Sunday, June 28, 2020

Plum-headed parakeet: Questions for Helen Harrison, Head of Fettes, Fettes College Community, Edinburgh Scotland regarding university admissions' questions for Fettes' students outside of Scotland, England and the British Isles and World Univ & Sch * * * Bagpiping - Scottish small piping - and the NEW Sri Lanka World University and School - in the Sinhala language


Questions for Helen Harrison, Head of Fettes, Fettes College Community, Edinburgh Scotland regarding university admissions' questions for Fettes' students outside of Scotland, England and the British Isles and World Univ & Sch



Dear Helen, To what degree do you as Head of Fettes engage in university admissions' questions for Fettes' students outside of Scotland, England and the British Isles? I ask in the context of developing best STEM CC-4 OpenCourseWare-centric World University & School for free-to-students' online university degrees, where students would be studying from homes, post-Fettes. This autumn World Univ & Sch hopes to offer online edX (founded by Harvard & MIT) courses as WUaS proceeds with licensing and accreditation from California (potentially CA's BPPE and WASC). In what ways do you think Fettes students could be interested in free-to-students' online degrees, studying from home? Thank you. Sincerely, Scott GK MacLeod K'78 (worlduniversityandschool.org and scottmacleod.com - https://fettescommunity.org/user/778519)



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Fettes Community
11 June, 2020, 07:44

We will be interviewing Helen Harrison, Head of Fettes, exclusively for Fettes Community, in the coming weeks and would like to include some questions from registered users. If there is anything you would like us to ask Helen about her role or the school, please comment below and we’ll try to include as many as we can.


Great web site: 




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Scottish small piping ~

Re bagpipe tunes this evening, 

Gillie Callum (quick step)
Dorrator Bridge
Willie GrayHave you been able to access easily
Gillie Callum (quick step)
http://www.coloradopipers.com/highlanddance/CoPipers_HighlandDnaceTunes.pdf ?

Cheers, Scott



-- 
- Scott MacLeod



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Yep! I was able to print that out and have been practicing it. I’ve also been using the metronome. 


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Good lesson tonight, Scott.

Here's the Spotify links I mentioned.

Drops of Brandy, by Distant Oaks. Some of their music is a little new agey for my liking (lots of cheesy low whistles and synths), but now and again they'll play a trad tune like this one: https://open.spotify.com/track/4DITJFx8DFKTky0bar3PvU

Lark in the Morning, Alternative Pipers (etc): https://open.spotify.com/track/0ZkKYroU93YUepffXhQTcp

As a bonus, here's a quartet on youtube:

By the way, do you have an opinion one way or the other regarding the Falkirk Piper on Youtube? He's recorded most of the Scots Guards tunes and I consult his recordings when I need to confirm I'm reading a tune right.

 Thanks again!




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Thanks so much, Taylor, 

Both Spotify piping tracks sound good initially ... will listen further. 

Are you familiar with the new SSP album - 
The Reeling (2019)
Brighde Chaimbeul
Brighde's from the Isle of Skye interestingly. 


I have come across - 
Ceolas Piping Concert, smallpipes.
https://youtu.be/UcgBFrqqq5c
- a couple of times, and with its singing ... good group model for SSP and singing possibly ... quite Scottish, with pipe band players too ... and, separately, Allan MacDonald (on left) may have revived in a new way an old different GHB piping style with his album "Colla Mo Rún "‎(CD, Album) - https://www.discogs.com/artist/564972-Allan-Macdonald - and his University of Edinburgh thesis in the School of Celtic and Scottish Studies  (but this Ceolas Youtube video with him and fellow pipers is not somehow entirely inspiring to me, somehow). 

Am appreciative of Neil Clark's Falkirk Piping instruction in general. 

It could be fun to explore playing duets together with time. 


I have the recollection that Canntaireachd is used for learning Piobaireachd, 
but searched on 
'canntaireachd singing and ceol beag light music piping youtube"

and this is nice, and instructive ...

