the Ministry of Education, it is unclear if the course will form part of the formal school curriculum or remain an extracurricular activity. "Infocomm technology is getting to be more pervasive," said James Kang, assistant chief executive of the development authority, adding that it was widely recognized as a strategic catalyst for Singapore's competitive advantage. - YENNI KWOK Open source textbook cut costs for university students Students at six British Columbia colleges and universities saved more than a combined 43,000 Canadian dollars, or $39,000, during the 2013 autumn semester by using online textbooks made freely available as part of the province's Open Textbook project. In 2012, the British Columbia Ministry of Advanced Education committed itself to support the creation of open source textbooks for the 40 subject areas in the province's public post-secondary system that had the highest enrollment of first- and second-year students. The first 15 open textbooks, introduced last autumn, have saved about 300 students an average of 146 dollars apiece in textbook costs, the ministry said this month. The open textbooks were peer-reviewed by university faculty before being selected. In addition to being available free to students, they can be modified by the instructors to suit the needs of a particular course or audience. - ELAINE R. SMITH