Sri Lankan elephant: WUaS MBM Agenda for 6/19/21 AND - I get this Google blogspot ONBOARDING URL "https://www.blogger.com/u/1/onboarding#" ... interestingly ... and which could be a great thing for WUaS too! * * * El Salvador becomes the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. More South American (Paraguay) and African (Tanzania) countries are set to follow * * * SGKMacLeod family history, 23 and Me, and integration of genetic platforms, regarding WikiTree for 7.8 billion people even? . . . * * * Caltech Genetics 6/16/21: Thank you for attending Hindsight 2020 - The Allen Institute Developmental Recording Virtual Series with Harvard's Chris Walsh and Prisca Liberali in Switzerland * Hi Chris - very great talk, thank you! Broad question, and maybe more for Prisca, but: How could #SomaticMutationAnalyses work in #EmbryonicDevelopment into a #RealisticVirtualEarthForBrainScience in 1 #RealisticVirtualEarth from a #FilmTo3D App (eveninto #WikiTree for 7.8 billion people in 1 #FamilyTree) w/ #MachineLearning @ChrisAWalsh1 @JShendure @priscaliberali? . . . Chris Walsh - i am happy to let Prisca tackle that one! :)

Rifai, All, 

(Thank you, Imad, in Morocco, for writing that you'll look at ocw.mit.edu and oyc.yale.edu for your first year PhD courses at WUaS - and will get back to me at WUaS when you have the time! Prasanth?, Chinmay?, and Aviv - do you want to talk with John Engelen, or Tito, Aviv about this? And Tanya - I'm familiar with the courses you're interested in to complete your WUaS Bachelor's degree - and please stay tuned).

And Rifai, thanks for your cryptocurrencies' emails, which I'm connecting to WUaS UBI experiments too - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/search/label/UBI (and please avail yourself of Stanford Mine Pi, if you're not mining it daily already! ... just ask if you're not sure how). 

I also just re-Tweeted this from Google Educator Group Sri Lanka - 

Google Educator Group Sri Lanka @GEG_SriLanka
We are now officially on the #GEG map as the pioneers of the #GEG #lka team!
Click below to find us on the map  Arrow pointing rightwards then curving downwards

https://edu.google.com/teacher-center/communities/?modal_active=none @GlobalGEG @GegProgram @EduTechOne @binth_j @GoogleForEdu

https://twitter.com/GEG_SriLanka/status/1395026509451038722?s=20

> https://twitter.com/WorldUnivAndSch

And Reshma Honap (from India, but living in southern California) - thank you! - has been organizing many open GEG Saturday Meetings - Google Education Groups - mostly for India - 

Reshma Honap @HonapReshma
Replying to
@GEG_SriLanka @GlobalGEG  and 4 others
Congratulations Party popper
https://twitter.com/HonapReshma/status/1395143401067012098?s=20

As you all may have read (below) in the 5/15/21 WUaS Monthly Business Meeting Minutes - 

If you know of any 18 year olds (Sri Lankan, or from your country), or friends who have relatively recently completed their Bachelor's degree - or if you - might be interested in free-to-students' PhD ... or in 4 year Bachelor degree programs, I've just reached out to WUaS prospective students with . . . 

"Please send http://ocw.mit.edu and https://oyc.yale.edu/ courses you'd like to take in your 1st year beginning 9/1/21 for #WUaSFreeToStudents' online #WUaSPhDdegrees to start.

Sincerely, Scott"

. . . in the 5/15/21 WUaS Monthly Business Meeting Minutes here - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2021/05/araripe-manakin.html (loosely conducted in the Manner of unprogrammed Friends). Please let friends you may know of looking for such an opportunity about these great free CC-3 Yale-centric and CC-4 MIT-centric OpenCourseWare developments . 

Regards, 

Scott

On Tue, Mar 9, 2021 at 11:24 AM Info WorldUniversity <info@worlduniversityandschool.org> wrote:

Hi Sri, Universitians, 

I just blogged about these infinite 'Pi' questions & World Univ & Sch here today - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2021/03/middle-santiam-wilderness-oregon.html. These online, higher education, CC-4 MIT OCW-centric degrees at World University and School will be free for students, - and are planned in all ~200 countries and in their official and main languages. 

Cheers, Scott

- Scott GK MacLeod  
Founder, President, CEO & Professor
1) non-profit World University and School - http://worlduniversityandschool.org -
2) for profit general stock company WUaS Corporation - http://worlduniversityandschool.org/AcademicPress.html - 

MIT OCW-centric WUaS is planned in all ~200 countries and in their official languages for free-to-students' Bachelor, PhD, Law, MD and IB high school degrees, accessible from here in due course - https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Nation_States - https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Languages ... for example (and see too the MIT OCW on some of the academic wiki subjects here - https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Subjects).

Pi Day - MIT 

Dear Larry, Tito, Jayni, Yuping, Juan, Julian, 

Greetings! 

World Univ & Sch is waiting to hear back from WUaS's edX representative about both 1) a way for our undergraduates (150-500), ~4 years to completion, to apply to WUaS, something like this  - 

https://courses.edx.org/register  - but for WUaS applications, and including transcripts, honor code, student statement of observing laws in their country, and in the USA, now online, etc. ...

as well as for 2) the possibility for our 4 prospective PhD students (~7 year time to completion) to apply ... 

WUaS PhD candidacy opportunities via edX at first, and beginning this autumn would be SO GREAT.

"Decisions are coming...and, to celebrate, Tim takes Ellen on a journey full of robots, fire, jujutsu sorcery, and calculus inspired by Howl's Moving Castle. #MIT2025 http://mitsha.re/CJxc50DU9JB"

Decisions are coming...and, to celebrate, Tim takes Ellen on a journey full of robots, fire, jujutsu sorcery, and calculus inspired by Howl's Moving Castle. #MIT2025 https://t.co/OXIH2zoEuk pic.twitter.com/dEj685Xih2

— MIT Students (@MITstudents) March 9, 2021

https://twitter.com/MITstudents/status/1369318364410155013?s=20


With things moving forward, I wonder if our edX representative brings the question of WUaS PhDs via edX (begin with the last year of a edX 4 year 'advanced' Bachelor degree classes, - as first year of a WUaS Master's toward a PhD ? ...) to MIT EECS Prof Anant Agarwal and CEO of edX who then brings these questions to MIT culture of decision makers, such as even Fast company, and re edX's mission ... 

"From the start
@edXOnline
 envisioned a new reality where every learner can access the education they need to unlock their potential. Our team is honored at this inclusion from
@FastCompany, and to be recognized alongside other companies changing the world for good"

From the start @edXOnline envisioned a new reality where every learner can access the education they need to unlock their potential. Our team is honored at this inclusion from @FastCompany, and to be recognized alongside other companies changing the world for good https://t.co/7E9YoIV4hX

— anant agarwal (@agarwaledu) March 9, 2021

https://twitter.com/agarwaledu/status/1369313797475885058?s=20

Are you earning free money daily (like 2 of our prospective PhD students are, as am I)?

http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2021/02/xoloitzcuintle-mexican-hairless-dog.html?m=0

For your free Pi cryptocurrency, which is mineable daily, you can begin to get your free money daily with the Stanford Mine Pi cryptocurrency now. Use this code -  sgkmac - minepi.com/sgkmac

- and, on your smartphone, and which could become the basis for single crypto-currency in all ~200 countries ~ https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/You_at_World_University. 

On Sun, Feb 28, 2021 at 1:57 PM Info WorldUniversity <info@worlduniversityandschool.org> wrote:

Hi Rifai, Universitians, All,  

Thanks for these MIT Digital Currency Initiative courses  https://dci.mit.edu/courses .>  https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Banking_and_Money ...