The Prince's Salute - Michael Grey - bagpipes and canntaireachd
https://youtu.be/ZCHRQuITwWs
( and it's also about St. Kilda which I did my University of Edinburgh thesis on in the School of Celtic and Scottish Studies - virtual St. Kilda as place even ... )
Lovely played Piobaireachd by Michael Grey as well! Nether Lorn Canntaireachd is best known both scholarly and

Piobaireachd - The Field of Gold.
https://youtu.be/aGufeIx37y4
(Canntaireachd as choral music starts after pipe band Piobaireachd at about 5:25  - and that's Jack Lee 'conducting-piping')

Both of these are creative uses of Canntaireachd 

Band-Re: Hihorodo hiharara
https://youtu.be/o_b1hNtbsdI
(with Canntaireachd written out too)

The Canntaireachd Project – Trailer
https://youtu.be/M5T7RMiRBHU 
(with Canntaireachd written out too - pointers to the scholarship too - Allan MacDonald again)

Oran Canntaireachd - Chris Armstrong, Finlay MacDonald (who's been a teacher of mine conducts)
https://youtu.be/Ljrz0GhQgs8

Am wondering about - for my upcoming "Honey in the Bag" album - even Blockchain ledger with tracks on a CD / internet video possibilities (and even creatively exploring making and coding Lego robots that might be coded somehow to dance to piping, and metronomically too - out of the box, and haven't seen this whatsoever yet).

Thanks, 
Scott

This may be a spotify URL for me ... https://open.spotify.com/user/scottworldunivandsch or similar ... but their new 'hard sell' and 90 seconds + of ads seems to be getting in the way of ease of use, so I don't head in the Spotify direction much. 

Next week, the MSR:  :) 
Willie Gray
Dorrator Bridge ...
Devil in the Kitchen




-- 
- Scott MacLeod



*

Scott MacLeod sgkmacleod@gmail.com

Fri, Jun 26, 8:34 AM (2 days ago)
to Taylor
Taylor,

In searching a bit further, it seems Scot Rhona Lightfoot has musically explored canntaireachd with light music (Ceol Beag - or 'little music') - 
The Highland Sessions: canntaireachd

https://youtu.be/ctaMm37-Ud4

Found this: 
"Has Canntaireachd ever been used to sing light music?
I've heard recordings of Ceol Beag tunes sung in syllables similar to Canntaireachd (the CD notes also said Canntaireachd), but when I tried to make out the syllables, they were only partly consistent with the conventional Canntaireachd syllables.

I'd like to emphasize this was neither Mouth Music nor lilting.
Mac Aindriú
05-13-2013, 07:11 AM
I agree somebody should invent a canntaireachd for light music. A few years ago it was brought up on this forum but the consensus was there would be too much bickering amongst the piping world but isn’t that what goes on now? I have three CD’s of canntaireachd by Donald F. Lindsay that I listen to and try to make canntaireachd like sound for light music, I’m almost tempted to contact him and ask him if he could devise a system for a price. At least something would be done and the rest of them could argue from now to the end of time on what is correct.
owendnash
05-13-2013, 09:08 AM
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it reported that Rona Lightfoot, did a recital/seminar last August, in the Piping Centre, regarding Canntaireachd and light music??.
Adam Sanderson
05-13-2013, 11:46 AM
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it reported that Rona Lightfoot, did a recital/seminar last August, in the Piping Centre, regarding Canntaireachd and light music??.

Thanks for reminding me, Owen. You can see and hear Rona here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ctaMm37-Ud4#t=119s).

Her Eadarainn CD is full of this kind of thing too. :)
Desert Rose
05-13-2013, 01:14 PM
Thanks for reminding me, Owen. You can see and hear Rona here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ctaMm37-Ud4#t=119s).

Her Eadarainn CD is full of this kind of thing too. :)

Thank you! I really like this.
Uri
05-16-2013, 03:12 PM
I agree somebody should invent a canntaireachd for light music. .

