Yellow Balsam Root: Holiday Letter 2009, World Univ & Sch, Harbin Ethnography, Canyon, Bagpiping

Dear Friends,


Greetings from the San Francisco Bay Area and Pennsylvania. Happy Solstice, Happy Holidays, Season's Greetings and Happy New Year! How are you? I’d love to hear your news.

I'm glad to let you know about about the open, free World University & School which I'm developing. One FREE Harvard Ph.D. in Education, for 25 students, is already linked to WUaS: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Courses#Free_Degree_Programs. If you know people applying now to grad school, this is an opportunity. They would have to apply by the new year, though.

World University and School is a global, virtual, open, free-to-students, multilingual university and school, which is potentially degree- and credit-granting, after some years, but will list free degrees as we add them. WUaS is using an open Wikipedia {with MIT Open Course Ware} model, where we all can teach to our web cameras. It also focuses on great universities' open, free, online content. It's for the developing world {One Laptop Per Child countries to begin with} and everyone. Its web address is http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/World_University. World University and School is potentially in all languages, all nation states, all subjects, and at all levels. Teach, add or take a class at World University & School. I blog about World University & School here: http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/search/label/global%20university, and post about it here: http://www.facebook.com/macleod. WUaS is in the process of applying for tax exempt (501 c 3) status. Spread the word.

While the possibility that many people will contribute an amazingly wide variety of web camera teachings (which people are already doing a lot on the web, - e.g. youtube.com/edu), as well as interactively in virtual worlds like Second Life, is exciting - creatively and academically - I'm particularly interested in how we might all make learning & teaching enjoyable and fun.

Please let me know if you're interested in engaging World University & School; you can simply click 'edit this page' button at WUaS, for one. For comparison's sake, Wikipedia is now in around 240 languages, with 14 million articles, and it started around 2002.

I continue to write my ethnography of Harbin Hot Springs, with a virtual world aspect - http://harbin.org - a hot springs' retreat center 2 hours northeast of the San Francisco Bay Area, with roots in the 1960s and early 70s.

I'm living in a beautiful place called Canyon in the San Francisco Bay Area, - in a forest, east of Berkeley.

I'm continuing to play my bagpipe regularly {and taking lessons}, and for events like weddings: http://scottmacleod.com/piping.htm.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Come participate in World University & School.


Warm greetings,
Scott


http://scottmacleod.com



Here's my holiday letter from last year: http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2009/01/happy-new-year.html, where, on my blog, you'll also find poetry I've been writing - click on the 'poetry' or 'Canyon' labels, as well as more ideas about 'global university.'












(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2009/12/yellow-balsam-root-holiday-letter-2009.html - December 21, 2009)