 

Know anyone in Sri Lanka who might be interested in studying some of these, and in English, and in Sinhalese - and on the edX platform too? Budding programmers? Prospective Bachelor and PhD students from Sri Lanka, for free-to-students' degrees ... possibly with parallels to taking an accounting degree for example? 

I wonder how Stanford Mine Pi will emerge in these MIT and related courses, and what's ahead for developing digital currencies (re quantum security, and a myriad of other issues post paper fiat or bills, and metal coins etc.)? And will most of ~200 countries adopt a single cryptocurrency - and post Euro in 19 out of 28 nation states? 

And could the minable Stanford Mine Pi especially be used to alleviate poverty regarding UBI experiments? Here's MIT DCI director Neha Narula again - https://twitter.com/neha/status/1363997101189963777?s=20 and a related https://twitter.com/mitDCI/status/1364983823365201928?s=20 

- with a concert Tweet from 2007 ... could concerts reaching youth in all 200 countries be paid for by Stanford Mine Pi - to get Pi into widespread circulation - and by young people too, active digitistas ? In Sri Lanka? And what if you could use digital currency like Stanford Mine Pi to buy just part of a live concert ON THE FLY (a bit like Grateful Dead concerts were recorded freely by fans or Deadheads ... and which may have led to the Grateful Deads' popularity in the 1960s and '70s ...)

"At almost every Grateful Dead show, it was common to see fans openly recording the music for later enjoyment. This can be traced to shows in the late 1960s, with the number of tapers increasing yearly." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadhead

Please let me know some of your thoughts on these questions, Rifai, and All. 

Regards, 

Scott

Updating this - 

https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2021/02/blackcurrant-ribes-nigrum-quaker-george.html 

Grateful Dead blog label in daily blog - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/search/label/Grateful%20Dead - 

On Fri, Feb 26, 2021 at 9:02 AM Info WorldUniversity <info@worlduniversityandschool.org> wrote:

Hi Sri, Universitians, and All, 

Rifa (aka Sri) in Sri Lanka, head of Sri Lanka WUaS there, and I have been emailing a bit about cryptocurrencies, and it seems like these are a potentially interesting aspect of partnering with WUaS too - and regarding all of our countries and a variety of languages too. Here's my email to Sri from this morning ...

Hi Sri, 

Was glad to attend this Stanford conversation yesterday "Resurrecting the Promise of Forty Acres" -  and even regarding reparations to Black Americans for the legacy of slavery. As you'll read below, I ask about Stanford Mine Pi in these regards, and WUaS Press / WUaS Corp may seek to list as an Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the emergent Silicon Valley LONG-TERM stock market, with the Pi cryptocurrency, and in planning for it in most of all ~200 countries and in their languages, and backed by their central banks. This worldwide cryptocurrency would distributed via UBI experiments to alleviate poverty ... so I'm going to pass on on your offer. Thanks.

Great panel https://basicincome.stanford.edu/events/resurrecting-the-promise-of-forty-acres/ re #EISreparations ! Asked when registering: "How could Reparations for Black Americans in 21st Century find form via #UBIexperiments & w #StanfordMinePi currency in US?" Via #WUaSUBIexperiments @WorldUnivAndSch  & re  https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Black_Studies?

https://twitter.com/WUaSPress/status/1365105601890508800?s=20
https://twitter.com/scottmacleod/status/1365106035690639361?s=20
https://twitter.com/sgkmacleod/status/1365106587220647938?s=20



Great panel https://basicincome.stanford.edu/events/resurrecting-the-promise-of-forty-acres/ re #EISreparations ! Asked when registering: "How could Reparations for Black Americans in the 21st Century find form via #UBIexperiments & with #StanfordMinePi currency in US?" Via #WUaSUBIexperiments @WUaSPress & re  https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Black_Studies?

https://twitter.com/WorldUnivAndSch/status/1365105321690107904?s=20
https://twitter.com/scottmacleod/status/1365105876592254977?s=20
https://twitter.com/sgkmacleod/status/1365106473508872193?s=20

Such a rationale as reparations would potentially help Stanford Mine Pi to grow, possibly superseding the US dollar, and similarly with alleviating poverty.

Regards, Scott

https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2021/02/desolation-wilderness-reparations.html

...

STEM, quality and enjoyment of MIT OCW into Indian languages are key aspects of the translation process at WUaS. - 

On Fri, Jan 8, 2021 at 1:43 PM Info WorldUniversity <info@worlduniversityandschool.org> wrote:

HI Sri, Houcemeddine, Lydia, Prasanth, All, 

https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/search/label/Tamil%20language

Thanks for your email, Rifai, and regarding both the Sinhala language (in Sri Lanka), and Tamil language, just across the ocean in India from you. Thanks too for your offer to begin building a learning management system (LMS) in Moodle, "if our [WUaS] plans with edX and G Suite do not go well." Am glad that WUaS is in G Suite For Education (since 2015, thanks to Goog;e's Evan Schmidt), and that it could be very helpful for many things, but also even for reimbursement from all ~200 countries' departments of education for CC-4 MIT OCW-centric WUaS). And it seems that WUaS is in the process of partnering with edX, but that WUaS needs, as I calculate it, $101,000, so $50,000 to interoperate the edX Dashboard with the WUaS platform (presumably in G Suite), in Wikibase (thanks, Houcemeddine, here in this email thread), and $51,000 for 150 students for one year which WUaS would pay to edX (in a students' 4 year free online Bachelor degrees' program) first in English. So how to build out WUaS's other languages - and toward degrees? 

I'd like to introduce you all to Prasanth and Imad, WUaS's 2 prospective graduate students potentially beginning in May 1, and potentially taking edX undergraduate courses to matriculate at WUaS in September 1 for probably 7-year avg time to completion WUaS PhDs (https://ocw.mit.edu/). 

Prasanth is very interested in developing Tamil language World Univ & Sch, as well as all 22 scheduled languages in India, and regarding the WUaS Press's machine translations-into-books as products, even. Regarding my recently published 5th book, "Light, Float, Sit, Watsu ~ Virtually: ..." - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2021/01/natural-arch-tirumala-hills.html - I'm glad he's forwarded the idea of experimenting with translation of this book in English into Tamil! And he shared with me the India National Machine Translation email, and forwarded my email too:

Scott: 

Thanks a lot.  I forwarded it to

National Translation Machine

(projectdirector.ntm@gmail.com)

-Prasanth

Here's the book (and which could be sold in each of your countries and languages, to create careers, and generate revenue, and opportunities for degrees)

Light, Float, Sit, #Watsu ~ Virtually: Bodymind Electricity Sings to Me at #HarbinHotSprings & Other Traveling Poems' (book) is AVAILABLE ! :)
Paperback – January 1, 2021 by @SGKMacLeod (Author)
https://amazon.com/dp/0578834685
~http://amazon.com/author/scottmacleodworlduniversity ~
@WUaSPress (@WorldUnivAndSch)

https://twitter.com/WUaSPress/status/1345925497977327617?s=20

So, 

Starting a new Tamil language World University and School for Tamil Nadu-ans, in Tamil, and thanks to Prasanth in Madurai, south India


Perhaps you've noted here for example - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/12/tussilago-farfara-coltsfoot.html - that WUaS educational approach has 2 sides to it:


1) free to students' DEGREES - with students taking MIT OCW and  NEWLY edX courses, as WUaS licensing with BPPE and accredits with WASC senior

2) WUaS is a free wiki, for open teaching and learning, where you or I can add free high quality courses, and teaching resources to our WUaS wikis - and eventually in Tamil, in French, in Arabic - now in English. But these resources, like Youtube videos you created teaching something in Tamil about Electronics' engineering, or free books like the ones you shared -  or Coursera+Khan Academy courses - would NOT be for credit, toward WUaS free degrees.