But, judging from Rona's example (and I'm sure many others exist), it IS already in use for light music? ?:( ... "

http://forums.bobdunsire.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-150925.html


Ceol Mor refers to Piobaireachd - and means literally "Great Music"


I appreciate all these Youtube examples of canntaireachd (literally meaning 'chanting') as innovative explorations of this old form of Scottish music-making (waulking songs could be a form of this too). 

Appreciating too staying 'free' - and exploring a kind of 'freedom' in an ongoing way - with regards to light / traditional / classical piping music, (even while I learn from Yo Yo Ma re technique "The whole idea is service: You use your technique to transcend it, in order to serve ..." and in Ma / Marsalis's "Guidelines for practicing a musical instrument" - http://scottmacleod.com/GuidelinesPracticingMusicalInstrument.htm.  While Canntaireachd can involve technique too, I'm keeping transcendence in mind (a lot) :)

Am appreciating, too, that Sal Khan's 'mastery learning' definition in a zendesk URL - https://khanacademy.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360030753412-Why-Mastery-Learning-by-Sal-Khan - (re a kind of meditation aspect of piping too)

On with the MSR :) Rhona Lightfoot would be a good person to learn light music canntaireachd - 
Traditional Celtic Song - Lal, lal, ars’ A’Chailleach

https://youtu.be/eVA1x0I_UoM

Musical cheers, Scott



And here's a definition of 'mastery learning' I appreciate ... 
"Mastery learning simply means allowing a student to continue to work on a concept until they can master that concept or skill. ... At Khan Academy, we provide a personalized, mastery-based learning system. Students are supported and challenged to build skills over time."

Why Mastery Learning, by Sal Khan – Khan Academy Help ...khanacademy.zendesk.com
https://khanacademy.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360030753412-Why-Mastery-Learning-by-Sal-Khan


More like for Piobaireachd: 
Rhona Lightfoot Singing Canterach.

https://youtu.be/T51bAJuI0vs
-- 
- Scott MacLeod



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to me
It's true if you don't have a subscription, Spotify is kind of a pain.

Thanks for introducing me to Brighde Chaimbeul; I'm giving her album a listen now. I'm especially interested in the fact she studied extensively in Bulgaria and can't wait to hear how she's incorporated their techniques in her music. 

The aspect of connecting specific tones and notes with syllables in Canntaireachd almost reminds me of shape note singing, only much more complex. Perhaps there's a connection between shape note singing's survival in the Southern Appalachians and traditional gaelic singing (the area was disproportionately settled by Ulster Scots and many of their ballads have survived in the popular folk repertoire). The Celtic roots of the South are often a bit overstated sometimes, but it's still fun to think about.





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Taylor, 

Am seeking to keep this somewhat Scottish small pipes' learning focused :)

Thanks, - and interesting video especially. Regarding Brighde Chaimbeul and Bulgarian influences in her music: one theory in a related vein, without that much evidence, is that the great Piobaireachd family of possibly 10 generations of MacCrimmons (hereditary pipers to the MacLeods), also with Isle of Skye connections, may have originally come from Crimona in Italy (per the name - son of Crimmons or son of Crimona???). Could we hear an Italian influence in MacCrimmon's early Piobaireachd compositions (which are) and related Cantaireachds - like we might hear Bulgarian music in Brighde Chaimbeul's piping? Am an appreciator of the ever growing 'sharings' and hybridizations of musical creations through time (and with ethnomusicology interests and piping ethnomusicology interests, and regarding having studied in the School of Celtic and Scottish Studies at the University of Edinburgh in 2003-04, with its ethnology 'theoretical' orientation - albeit with a digital / virtual focus, - and per the St. Kilda island archipelago as virtual place, which the Michael Grey's Piobaireachd / Canntaireachd is also about :).

