Mission: World University & School's mission (http://worlduniversityandschool.org - like Wikipedia with best STEM-centric OpenCourseWare), in reaching out to the entire world, is to provide a free, wiki-based education platform for knowledge generation, and, through facilitating the development of broadband worldwide, to make our service accessible to under served parts of the world. The WUaS mission is thus to facilitate all levels of teaching and learning opportunities (and future degrees) through an open, editable wiki in all languages, nation-states and subjects with great universities, and for One Laptop per Child countries and everyone.
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Hi Carl (and sporadic Universitians),
Thanks for your good WUaS clarifying ideas and helpful questions, and I hope my answers to your questions will provide a basis for your further fundraising planning on behalf of WUaS. I'll try to respond to a few of your sentences, and I've added all of this to FAQs at WUaS - http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Frequently_Asked_Questions.
"I don't understand perhaps the stipulations of OCW, Wiki- and CC-licensed terms." WUaS centers itself on these:
- OCW - OpenCourseWare ... WUaS, which began like Wikipedia with MIT OCW, seeks further to collaborate with and build on the OpenCourseWare movement, and seeks also to remain MIT OCW-centric in 7 languages, for its ~ 2,300 courses in English with so much STEM resources and its 6 other languages, with institutional relations with universities that translate courses.
- WIKI- editable web pages. Wiki means "quick" in Hawaiian, and it's what makes Wikipedia unique and allows us all to teach to one another at World University, which is planned in all 7,929 languages, each as a wiki school.
- CC-licensing which means Creative Commons' licensed. It allows for legal sharing of online resources, to complement copyright licensed material. Since WUaS is CC-licensed, CC allows WUaS to list, and accredit upon, particularly CC MIT OCW which is 7 languages and on CC Yale OYC. In seeking to become an online great university in most countries' main languages, this CC licensing will allow us to become uniquely CC MIT OCW- and CC Yale OYC-centric, and may allow us to fundraise to governments around the world in an unique way, because CC WUaS materials, including degrees, have to be free.
"Do they mean that WU has any exclusive right to use any material that fits in these descriptions?"
CC licensing means CC materials can be shared freely; WUaS will seek to build on these resources to offer online accrediting CC degrees.
"Is anyone able to go into these online-available websites on their own to access the same courses and material?"
Yes, - but MIT OCW, for example, which has the most offerings, doesn't offer degrees, faculty interaction or sociality for learning, for example. A CC WUaS's degree will require commitment by matriculated students and will involve studying these materials over years.
"If that's the case, then does WU really have anything to offer a prospective student that's valuable and unique?"
WUaS is planning to offer free, since CC, accrediting degrees - Bachelor, Ph.D., Law and MD, as well as IB high school, first in English, then in UN and large languages, accrediting in most countries' main languages, if possible. Here too is an example of what WUaS might add uniquely to the above highest quality CC OCW.
"Bellis perennis: In what ways will WUaS successfully build in Pandora Music's thumbs up/down at accrediting WUaS with CC MIT OCW in VIDEO in 7 languages & CC YALE OYC? ..."
One example of value can be found by comparing the cost of a free WUaS best STEM-centric degree with a MIT degree, for example.
"If WU is offering or planning to offer accredited college courses toward a prospective degree from any particular institution, then what sort of advice, counseling, admissions services might be planned or available for prospective students?"
World University is seeking to offer its own accredited degrees. Here is the WUaS Admissions' page:
Admissions at World University and School -
See also these related wiki pages, all of which will develop -
Counseling -
Finding / creating a job you really love -
Career counseling -
WUaS Job hunting -
"Does WU foresee any need at all for traditionally described faculty, engaging in academic functions of teaching, counseling, administration?"
The initial faculty for World University are the MIT and Yale faculty in CC MIT OCW and CC Yale OYC video - for planning purposes. Administration will occur in Google Classroom and Google Apps for Education, and on the World University and School wiki, for example, and WUaS will be structured academically around its departments. In English for the undergraduate degree at the Bachelor's level, there will probably be 30 majors eventually, paralleling MIT's departments in these CC MIT OCW video courses: http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/audio-video-courses/.
"I really need more clarity about what the program is or could be that would justify our existence as an institution which would aid students or be worthy of financial grants."
WUaS will be offering free since CC online degrees that would otherwise cost $44,000 per year at a MIT or a Stanford, and seek to further great learning as well.
Let me know further questions that you may have,
Scott
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