There are a number of ways to add discussions, for example to a WUaS wiki subject page - https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Academic_Freedom_Studies - for example this subheading, which will be translated into potentially all 7,117 known living languages -

2.13 Select Conversations / Dialogues / Idea Competitions

- and which will be added to all WIKI subjects via - https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/SUBJECT_TEMPLATE - and with artificial intelligence too,

- so that, for example, you could start a Google group with a group of WUaS students, or a Twitter conversation





I can see a number of directions that World Univ & Sch would head in with regarding to developing WUaS in the Tamil language:


1 Supporting scientific papers that are written in Tamil - perhaps in a Google Scholar sort of way

2 Creating online university and school on both sides (for degrees and as wiki schools) - and on WUaS platforms as they develop

3 Translation from many languages into Tamil language by developing the machine translation, both for poetry and STEM

...

So Prasanth, entering a WUaS PhD program would involve your taking some edX courses (and not research) this summer - if and as WUaS proceeds with partnering with edX - to prepare you for entering this PhD program, and candidacy, in your major, and Imad, probably some Computer Science undergraduate courses
https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2021/01/karthigaipoo-gloriosa-flower.html

*

And we in this email thread are all the core multi-language group at World Univ & Sch. So in what ways can we bring together the platforms of G Suite for Education with Google Translate in ~100 languages, WUaS Wikibase/ Wikidata in ~300 languages, with the 22 official / scheduled languages of India National Machine Translation organization ... in a new platform, and even to produce a product too - like my "Light, Float, Sit, Watsu ~ Virtually: ..." book in each of your languages with machine translation - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2021/01/natural-arch-tirumala-hills.html ? And how best to bring these 3 platforms together too for translating MIT OCW courses into WUaS edX courses (possibly on the WUaS G Suite platform) ... in each of your languages especially?

Regards, 

Scott

WUaS Annual Meeting Minutes

https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/12/indiana-bat.html

On Fri, Jan 8, 2021 at 6:32 AM Sri Lanka WUaS <srilanka@worlduniversityandschool.org> wrote:

Hi !

I can build a Moodle LMS from scratch if our plans with edX and G Suite do not go well. There are also readymade versions like Gnomio for starters.

Content developments in Tamil language can be helpful for Sri Lanka too. I have also sourced some college level open content in Sinhala language. Sharing the OER digest.

Regards,

Rifai

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: OER Digest <oerdigest@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 2021, 04:54
Subject: OER Digest - January 7th, 2021
To: OER Digest <oerdigest@gmail.com>

From Bilan Jama (CC USA)  | Volume 120 | January 7th, 2021

THE OER DIGEST

Your bi-weekly newsletter for open education updates, opportunities, and reminders

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

OPEN TEXTBOOK PILOT: Just before the end of the year, the U.S. Congress passed a comprehensive spending package that included renewal funding for the Open Textbook Pilot grant program for a fourth year! Congress matched last year’s investment with another $7 million, which will be awarded to higher education institutions for open textbook projects by September 30th. Under instructions from Congress, the Department of Education is expected to run a new competition following similar terms as the one run in 2020, including a 60 day application period and multiple awards. The renewal brings the total funding to $24 million for since 2018. Meanwhile, the Department has also completed its process for the previous round of funding and is expected to publicly announce the winners of the approximately $6 million in awards soon.

HIGHER EDUCATION COLLAB: State leaders, postsecondary education institutions, and education leaders are working across state lines to promote the adoption of OER to help millions of students access high-quality learning materials that are free to use, customize, and share. With renewed support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the four regional higher education compacts—the Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC), the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE), the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), and the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE)—will coordinate in a joint effort to provide policy leaders, institutional leaders, and researchers and practitioners with research and tools to support the use of these openly-licensed materials.

SIGNING OFF (from Digest co-author Mo Nyamweya): Hi everyone, and happy new year. As of the end of last month, I have transitioned out of my role as Open Education Coordinator at SPARC. This community is so vibrant and supportive, and I'm so thankful to have contributed my piece as OER Digest co-author. I'll be working on applying to graduate school in 2021 and continuing to support the OER community and all the incredible work you do. Thanks for everything, and feel free to reach me via email: moige.nym@gmail.com.

OPEN CONNECTIONS

Conferences, jobs, and other OER-related opportunities

CALL FOR PROPOSALS: The Open Language Resource Center (OLRC) and the Center for Open Educational Resources and Language Learning (COERLL) are seeking proposals for a joint online conference to be held on Saturday, March 6th, 2021. The deadline for proposal submission is Friday, January 15th, 2021.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS: Submit your proposals for the Cascadia Open Education Summit here. The deadline for proposal submission is Friday, January 15th, 2021.

REGISTER NOW: Registration is now open for the 2021 Arizona Regional OER Conference. January 29th is the kickoff date and the virtual conference will continue each Friday in February and ending on the first Friday in March (1/29/21 - 3/5/21).

CALL FOR PROPOSALS: Applications for the Spring 2021 Missouri Affordable and Open Educational Resources Symposium are now open. The deadline for submissions is February 1, 2021, and proposals can be submitted here. 

STORIES FROM THE FIELD

Quick snapshots of those making change on the ground level, and those impacted

FROM PENNSYLVANIA: The state Department of Education (PDE), through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries (OCL), announced $500,000 in funding to support affordability and equity in higher education. These funds will be offered through a new OER Grant Program (OER) funded by the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund (GEER) established by the CARES Act of 2020. The grant program will provide a series of mini-grants and stipends to encourage and support faculty in creating, adapting, and adopting OER and other zero-cost materials in institutions of postsecondary and higher education across Pennsylvania. “Improving access to resources and materials for some students of the commonwealth is a step toward improving student success,” said Acting Secretary of Education Noe Ortega. “The department is excited about the opportunity to award grants that will result in more affordable textbook options for students during a moment in time where financial relief is certainly welcomed and needed.” Read more >>

FROM TENNESSEE: Columbia State was awarded approximately $60,000 in funding for two Tennessee Board of Regents Digital Engagement Initiative OER grants. The new grant program will increase access to quality, low or no cost, and inclusive educational materials through innovative programs focused on providing OER.  “We want to remove cost as a barrier for students. The idea is that we will have online materials that students will be able to access from the first day of class. They can also print out copies of the materials if they want hard copies. They won't have to wait to purchase their textbooks,” said Judy Westley, Columbia State associate professor of English. The overall program goal is to increase success rates and improve educational outcomes for traditionally underserved students, such as students of color, first-generation college students and economically disadvantaged students. Read more >>

FROM WEST VIRGINIA: Students at West Virginia University at Parkersburg have saved $140,860 during the 2019 to 2020 academic year through the use of no-cost and OER in 38 courses, according to the school. “The benefit of creating and providing OER courses are shared among students, faculty, the college, parents and so many more,” said Dave Thompson, a professor and chairman of the WVU Parkersburg Humanities, Fine Arts and Social Sciences. “Easy access, low costs, diverse instruction methods and user-friendliness are a few of the most valuable features.” Read more >>

HOT OFF THE PRESS

Each edition, we highlight an interesting, new, openly-licensed resource

Dr. Yongyeon Cho from Iowa State University has recently published Tutorials of Visual Graphic Communication Programs for Interior Design. This book is for the beginning level of both architecture and interior design students who learn computer graphic communication software. 