Shape Note Singing and Canntaireachd? These articles say shape note singing comes from England - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shape_note - and that a John Connely in the 1790s invented the four-shaped notes - https://www.britannica.com/art/shape-note-singing . The article's say much more. Appalachia, Scotch-Irish, culture, peoples and their musical expression are also interesting to me - identity-wise (a focus in anthropology .... and as an anthropologist, but where Harbin Hot Springs is my field site, and where in my next actual-virtual Harbin ethnography I may explore partly the Indian-informed music at Harbin - Kirtan, in a chapter, for ex.).  Having spent my high school years in Pittsburgh, PA, 1.5 hours or so away from West Virginia (is this 'central' Appalachia??), am interested in Scottish Games and the Presbyterian Church as institutions (sociologically) that seem to have many people with Scottish ancestry in them - throughout Appalachia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachia) - whereas Irish Pubs, Irish Catholic churches and their schools, seem to have many people with Irish ancestry in them. Peoples with Celtic ancestry - eg Scotch-Irish - are many in Appalachia and exploring the music these peoples make (am an appreciator of Bluegrass, for ex.) as they come through time is potentially fascinating ethnomusicology for me (https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/search/label/ethnomusicology). I'd even like to facilitate a realistic virtual earth for history - https://twitter.com/hashtag/RealisticVirtualEarthForHistory?src=hashtag_click - with avatar bots for this (am thinking Google Street View with TIME SLIDER with Maps / Earth with SL for avatars and group build-ability, but realistic like with Samsung Neons aka 'artificial humans' - and for serious representations of history - printable onto text, from text in the sidebar in Street View) - and regarding singing esp. :) (My parents interestingly went to the Isle of Skye for the honeymoon in 1957; am not sure why identity-wise or marriage-wise. My father's mother had Irish roots too. But my father was a MD and an academic, so my high school life in Pittsburgh was academic high school focused in the 2nd half of the '70s, but as a child of the '60s too). I think it could be fun to explore inventing a new Shape Note Singing with Canntaireachd.

Please let me know with time what you learn further about : 

" Southern Appalachians and traditional gaelic singing (the area was disproportionately settled by Ulster Scots and many of their ballads have survived in the popular folk repertoire). The Celtic roots of the South are often a bit overstated sometimes, but it's still fun to think about. 

https://youtu.be/FyrUhdBHOg8 " I searched on 'Gaelic' in the Appalachia article and didn't find anything; (I also disagree with the sentence interpreting Quaker; Quakers have a long history of aligning with native Americans). The Giants' Causeway involves the body of water separating Scotland from Ireland, also a UNESCO World Heritage Site - https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/369/ - and I have no insights or knowledge about its role culturally or identity-wise for Irish and Scots, Ulster Scots, or Gaelic speakers on both sides.  

I think Canntaireachd (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canntaireachd), what we know of it, has Scottish Highland roots - the Campbell manuscript (and I see this manuscript as early Scottish ethnomusicology itself :) 

The Canntaireachd Project – Trailer

https://youtu.be/M5T7RMiRBHU


... and that it's the specificity of the written and sung Canntaireachd syllables to Piobaireachd classical piping music as a system (cultural too) that offers a cool opportunity for learning. Try singing to Michael Grey as you read the notes ... 



The Prince's Salute - Michael Grey - bagpipes and canntaireachd

https://youtu.be/ZCHRQuITwWs

By the way, in your asking about Falkirk Piping, have you listened to CoP Blue Tutor Vol. 3 CD (if you have one)? It's helpful, and relates directly to the book. Check the sections on the MSR we'll explore on Thursday.

Innovative exploration re lessons: 
create a video like Michael Grey's to one of the Yellow Tutor's Piobaireachds and for learning to write out Canntaireachd and then to sing with it? 

