Danube Delta, Romania: A startup University, A timely overview of WUaS, Friendly business-wise and organizationally, Harbin warm pool bubbly

Hi, F and D,

Thanks for your engaging and topical thoughts and questions. It was nice to talk with you at Meeting.

World University and School is a startup university, with the first, potential, matriculating Bachelor class of around 100 students in 2014, matriculating Ph.D. class in 2015, law in 2016 and M.D. in 2017. Here's a recent letter to the Chronicle of Higher Education, in my blog, which offers a timely overview of WUaS: http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2011/07/machu-pichu-letter-to-chronicle-of.html - July 14, 2011. At the same time, it's a free, open, people-to-people teaching wiki, both as meta-directory, and creative opportunity for people to figure out what and how they'd like to teach to the web.

As a startup university with very little money, thus far, but a clear mission and huge vision (a school in all languages, with 50-100 degree granting universities), I would like to move toward a Stanford University pay scale (e.g. and related excellence, student body of overachievers, etc.), in the long run. In terms of teaching, in 2014, WUaS is looking for opportunities, for example, to engage MIT OCW (with its <2000, free, online courses) - or possibly Reed College - to stream some, or all, of their courses live to the web, with significant interactivity (in Google Plus Hangouts?). WUaS could conceivably pay them, or MIT OCW might extend its public mission still further by making live these faculty members available via web cameras in classrooms, and WUaS might hire graduate student instructors to do the WUaS grading, as WUaS moves through the accreditation process. But this would beg a Reed College-like focus on undergraduate teaching, which I'd like to cultivate in this dream, World University and School, as we talked about at Quaker Meeting.

I post a lot about WUaS to my blog - http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/search/label/global%20university ...

A friend is coming ... must go ... heading into Harbin ...

Let's keep in touch.

All the best,
Scott



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Hi R,


... World University and School may be informed by nontheistically Friendly / Quaker process, business-wise and organizationally, and we may even hold monthly business meetings, streamed to the web, in the San Francisco Friends' Meeting House. WUaS got 501 c 3 status earlier this year - a biggie for us!

Scott


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Hi F and D,

Silence can be so enjoyable. In silence, I explore something related with the relaxation response (see the 'Relaxation Response' label, here - http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/search/label/relaxation%20response , and the WUaS, wiki, Subject page, here - http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Relaxation_Response). The Harbin warm pool is silent these days, and I enjoy that silence, as well. As a straight man, the silence in the Harbin warm pool can seem inhibitory, especially vis-a-vis Harbin's clothing-optionalness, but adds, in my experience, to the relaxation response in it. What aspects of silence, in particular, bring you home?

I explore, too, nontheistic Friendly questions, as well, and in my blog, too. (There are 4 Quaker/nontheistically f/Friendly labels there - nontheist friends, nontheist Friend, Quaker and Quakers). A little evolutionary biologically- and anthropologically-oriented, as well, I see Friends/Quakers in those lights, too.

I just received a HUP letter turning down my actual / virtual Harbin Hot Springs' ethnography book proposal. (Here are the first three chapters +: http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/search/label/Harbin%20ethnography). I'm going to send it to SUP next, I think. Would you be open to chatting a little with you about this endeavor, as well, and possibly glancing at the proposal? And might you have any contact with the SUP editorial department, by any chance?

I'm so glad WUaS received 501 (c) 3 status, as well ... I've been celebrating in the Harbin warm pool, a different kind of bubbly. Accreditation, a 3 stage process, is next. Now to help WUaS become a kind of warm pool of idea-sharing. :)


All the best,
Scott











(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2011/07/danube-delta-romania-startup-university.html - July 19, 2011)