WEIGH IN

Great reads to repost or share and interesting discussions to consider

 

Great to Share >> 

Five Federal Institutions with Free Education Materials | Department of Education Homeroom Blog 

Interesting to Consider >> 

Interrogating and Supplementing OER Through a Decolonized Lens | International Journal of Open Educational Resources Blog 

Teaching | The Chronicle of Higher Education 

Have suggestions for the next edition? Let us know at oerdigest@gmail.com, or tweet us @OERdigest.

 

The OER Digest is a public newsletter distributed to a broad group of stakeholders across the higher education community. Subscribe here.

On Wed, 6 Jan 2021, 00:29 Info WorldUniversity, <info@worlduniversityandschool.org> wrote:

Hi Sri, Peter, and Universitians and All, 

As you may have read in yesterday's WUaS News and Q&A, it's now possible - due to Covid-19 pandemic - to record (and live stream too) from WUaS's G Suite for Education:: 

How to record or live stream with Google Meet
https://youtu.be/ONyV40J_KZM

And here's the Video recording from yesterday - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2021/01/arches-national-park-dear-anthony.html - 

WUaS News, Q&A, and Conversation 1/4/21 (2021-01-04 at 10:02 GMT-8)" 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/168LdWxnwpfffVOZJGOoz10848AguOGm5/view

in a new video format in GDocs ... (which you're all welcome to use too re WUaS)

And if you may recall too, Rifai (head of Sri Lanka WUaS), created Sri Lanka WUaS in the Sinhala Language in Google Sites - and for a smartphone too - a few months ago:

"Here's the English version of WUaS on Google Sites - https://sites.google.com/view/worlduniversityandschool - but which doesn't have any language for Sri Lankans and Indians, on WUaS Google Sites in the Sinhala language and in the Hindi language, that they will be studying for 4 years in English! ... and which language needs to be added. 

I think this is the language in Sinhala, to be added in Hindi: 

මෙම (2020) සරත් සමයේ නොමිලේ උපාධි ලබා ගැනීම සඳහා ඉංග්‍රීසි භාෂා ප්‍රවීණතාවය විශ්ව විද්‍යාල මට්ටමින් විය යුතුයි. සිංහල විද්‍යාලය ඉගැන්වීම සහ ඉගෙනීම සඳහා විවෘත වනු ඇත

It could be great if this process of WUaS in many languages could be automated partly. 

And here's the beginning of Sri Lanka WUaS - https://sites.google.com/view/worlduniversityandschool/srilanka - in Sinhala, and eventually with degrees in Sinhala language. ... "

While I've tried to develop WUaS a number of times in Google Sites over the years, it hasn't worked very well, and I'm wondering if Google Sites has iterated further due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Someone named Volcano (Aurelien M Wende) has volunteered to develop the WUaS web site further. Thoughts about all of this? Google Translate will be invaluable for the development of WUaS's web platform, thanks too to Google's AI / TensorFlow ...

Questions, thoughts, ideas, suggestions?

Could I reach out to some of you further regarding your native languages in particular, and developing WUaS, perhaps beginning with the above WUaS on a smartphone re Sri Lanka WUaS? Thank you! 

Cheers, Scott

PS

Email to Volcano just now: 

Hi VOLCANO (Aurelien M Wende), 

Thanks so much for your email and offer. Have you developed websites in multiple languages - and even with Google Translate (including in G Suite for Education)?

Thank you,

Scott

- https://worlduniversityandschool.blogspot.com/2020/12/sat-dec-19-2020-wuas-minutes-for-open.html
- https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/12/indiana-bat.html - 

On Sun, Dec 27, 2020 at 10:45 AM Info WorldUniversity <info@worlduniversityandschool.org> wrote:

Hi Sri Lanka WUaS aka Rifai, Andrzej, MariuszS, Petros, WUaS family, Rohit, Nidahas, nidahasvidyalaya, WUaS Board, Peter, mazumdarp, Marisol, Shahrzad, Shahbaz, Tanya, All,

Thanks again so much for your generative email, and good ideas, Rifai. With regards to possible WUaS matriculated student testimonials (eg https://orc.mit.edu/admissions/student-testimonial), it could be good to plan for in the future - and even possibly in the WUaS Applying-to-College process from here - worlduniversityandschool.org. To date, when Shahbaz was trying to take the edX courses this autumn 2020 - and I'm so glad WUaS is in the process of partnering with edX - he could only really audit the edX courses, and not really study them 'from the inside,' ie for learning the course material for grades. And similarly with Tanya, she needs to take a "Finance" course (and some other courses to graduate with a free Bachelor's degree, I think), probably courses from edX, - and our WUaS students still can't take the edX courses 'from the inside,' that is for grades, etc. Part of the issue too is that licensing and accrediting in the state of California is evolving, I hypothesize, in the information age (eg with BPPE licensing - https://twitter.com/CaBPPE and WASC senior accreditation - https://twitter.com/wascsenior). To get ONLINE licensing and accreditation 'right,' - beyond the amazing ~2400 MIT OpenCourseWare courses, with their potential to migrate into MITx courses on the edX platform - issues like identity verification from all ~200 countries (beyond government IDs in photos), and language proficiency, (possibly some kind of required entrance exam as starting point), and course testing probably, for example, all have to be addressed - and edX (founded by MIT & Harvard in Cambridge - and a platform for about 150 universities and companies too) isn't 'there' yet either, ie meeting the standards of CA's BPPE and WASC Senior, for ex. So, as you may have read also in the open WUaS ANNUAL MEETING Minutes - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/12/indiana-bat.html (see Minute 0 ... ) - WUaS needs (150 matriculating students and) $101,000 US dollars, I think, to finalize partnering with edX and inter-operate our developing WUaS platform thanks to a new installation of WUaS Wikibase /Wikidata in opencura, and for our 3rd matriculating undergraduate class - eg see these from the new WUaS Opencura Wikibase - 

People -

individual - https://worlduniversityandschooldatabase.wiki.opencura.com/wiki/Item:Q4


course - https://worlduniversityandschooldatabase.wiki.opencura.com/wiki/Item:Q1


accessible from -

https://worlduniversityandschooldatabase.wiki.opencura.com/wiki/Main_Page

- with edX's Dashboard (for grades and sign ins), potentially beginning for WUaS on May 1, 2021. It's taking a while to develop this partnership with edX too, even as edX iterating on courses they have available, - and how, for example, again WUaS can get our WUaS students' sign-ins and grades from (WUaS students') edX courses, etc.

Thanks so much to Houcemeddine (above) in Tunisia for installing WUaS Wikibase !  Houcemeddine, can we migrate WUaS Miraheze MediaWiki to WUaS OpenCura WikiBase together sometime, please, and regarding what follows ... ?

In the meantime, our WUaS other wing (to complement the free-to-students' accrediting degrees' wing) is open for free people-to-people open teaching and learning - https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Subjects (but this Wiki may also be in transition, and is something WUaS may seek to move to WUaS Opencura too) - but only in English so far, and not yet interoperable with a WUaS Wikibase installation for this WUaS Miraheze wiki (like the new WUaS Wikibase in Opencura). And WUaS hasn't really developed Wiki communities yet - like in Wikipedia's nearly 300 languages - in English. It will help for this when WUaS can begin to hire Wiki developers (like Wikipedia has), and thus also develop parallel volunteer communities of Wiki editors, first in ~300 languages, and then in all 7,117 known living languages, so in about 6,800 more languages! 

So, WUaS team, and Sri Lanka WUaS, let's wait to see what Tanya, for example, does with the edX courses at WUaS as our WUaS-edX partnership develops, and WUaS can pay edX, - and the edX courses become takeable for credit (and re even licensing and accreditation), not just auditable, for her free-to-student's Bachelor's degree.