Combine shape singing and Canntaireachd ? ... (Visual Canntaireachd 1: Maol Donn -

https://youtu.be/D16Ezmli-FM ) Are you gonna try singing with Michael Grey's "The Prince's Salute" to learn Canntaireachd - and even shaping the notes with your hands or on paper or ... ? :)

Musical cheers, Scott

PS
The Canntaireachd Project – Trailer
https://youtu.be/M5T7RMiRBHU'Canntaireachd' is an ancient codified language used by Scottish pipers to teach and memorise bagpipe music. 'The Canntaireachd Project' records and publishes material out-with the Campbell Canntaireachd manuscript (c. 1819), the single most important primary source for 'pibroch' or 'ceòl mòr', the 'classical music' of the great Highland bagpipe. You can join Allan and Thomas on www.patreon.com/thecanntaireachdproject


PPS
Code dancing robots (to singing?) ? 
Found: 

Lego Mindstorms EV3 Dancing robot Reboot (with Instructions)

https://youtu.be/NPIq5qldbio
Lego Mindstorms Dancing Robot
https://teachkidsengineering.com/lego-mindstorms-dancing-robot/


but I only have Lego WeDo 2.0 Lego Robotics' kit :)






-- 
- Scott MacLeod





*

Scott MacLeod sgkmacleod@gmail.com

1:30 PM (4 hours ago)
to Taylor
Taylor,

I enjoyed these, and good to hear other Scottish small piping recordings -


"Auld Reekie/High Road to Linton" popped up 3 tunes in or so, played by Distant Oaks, I think and Open Band plays The High Road to Linton in A - and it's fast (220 bpm??) - so when we get to this tune ... 

And Auld Reekie refers to the city of Edinburgh (as you may know) ...because Edinburgh stank apparently ... smoke/ garbage/ shite/ ... ?

This, again, is quite lovely, and Thomas Pearston was co-author of  The College of Piping's Green Tutor: Vol. 1" in the early 1950s (see video description) - 

Visual Canntaireachd 1: Maol Donn
https://youtu.be/D16Ezmli-FM

DudelsackAkademie
Teaching pibroch through the traditional means of canntaireachd, by introducing a new system of mnemonic gestures coinciding with the canntaireachd vocables as well as the attributes of the bagpipe scale as suggested by Thomas Pearston in 1973.

Was Thomas Pearston's creativity here an expression of hippy creativity? :))

I don't know anything about DudelsackAkademie (https://www.dudelsack-akademie.de/impressum.html ... with very interesting duet small piping at 1 minute - Fünftes Jahresabschlusskonzert der Dudelsack-Akademie -

https://youtu.be/C44FZCSRg7U ) but it can be fun to go to bagpiping workshops around the world. Youtube is amazing!

I thought the great tune 'The High Road to Linton' was in The College of Piping Blue Tutor Vol. 3, but it's not; however, Donald MacLeod does play it in the NY Recordings from the late 1960s - https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Bagpipe_Tutorials and older version https://worlduniversity.fandom.com/wiki/Bagpipe_Tutorials (I just noticed here:).

I learned a lot more about culture / identity re Giants' Causeway and Ulster Scots / Scotch-Irish below :)

And here's the great PM Donald MacLeod playing "The Devil in the Kitchen" (but played as a strathspey I think, where we're playing it as a reel in the Blue Tutor, although it doesn't say, calling both strathspeys and reels dance tunes :) which we're playing this Thursday - and playing "The High Road to Linton" at about 1:50 minute mark - 
Strathspeys & Reels: Devil In The Kitchen, Craig-a-Bodich, Loudens Bonnie Woods & Braes, Reel...

https://youtu.be/3mjxa0mJYG0

How's 'the bubbly note' going, 'darodo' in canntaireachd :)?

Musical cheers, Scott




Notes: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulster
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulster_Scots_people


Humans settled around the Giant’s Causeway in the 19th century, but the site is now uninhabited. It does, however, attract some 300,000 tourists annually. Deriving its name from local folklore, it is fabled to be the work of giants, particularly of Finn MacCumhaill (MacCool), who built it as part of a causeway to the Scottish island of Staffa (which has similar rock formations) for motives of either love or war.

https://www.britannica.com/place/Giants-Causeway

The Scottish side of the Causeway

"The story of an ancient Causeway linking Ireland and Scotland is actually genuine from a geological perspective. Smaller scale basalt formations belonging to the same lava flow also exist in Scotland at Fingal's Cave on the isle of Staffa and in nearby Ulva, both in the Inner Hebrides.
The hexagonal formations of Fingal's Cave, on the Scottish island of Staffa, were created by the same lava flow that created the Giant's Causeway across the sea on the Irish coast
The hexagonal formations of Fingal's Cave, on the Scottish island of Staffa, were created by the same lava flow that created the Giant's Causeway across the sea on the Irish coast"

...