And thanks so much to Imad Zalmat in Morocco for your interest in a WUaS MIT OCW-centric PhD beginning in 2021 as well - CA's BPPE said in Feb 2019 that they can license PhD degrees! 

And the further development of the WUaS platform - worlduniversityandschool.org - now with WUaS Wikibase and take-able edX courses will open the way for student learning, and success (and testimonials!:)

Next open WUaS News and Q&A for conversation meet tomorrow, Monday, at 10 am Pacific Time in Google Meet here - meet.google.com/nha-qeuf-nxn (gmail address needed)! 

WUaS News and Q&A M 12/28/20 10a PT meet.google.com/nha-qeuf-nxn (gmail address needed)! i) FREE-to-students' OCW-centric Bachelor's degrees in May '21 ii) Planning for online free-to-students' WUaS PhDs, To join talk, email info@ worlduniversityandschool.org @WUaSPress @WorldUnivAndSch ~

https://twitter.com/WorldUnivAndSch/status/1343265124748955653?s=20

Thank you, Sri!, - and the Universitian team! 

Regards, 

Scott 

- https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/World_University_Foundation -

On Sun, Dec 27, 2020 at 7:10 AM Sri Lanka WUaS <srilanka@worlduniversityandschool.org> wrote:

Hi ! Thanks. It is a pleasure to be with the WUaS team.

Congratulations ! It would be better if we can have a page for matriculated students and their testimonials.

Regards

Rifai

SL WUaS

On Sat, 26 Dec 2020, 23:58 Info WorldUniversity, <info@worlduniversityandschool.org> wrote:

H Sri Rifai, Andrzej, MariuszS, Petros, WUaS family, Rohit, Nidahas, nidahasvidyalaya, WUaS Board, Peter, mazumdarp, Marisol, Shahrzad, Shahbaz, Tanya, All,

Thanks for your email, and Season's Greetings to you all - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/12/twinpods-physaria.html. I'd like to introduce you all to Tanya, the first matriculated student at WUaS, (and Shahbaz you may know already, who is the second matriculated student, but who withdrew / dropped out, and both pre-licensing and accreditation, which WUaS is still planning for, first in California).

.

As you may have read in the WUaS Annual Meeting Minutes - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/12/indiana-bat.html - for the WUaS Corporation, Larry Viehland, the Chair of the WUaS Board and the CFO (acting of the WUaS Press / Corp), sent in a check for $200 to WUaS, which I received in Canyon 94516 on 12/24/20, ... and for which he'll get 20 further shares in the WUaS Corporation, planning to go public with an IPO, and which I'll note in the spreadsheet. 

Thanks to Tanya in 2019, and Rifai in 2020, for letting me know about the Stanford 'Mine Pi' cryptocurrency -  / d (and you can use this reference code too, am appreciative of the Stanford name re credibility) - which I'm mining daily, and thus earning free cryptocurrency (which will be exchangeable in the future - potentially in all ~200 countries), and which WUaS is seeking to disseminate to all 7.8 billion people on the planet, each a Wikidata Q-item # in order to alleviate poverty via Universal Basic Income experiments. If possible the WUaS Corporation will first list on the emerging Silicon Valley LONG TERM stock exchange (which has passed one SEC hurdle a year ago), and for which this single cryptocurrency, the Stanford 'Mine Pi' - planned for most of ~200 countries - may be the basis! 

Happy Holidays!

Regards, 

Scott

- https://worlduniversityandschool.blogspot.com/2020/04/15-planned-wuas-revenue-streams-both.html - 

worlduniversityandschool.org 

- http://worlduniversityandschool.org/AcademicPress.html - 

https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/World_University_Foundation - 

On Sat, Dec 26, 2020 at 8:34 AM Sri Lanka WUaS <srilanka@worlduniversityandschool.org> wrote:

Season's Greetings - WUaS Family !

 Goodie from Santa

Initiative Q is an attempt by ex-PayPal guys to create a new payment system instead of payment cards that were designed in the 1950s. The system uses its own currency, the Q, and to get people to start using the system once it's ready they are allocating Qs for free to people that sign up now (the amount drops as more people join - so better to join early). Signing up is free and they only ask for your name and an email address. There's nothing to lose but if this payment system becomes a world leading payment method your Qs can be worth a lot. If you missed getting bitcoin seven years ago, you wouldn't want to miss this.

Here is my invite link: https://initiativeq.com/invite/6fWbQBu-l

This link will stop working once I’m out of invites. Let me know after you registered, because I need to verify you on my end.

Regards,

Rifai

On Sun, 29 Nov 2020, 01:50 Info WorldUniversity, <info@worlduniversityandschool.org> wrote:

Hi All ...

In these regards, 

I just shared the following with my high school best friend's mother (and Partha in these email thread is Siddartha's younger brother), and family: 

Mrs. Mazumdar, Pin, Marti, Pat, Ma, Tym, Mr. Mazumdar, All, 

Here's a new cryptocurrency, Stanford's "Mine Pi" digital currency, and you can begin mining it (with algorithms) today and everyday and earn "Pi" - later convertible into fiat / cash. Happy Birthday and Happy Thanksgiving. And the head of WUaS in Sri Lanka just emailed this morning saying it was under development (and I had tried to sign up for "Mine Pi" in September 2019 with an old smartphone, unsuccessfully) - and the sign up process went well yesterday. A statistical wonderland, Mrs. Mazumdar (who's a statistician) - how can we plan for all 7.8 billion people on the planet - in all ~200 countries - and perhaps on bank cards or similar for the folks in 300,000 people refugee camps in east Africa for example?  

I just signed up with Mine Pi successfully, initially, and, on smartphone - minepi.com/sgkmac (using telephone number and passport name, and address, etc. - and please use my user name as a reference code, or Rifai's) - and have earned .25 Pi currency, or similar, in Mine Pi ... will return today at 4pm PT, which is 24 hours after I signed up yesterday, (and I added to my calendar even) to hit the 'Mine Pi' button again for another .25 Pi (what Harvard Professor BF Skinner behaviorism experimental potential is there here? :)), as Mine Pi develops, and as I explore it - and regarding World University and School especially, and even regarding WUaS seeking to alleviate poverty among the poorest of the 7.8 billion people.

We can also learn in new ways about the power of networks here, re this information technology (and re a course I teach on the Network Society - http://worlduniversityandschool.org/InfoTechNetworkSocGlobalUniv.html - and hope to teach again in 2021 freely, and online!). But please remember this digital cryptocurrency isn't worth very much at all - yet. :)

I hope a single cryptocurrency will be a way to alleviate poverty worldwide ... and Happy Birthday, Marti and Pat! :)

Friendly regards, Scott

- https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/11/fruit-dove-genetic-engineering-with.html - 

Co-op coin images (Co-op coinage - also called scrip - is one of the main ideas here, where a Co-operative legal entity creates their own money, but eventually WUaS seeks to make available a single cryptocurrency backed by central banks of most of ~200 countries, and in their official languages, and fiat or cash is authorized money, defined as "a formal authorization or proposition; a decree" - so for example, from central banks :  )

Free #Stanford mine-able "Mine Pi" #cryptocurrency Use this reference code: minepi.com/sgkmac & How will digital cash, bills, coins be encoded re networks? "What would a Co-op Coin ICO look like?" https://open.coop/2018/01/25/co-op-coin-ico-look-like/ #WUaSBlockChain #MinePi @WorldUnivAndSch @WUaSPress ~

https://twitter.com/WorldUnivAndSch/status/1332758812990779398?s=20
https://twitter.com/WUaSPress/status/1332759013356924930?s=20
https://twitter.com/scottmacleod/status/1332757243587145728?s=20
https://twitter.com/sgkmacleod/status/1332756925814018051?s=20
https://twitter.com/HarbinBook/status/1332757449426808832?s=20
https://twitter.com/TheOpenBand/status/1332757784237105158?s=20
https://twitter.com/scottmacleod/status/1332755956422336512?s=20
https://twitter.com/sgkmacleod/status/1332756641138302977?s=20



*

how will digital cash, bills, coins be encoded & connect to networks re #SingleCryptoCurrency? What would a Co-op Coin ICO look like? https://open.coop/2018/01/25/co-op-coin-ico-look-like/ https://www.howtogeek. com/141374/htg-explains-what-is-bitcoin-and-how-does-it-work/ #WUaSBlockChain #MinePi @WUaSPress ~

https://twitter.com/WorldUnivAndSch/status/1332753696879497219?s=20
https://twitter.com/WUaSPress/status/1332754183360012292?s=20
https://twitter.com/scottmacleod/status/1332755162402869249?s=20



*

how will digital cash, bills, coins be encoded re networks re #SingleCryptoCurrency? What would a Co-op Coin ICO look like? https://open.coop/2018/01/25/co-op-coin-ico-look-like/ https://www.howtogeek. com/141374/htg-explains-what-is-bitcoin-and-how-does-it-work/ #WUaSBlockChainLedger #MinePi @WorldUnivAndSch~

https://twitter.com/WUaSPress/status/1332754556552421378?s=20
https://twitter.com/scottmacleod/status/1332755062377025539?s=20



* *
Bitcoin image

how will digital cash, bills, coins be encoded re networks re #SingleCryptoCurrency? What would a Co-op Coin ICO look like? https://open.coop/2018/01/25/co-op-coin-ico-look-like/ https://www.howtogeek.com/141374/htg-explains-what-is-bitcoin-and-how-does-it-work/ #WUaSBlockChainLedger #MinePi @WorldUnivAndSch~

https://twitter.com/WorldUnivAndSch/status/1332773477208653824?s=20

https://twitter.com/scottmacleod/status/1332773854435966976?s=20
https://twitter.com/sgkmacleod/status/1332776871361130506?s=20
https://twitter.com/WUaSPress/status/1332777357241815041?s=20
https://twitter.com/TheOpenBand/status/1332777763825074177?s=20
https://twitter.com/HarbinBook/status/1332777982256058369?s=20

On Mon, Nov 2, 2020 at 10:05 AM Info WorldUniversity <info@worlduniversityandschool.org> wrote:

HI Sri and Marisol, All, 

If you'd like to join the WUaS Q&A News, the Google Meet is open now - 

https://meet.google.com/xog-hpey-vat

Regards, Scott

Dear World Universitians, Marisol, All, 

Thanks so much to Marisol for calling in last Monday on Google Meet video conferencing platform, which makes it possible for people to call in on their phones too. Last week WUaS team member Stanford Quechua instructor Marisol Necochea - https://language.stanford.edu/people/marisol-necochea - called in, and after talking she said she'd email edX's Carolina McGarity, whose first language is Spanish (& is a Middlebury alum, with whom I video conferenced 12-19 days ago, with another edX representative, Matthew Gusching) about Spanish World Univ & Sch, and it seems as if Marisol (who is originally from Peru) would bring Stanford in on the organizing of Spanish language World University and School in partnering with edX verified courses too !!! (Thanks to Alphabet chairman and former Stanford President John Hennessy too? C'est possible, since edX CEO & MIT Prof of EECS Anant Agarwal was his doctoral student at Stanford). Am glad Marisol called in and am glad Stanford may be coming on board and in WUAS partnering with edX :). 

In about 45 minutes or so - 
Please join us at our OPEN (& hour-long) World Univ & Sch
@WorldUnivAndSch (@WUaSPress) WUaS Q&A and News this Mon 11/2/20, at 9am PT, 12noonET, electronically in Google Meet, by emailing info@worlduniversityandschool.org if interested in talking, participating & asking questions
https://twitter.com/WorldUnivAndSch/status/1323309139125170176?s=20
https://twitter.com/scottmacleod/status/1323157966191796224?s=20

I'll invite you all from Google Meet. 

WUaS is now offering 29 majors beginning January 2021 in English, and in partnering with edX and for students taking edX verified courses - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/10/caryophyllaceae-new-29-majors-for-free.html. 

See, too, World Univ & Sch in 'Google My Business' on https://local.google.com/place?id=13580134555851014887&use=posts&lpsid=2888839539576283258 Caryophyllaceae: NEW! ~ 29 Majors for Free-to-Students' Online Accrediting and Licensing Degrees Now at Wiki World University and School, with Students Studying Verified edX Courses! ~ http://worlduniversityandschool.org/ ~ https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/10/caryophyllaceae-new-29-majors-for-free.html ~

https://twitter.com/WorldUnivAndSch/status/1323156277774622720?s=20

with flower pic
https://twitter.com/WorldUnivAndSch/status/1323156620382121985?s=20
https://twitter.com/scottmacleod/status/1323157492944183298?s=20

Talk with you soon, and with an invitation to call in, or to a video conference (esp. from another country).

Scott

PS

15 planned WUaS revenue streams - both wings - 2020
https://worlduniversityandschool.blogspot.com/2020/04/15-planned-wuas-revenue-streams-both.html

On Thu, Oct 29, 2020 at 11:35 AM Info WorldUniversity <info@worlduniversityandschool.org> wrote:

Rifai, Marisol, All, 

Thanks !!! to developments in partnering with edX, WUaS has just expanded the number of majors from 6 to 29 - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/10/grevillea-world-univ-sch-has-just.html - I'm glad to report too. Will update the worlduniversityandschool.org web site with this information soon. 

Regards, Scott

On Thu, Oct 29, 2020 at 11:20 AM Info WorldUniversity <info@worlduniversityandschool.org> wrote:

HI Rifai, Marisol, (Shahrad) and All, 

Here's a free open Stanford Asia talk at 4:30 pm - https://events.stanford.edu/events/890/89020/ - and about crowdfunding which worked. 

Two Mondays ago (10/19/20), Rifai suggested crowdfunding for World Univ & Sch - https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.godaddy.com/garage/top-20-crowdfunding-platforms/amp/ - but am a bit sceptical in an ongoing way. Perhaps this Stanford talk will change my thinking. 

So glad, Marisol, the Stanford instructor of the Quechua language (in Peru+)  called into the WUaS News Q&A Livestream newly in Google Meet - which made using a phone possible - and we talked for 30 minutes. She's going to follow up with the WUaS edX Customer Success Associate, Carolina McGarity, about developing WUaS in Spanish, and potentially with Stanford - so great! Thank you, Marisol for calling in!

See some of you in the Stanford Asia talk in about 5 hours? Professor Richard Dasher is impressive and great. Last week after an open autonomous vehicles talk with James Peng (with Stanford Ph.D. too), he asked me to explain what is a realistic virtual earth. More here - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/10/google-earth-what-is-realistic-virtual.html. 

Regards,  

Scott

Shahrzad, 

I"m including you in this email of many heads of WUaS from different countries and eventually in their main languages (but will leave you out of the next email:).

Rifai: 

Hi ! It is good to see WUaS grow. I suggest crowdfunding. There are so many platforms out there for US based non-profits.