Folktale of an Irish-Scottish causeway

The intriguing nature of the Causeway's polygonal blocks, coupled with the existence of similar formations across the sea in the west of Scotland, inspired a wealth of myths and legends in ancient times.

According to tradition, Irish warrior Fionn mac Cumhaill (anglicised as Finn McCool) built the causeway so he could walk to Scotland to fight a giant called Benandonner.

Different versions of the legend exist, with the most prominent stating that Benandonner crossed the causeway first and started looking for Fionn. As the giant was much larger than the warrior, Fionn's wife came up with the ingenious plan to dress her husband like a baby. When Benandonner came to Fionn's house and saw the size of the supposed baby, the giant was terrified at the thought of how huge the father would be. Benandonner ran back home, destroying the causeway so he would not be followed by Fionn.

The myth linking Fionn mac Cumhaill with the Giant's Causeway gained international success after Scottish poet James Macpherson published his Ossian poems in the 18th century. Ossian's poems were translated into several languages and influenced the works of many European writers of the time."

https://www.celticcountries.com/travel/259-giants-causeway-unesco-world-heritage-site






-- 
- Scott MacLeod




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Taylor Warren

4:47 PM (1 hour ago)
to me
I'm still trying to hammer out the bubbly note so that I don't need to slow down and play it when I practice. I'm committing time during practice to repeatedly playing it so that muscle memory takes hold; raising the C finger all by itself without taking other fingers with it is a bit tricky. Patience, repetition, playing slow, and not cheating myself is key. I'm also trying to improve my slurs and half-slurs on B; I feel like they aren't as pronounced as they could be and my fingers tend to slip a bit so I'm setting aside time for exercises with those too.

I rather like Devil in the Kitchen as a strathspey. At the very least, I'm fairly sure I've heard it in that style more often than as a reel.

As a quick aside, I figured the sacred harp connection would be a bit of a stretch. The other style that comes to mind is gaelic psalm singing, which survives primarily on the Isle of Lewis and a few neighboring regions. Wikipedia says it does in fact have a relation to pibroch as well as an Appalachian connection, albeit in a thoroughly anglicized form:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaelic_psalm_singing 




*

Scott MacLeod sgkmacleod@gmail.com

5:23 PM (47 minutes ago)
to Taylor
The bubbly note is great preparation for the Taorluath and Crunluath fingering movements / techniques in Piobaireachd.

Could be a connection between Gaelic Psalm singing and Piobaireachd.
Gaelic Psalm singing, Isle of Lewis, Scotland

https://youtu.be/B0SWNJzhKUs

Gaelic psalms at Back Free Church, Isle Of Lewis- 20/21/oct/2003

https://youtu.be/k3MzZgPBL3Q

The brilliant Donald Meek was a professor of mine at the University of Edinburgh, and from Tiree ... part of the culture and peoples in these Gaelic Psalm singing videos. 

Cheers, Scott
-- 
- Scott MacLeod




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Appreciating the vision of St. Kilda, Piobaireachd, learning canntaireachd and into a realistic virtual earth ... This video seems to head in a direction of Scottish transcendence that I aim for with piping and envisioning ... and for direct learning of canntaireachd as well. :)

The Prince's Salute - Michael Grey - bagpipes and canntaireachd

https://youtu.be/ZCHRQuITwWs

Looked up more about Canadian Michael Grey, and find, too, his Strathspey fingering here very open and edifying ... 

Michael Grey, MSRHPJ, 2010 Livingstone Invitational

https://youtu.be/NQ7E-hS0NGo

begins with
M - march

1:45
S - strathspey

2:45
R - reel

3:45
HP - hornpipe

4:45
J - jig


Interesting not often played marches:
Marches in compound time -
Michael Grey (1 of 6) - Piping Live 2011

https://youtu.be/9pvYkxT82iE
More about Grey here, - 
is he jumping on his pipes? :)) ... an approach to piping I'm not seeking to teach, au contraire - but am rather heading toward the extraordinary, salutary and music-making freedom of enjoying playing (Grey's technique is great! ... does the above St. Kilda piobaireachd / canntaireachd video transcend technique regarding service? Hmmm :)
https://pipetunes.ca/composer/michael-grey/


Cheers, Scott

-- 
- Scott MacLeod








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new Sri Lanka World Univ & Sch in Sinhala in Google Sites (and Google Translate friendly), and designed / accessible from a smartphone even -

https://sites.google.com/view/worlduniversityandschool/srilanka



Info WorldUniversity info@worlduniversityandschool.org

Fri, Jun 26, 9:47 AM (2 days ago)
to SriLanka, nidahasvidyalaya, Marisol, Freedom, srilanka, livestream, Peter, mazumdarp, Scott
Hi Rifai, Peter, Partha, (and Marisol, Quechua language teacher at Stanford),

I just shared this World Univ & Sch homepage in Google Sites - https://sites.google.com/view/worlduniversityandschool (with an invitation message) - for you to texplore translating into the Sinhala and Tamil languages (but I also sent it to myself at sgkmacleod@w ... .org , and haven't received an email notice).

Rifai, focusing on Sinhala and Tamil languages will help too with WUaS maritime law - https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Maritime_Law (https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/World_University_Law_School s - see links to other countries' law schools half way down) - and regarding the Palk Strait between Sri Lanka and India - 
and in both the Law School at Sri Lanka WUaS (in Sinhala), and the Tamil language Law School at India WUaS, for example. 

Rifai, re your "How about assessment, proctoring and certificate?" - am hoping this will come out further of a kind of conversation between edX in Massachusetts, and the state of California's BPPE for licensing, and concurrently WASC for accreditation too. Perhaps edX will be able to offer the equivalent of assessment, proctoring and on WUaS edX certificates. 

Please let me know if you got the invitation I just shared from - https://sites.google.com/view/worlduniversityandschool . Am not clear from Google Sites' "Share with others" which I just invited you from, that you'll be able to edit or translate this page, or what. (And it would be great if you could do so from within the WUaS Google Drive too). Thank you.

Regards, 
Scott


Just shared this
Hi Rifai (in Sri Lanka), Peter, Partha, and Marisol,

I'm sharing this World Univ & Sch home page in Google Sites for you, Rifai, to explore translating into the Sinhala and Tamil languages. (I'm sending to mostly Google email accounts). Regards, Scott (worlduniversityandschool.org)


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Sri Lanka WUaS

Sat, Jun 27, 8:40 AM (1 day ago)
to me, Freedom, livestream, Peter, mazumdarp, Scott, nidahasvidyalaya, Marisol
Hi !

I received a notice and started the translation. I have to review and edit manually as some sentences are gibberish. Also some words like credit had to be changed as Google thinks someone is trying to get a loan ;) Will gradually move into course translation.


We will have to work out something if we are to launch a degree in September. We could use the quizzes in edX courses to assess. Certificate can also be issued using Word etc.

We might have to monitor the students online via a combination of webcam, ID verification & screen sharing to prevent impersonation as someone paid to do so could follow the degree under a students name. 

Regards,

Rifai




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Info WorldUniversity info@worlduniversityandschool.org

Sat, Jun 27, 9:59 AM (1 day ago)
to Sri, livestream, Peter, mazumdarp, nidahasvidyalaya, Marisol, Freedom, Scott
So beautiful, and what a beautiful script too! I want to write English on the computer in a new rounded way!