Set small realistic targets and you will see results.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.godaddy.com/garage/top-20-crowdfunding-platforms/amp/

Regards,

Rifai

On Mon, Oct 19, 2020 at 6:05 PM Info WorldUniversity <info@worlduniversityandschool.org> wrote:

Thanks, Rifai, Shahrad, Shahbaz, All, 

Am glad that WUaS students will be able to take edX VERIFIED courses - https://support.edx.org/hc/en-us/articles/360013426573-What-are-the-differences-between-audit-free-and-verified-paid-courses- - in January 2021

I'm including, newly, my friend Shahrzad Shirvani (a fairly recent Ph.D. from UC Berkeley, but originally from Tehran, Iran) newly in our email group, and regarding initially English-speaking students from Iran and all of our countries. Here's the archived version of MIT OCW in Persian / Farsi language - https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/translated-courses/persian/ - but something to build on, nevertheless (and as WUaS builds in WUaS Open edX)

Sri Lanka WUaS - https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Sri_Lanka
https://sites.google.com/view/worlduniversityandschool/srilanka
(eventually in the Sinhala language - https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Sinhala_language)

Iran WUaS - https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Iran_(Islamic_Republic_of)

Farsi - https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Persian_language

Poland WUaS - https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Poland
(eventually in the Polish language - https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Languages)

Greece WUaS - https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Greece
(eventually in the Greek language - )

Germany WUaS - https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Germany
(eventually in German - )

Peru WUaS - https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Peru
(eventually in Spanish, Quechua and Aymara + - )

India WUaS - https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/India
((eventually in the Hindi, and the 22 scheduled or official languages in India)

Scotland WUaS - https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Scotland

USA WUaS -
https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/United_States_of_America

Here are my and Shahrzad's recent communications in some of these regards, below and here - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/10/fritillaria-imperialis-wuas-partnering.html - with many pertinent questions regarding funding students from your countries for free-to-students' MIT OCW-centric degrees, since WUaS is newly partnering with edX for verified edX courses. 

Thanks for the crowdsourcing fundraising list - https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.godaddy.com/garage/top-20-crowdfunding-platforms/amp/

- Rifai! 

And please be thinking about finding 50 English speaking students from each of your countries to matriculate at WUaS in January online from home in your countries!

Regards, 

Scott

Minutes to come - 

World University's open monthly business meeting Agenda for October 17, 2020:
- https://worlduniversityandschool.blogspot.com/2020/10/juniper-agenda-news-for-open-world-univ.html
- https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/10/juniper-agenda-news-for-open-world-univ.html

Dear World Universitians, 

In about 50 minutes, I'll respond to Shahrzad's great questions to me in email early this morning about WUaS's new partnering with edX VERIFIED courses (https://support.edx.org/hc/en-us/articles/360013426573-What-are-the-differences-between-audit-free-and-verified-paid-courses- ): 

News Q&A #WUaSLivestream M 10/19/20 10a PT i) official #WUaSPartneringWithEdX for #edXverifiedCourses ii) Seeking 50-400 students for Jan 2020
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdURAADdLc9ctxnbismtXzQ/live
(>https://youtube.com/user/WorldUnivandSch)  
To talk with, email info@ worlduniversityandschool.org
@WUaSPress @WorldUnivAndSch ~ 

https://twitter.com/WorldUnivAndSch/status/1318219483031293953?s=20

Here's the Agenda and News from Saturday's open WUaS Monthly Business Meeting - 

- https://worlduniversityandschool.blogspot.com/2020/10/juniper-agenda-news-for-open-world-univ.html
- https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/10/juniper-agenda-news-for-open-world-univ.html

.... Minutes to come.

Cheers, 

Scott

This Livestream will be recorded to this 2nd WUaS Youtube channel - 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdURAADdLc9ctxnbismtXzQ/

(accessible by clicking on the 'WUaS Livestream' button from - https://www.youtube.com/user/WorldUnivandSch)

https://twitter.com/WorldUnivAndSch/status/1318219483031293953?s=20
https://twitter.com/WorldUnivAndSch/status/1318217661872959488?s=20
https://twitter.com/scottmacleod/status/1318218654304018432?s=20
https://twitter.com/sgkmacleod/status/1318219160128684032?s=20
https://twitter.com/TheOpenBand/status/1318220136730353665?s=20
https://twitter.com/WUaSPress/status/1318220292573917185?s=20

-- 

- Scott MacLeod - Founder, President & Professor

- World University and School

- http://worlduniversityandschool.org 

- 415 480 4577

- http://scottmacleod.com 

- CC World University and School - like CC Wikipedia with best STEM-centric CC OpenCourseWare - incorporated as a nonprofit university and school in California, and is a U.S. 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt educational organization. 

* 

Scott MacLeod Shahrzad Shirvani graduation UC Berkeley 2015.jpg

Shahrzad Shirvani and Scott MacLeod at her UC Berkeley MA graduation in 2015. 

* 

Hi Scott, 

Thank you for sharing with me your communication results of the business meeting. I’m surprised if at this initial stage of work as a non-profit, the university is agreeing to pay me! 

Before, I respond to your first question, I need to ask you a few questions for my better understanding of the work goals. 

As a 4-year program, is this going to give an official degree to the students who join for free? And, is their degree acceptable later for the job market and in the US or globally in general? This is a bit confusing to me. Who is funding this program? How many students are going to be there? Has there be any Iranians willing to join so far due to the crazy condition of US-Iran conflicts? And thousands of other similar questions because I really don’t know what the purpose is for this program and where is it going overall. 

Regarding my connections, I know university professors in Iran (mostly in the Architecture department) and some individual PhD friends who are in the Language and Literature programs already. Some are working in cultural institutions and 1-2 of them have jobs in the municipality. I don’t have any strong or state related connections. I have no connections or attachments to the federal government or political organizations. I don’t dare to even get close to them. 

I am personally a pro free education type of person and would love to participate in an academic field (particularly in relation to Iranian Studies). I can initially spend about 2-4 hours per week to work in case things are going on well. But first of all, I need to know more about this. Why are my connections important in Iran? And, how are they going to join this organization? What benefits does this joint work have for them. How should they be convinced? And, why? What would be the purpose of getting a degree for the students who are going to join from Iran? Those people are trying to find ways to leave the country, and not just working with an online institution. In case, they join, and spend 4 years to get their degrees, how would the degree benefit them regarding their future job market or their connection to the global job fair? There are never ending questions in my mind Scott. 

By the way, who is currently working with you? are there other hired people? Who are they? Can we connect through Linkedin? 

So, let me know. :) 

Thanks. 

Btw, the picture was very nice! What a memorable day it was fo me! Thank you for sending it. :)

Best, 

Shahrzad 

*

Dear Shahrzad, (and World Universitians),

Thanks so much for your email, Shahrzad. Regarding your questions, WUaS's monthly business meeting, and my first question -

"I was curious, for example, how much you think you'd be interested in earning, if you moved into such a role? ($36,000 per year, for 2 hours of work a week?, $100,000 per year, for 40 hours per week - are some thoughts that came to my mind)" -  

World Univ & Sch is exploring how to begin hiring, with no money in the bank to speak of whatsoever (am attaching the non-profit September MBM Finance report again), and FYI, I've been volunteering for about 14 years, as has Larry Viehland (chair of the Board) - and WUaS hasn't hired anyone so far. 

To your questions: 

"As a 4-year program, is this going to give an official degree to the students who join for free?" 

WUaS is partnering officially with edX (founded by MIT and Harvard) as WUaS begins to license and accredit newly on verified edX courses with BPPE and WASC senior (which accredits UC Berkeley, the other UCs and Stanford +)

https://twitter.com/CaBPPE

https://twitter.com/wascsenior

Both the new WUaS partnering with edX Online Campus, as well as planning to license, and accrediting, with edX's 3,000 verified courses are new. (And WUaS continues to be CC-4 MIT OpenCourseWare-centric, which 'non-commercial' licensing terms say WUaS can't ask for tuition from students, and WUaS students will study from MIT OCW > MITx courses where applicable).

"And, is their degree acceptable later for the job market and in the US or globally in general?"

So WUaS online seeks to be accredited like Stanford and UC Berkeley on the ground, and which accredited degrees have career value on the job market both in the US and in other countries. 

Who is funding this program? 

WUaS is continuing to seek funding. What's new now is that WUaS is partnering with edX and we have some dollar figures which WUaS can pay to edX for their verified courses, as we then seek to hire faculty and staff to create potentially more WUaS courses (from CC-4 MIT OCW, for ex.), eventually on the WUaS Open edX platform (which is completely separate from edX - via MOOC IT France, an edX service provider, for ex., as well as help grow WUaS student body for free-to-students' Bachelor's degrees, first in English via edX verified courses. 

"How many students are going to be there?"  

WUaS is seeking to have 50-400 English speaking students beginning in January 2021, from all ~200 countries in the world.

"Has there been any Iranians willing to join so far due to the crazy condition of US-Iran conflicts?"

Not yet - and I'm only otherwise in touch with Iran Studies at Stanford University, and with possibly a few other Iranians on the WUaS email list.

I'll respond to your 2nd set of questions (below) soon. Would you like to join the WUaS Monday News, Q&A and Livestream sometime - and to reach out to Iranian colleagues too?

Best,

Scott

Hi Scott, 

Thank you for sharing with me your communication results of the business meeting. I’m surprised if at this initial stage of work as a non-profit, the university is agreeing to pay me! 

Before, I respond to your first question, I need to ask you a few questions for my better understanding of the work goals. 

As a 4-year program, is this going to give an official degree to the students who join for free? And, is their degree acceptable later for the job market and in the US or globally in general? This is a bit confusing to me. Who is funding this program? How many students are going to be there? Has there be any Iranians willing to join so far due to the crazy condition of US-Iran conflicts? And thousands of other similar questions because I really don’t know what the purpose is for this program and where is it going overall. 

Regarding my connections, I know university professors in Iran (mostly in the Architecture department) and some individual PhD friends who are in the Language and Literature programs already. Some are working in cultural institutions and 1-2 of them have jobs in the municipality. I don’t have any strong or state related connections. I have no connections or attachments to the federal government or political organizations. I don’t dare to even get close to them. 

I am personally a pro free education type of person and would love to participate in an academic field (particularly in relation to Iranian Studies). I can initially spend about 2-4 hours per week to work in case things are going on well. But first of all, I need to know more about this. Why are my connections important in Iran? And, how are they going to join this organization? What benefits does this joint work have for them. How should they be convinced? And, why? What would be the purpose of getting a degree for the students who are going to join from Iran? Those people are trying to find ways to leave the country, and not just working with an online institution. In case, they join, and spend 4 years to get their degrees, how would the degree benefit them regarding their future job market or their connection to the global job fair? There are never ending questions in my mind Scott. 

By the way, who is currently working with you? are there other hired people? Who are they? Can we connect through Linkedin? 

So, let me know. :) 

Thanks. 

Btw, the picture was very nice! What a memorable day it was fo me! Thank you for sending it. :)

Best, 

Shahrzad 

* 

Scott MacLeod <sgkmacleod@worlduniversityandschool.org>	11:20 AM (1 hour ago)
to Shahrzad, Larry, Peter, Jayni, Kyle, Juan, tito, Yuping-CASPA, Iulian

Hi Shahrzad, 

To respond to your 2nd group of questions, 

"Why are my connections important in Iran?" 

I had the impression from your email that you might be able to fundraise from your connections in Iran - and for matriculating undergraduate Iranian students who speak English - and that in this initial bootstrapping phase for WUaS, WUaS also might therefore come into the money with which to hire you.  

Also, WUaS is seeking eventually for departments of education to reimburse World Univ & Sch for matriculating students (since they're already funding education in Iran, for ex.,) - so your connections could lead to further Iran-WUaS collaborations in this.   

"And, how are they going to join this organization?"

For students to join - that is to matriculate at WUaS, and to study from their homes (first in English) - they will register in some combination of WUaS G Suite for Education for verified edX courses with a 7,117 known living languages' Wiki University for languages ID system, from here - http://worlduniversityandschool.org/ . 

While I can also add prospective students from Iran, and your contacts, to WUaS Monthly Business Meeting (emailings) in which they can participate, share organizing and ideas, and ask questions, think in terms of joining WUaS regarding both your studying at UC Berkeley, as well as joining Wikipedia in its 300 languages (where users get an ID). 

 

"What benefits does this joint work have for them? How should they be convinced? And, why?" 

a) Students will be able to study for free-to-students' CC-4 MIT OCW-centric into MITx on the verified edX platform Bachelor 4-year degrees, by matriculating. 

b) WUaS Wiki participants - like in Wikipedia in its 300 languages - will get the benefit of volunteering, and toward the WUaS mission of free open teaching and learning. (And, like Wikipedia, in 300 languages, WUaS will hire some of these people too).

c) WUaS will also hire Iranian academics and staff first in English, then in Farsi - so careers and remunerations could convince them.

"What would be the purpose of getting a degree for the students who are going to join from Iran?" 

Like getting a degree from UC Berkeley, on-the-ground and in English, and then returning to Iran, and then with this knowledge, developing their careers in Iran (which you didn't do, but many Iranians have, I'd think), WUaS will eventually offer the 5 degrees we're planning in Farsi too.  

"In case they join, and spend 4 years to get their degrees, how would the degree benefit them regarding their future job market or their connection to the global job fair?"

WUaS seeks to plan our majors - and Larry is working on expanding our WUaS Majors beyond the 6 current ones, thanks to WUaS partnering newly with edX for verified courses - for careers (and edX has this focus too) ... and eventually Iran WUaS in Farsi will focus this even further.

"By the way, who is currently working with you?" "are there other hired people? Who are they?" 

Larry Viehland is the most regular participant in the open WUaS Monthly Business Meeting, and WUaS hasn't hired yet.

"Can we connect through Linkedin?" 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/shahrzad-shirvani/

You'll find the Board of Trustees + here, and below, with many  of theirLinkedIns :

https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/

--

-- 

- Scott MacLeod - Founder & President  

- https://twitter.com/WorldUnivAndSch

- World University and School

- http://worlduniversityandschool.org 

- http://scottmacleod.com

- CC World University and School - like CC Wikipedia with best STEM-centric CC OpenCourseWare - incorporated as a nonprofit university and school in California, and is a U.S. 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt educational organization. 

World University and School is sending you this because of your interest in free, online, higher education. If you don't want to receive these, please reply with 'unsubscribe' in the body of the email, leaving the subject line intact. Thank you.

--

-- 

- Scott MacLeod - Founder & President  

- https://twitter.com/WorldUnivAndSch

- World University and School

- http://worlduniversityandschool.org 

- http://scottmacleod.com

- CC World University and School - like CC Wikipedia with best STEM-centric CC OpenCourseWare - incorporated as a nonprofit university and school in California, and is a U.S. 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt educational organization. 

World University and School is sending you this because of your interest in free, online, higher education. If you don't want to receive these, please reply with 'unsubscribe' in the body of the email, leaving the subject line intact. Thank you.

--

-- 

- Scott MacLeod - Founder & President  

- https://twitter.com/WorldUnivAndSch

- World University and School

- http://worlduniversityandschool.org 

- http://scottmacleod.com

- CC World University and School - like CC Wikipedia with best STEM-centric CC OpenCourseWare - incorporated as a nonprofit university and school in California, and is a U.S. 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt educational organization. 

World University and School is sending you this because of your interest in free, online, higher education. If you don't want to receive these, please reply with 'unsubscribe' in the body of the email, leaving the subject line intact. Thank you.