And amazing - a new Sri Lanka World Univ & Sch in Sinhala in Google Sites (and Google Translate friendly), and designed / accessible from a smartphone even - 

A good 'naming' model too for all ~200 countries - first in English, but then perhaps named in the countries' official / mian languages? Something like - https://sites.google.com/view/worlduniversityandschool/ශ්රී ලංකාව - or even all in Sinhala? Are Google Sites' URLs all in Sinhala at this point?

I received this invitation to translate at worlduniversityandschool@gmail.com's main parent address (which I had also sent to myself), although I think I only sent it to sgkmacleod@worlduni ...org (for learning about the structure of WUaS in Google Suite for Education). 

Rifai, have you taken an edX course? I've only taken this single (HarvardX JuryX) edX law course in 2016, taught by Harvard Law Emeritus Professor Charlie Nesson - and if I recall correctly it's pretty well structured IT-wise for accreditation / licensing regarding proctoring etc. (The edX JuryX archived course link here - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2015/03/volcano-rabbit-3-new-law-schools-at.html - and much more).

Also regarding translation and edX, this is the idea in the big picture: taking potentially edX courses (from best STEM CC-4 OCW courses - https://ocw.mit.edu/ - into - https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mitx-related-courseware/) on the edX platform ( which I blogged about yesterday re an email to a Reed College alumna (of which I am also, and which can be an interesting network) working as Admissions' officer in north India at the Woodstock school - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/06/scarlet-milkweed-asclepias-curassavica.html - which also just became IB). Re course standards in edX, am hoping WUaS can learn from these 3 OCW languages - https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/translated-courses/ . 

Am hoping too the way will open to communicate more directly with edX and Anant Agarwal regarding all of this in due course. Seeking to offer English-speaking Sri Lankans this autumn free-to-students' online Bachelor degrees (so please don't worry too much about translation in Sinhala). And you mentioned in a previous email that you think you might be able to find WUaS students? In ballpark terms, how many might be interested in a 4 year free online Bachelor's degree in English? 

Thank you, Rifai, and so great!

WUaS Cheers, Scott
So this doesn't disappear: :)

PS
Seeking to move some of the learning at WUaS into a realistic virtual earth - https://twitter.com/hashtag/RealisticVirtualEarth?src=hashtag_click (Google Street View-centric with TIME SLIDER / Maps / Earth / TensorFlow) - and maybe, for example, for the WUaS Law Schools and nation states' boundary and maritime law questions:

Here's the Bay of Bengal in Google Maps / Street View - 


And here's the Palk Strait 


Scott




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Rifai and All, 

I went to Google Translate and it was nice to hear spoken World University and School of Sri Lanka in Sinhala - https://translate.google.com/. 

Would it be possible perhaps to write something on this new Sri Lanka in Sinhala page - https://sites.google.com/view/worlduniversityandschool/srilanka - that WUaS courses this autumn will be in English for free-to-students' degrees, - and at the same time in Sinhala that the emergent wiki schools at WUaS in Sinhala are for open teaching & learning ... https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Subjects ? Could we develop your Sri Lanka World Univ & Sch in Sinhala as a way to do outreach for Sri Lankan students first in English?

Appreciating, too, the English rendering from Google Translate - World University and School of Sri Lanka .

Here by the way are the beginnings of World Univ & Sch in Google Maps / Street View with time slider (for HISTORY too!) Google Earth (and re TensorFlow AI and Translate)


How are the supply of and access to laptop computers for high achieving 18 year olds in Sri Lanka (who might speak English) - and very reliable broadband for group video conferencing, with students in all ~200 countries around the world in WUaS courses for credit? 

Regards, Scott







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Sri Lanka WUaS

Sun, Jun 28, 3:59 AM (1 day ago)
to me, livestream, Peter, mazumdarp, Scott, Marisol
Hi !

Yeah ! It looks nice but it is not an easy language to learn. I can change the page to Sinhala in Sinhala itself and drop Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka World University and School is a really long name so we better drop country names from the university name. No I worked only on the landing page for now as I have to manually edit sentences.

I have taken but never completed. Have completed only in FutureLearn and Canvas. I do have experience in self hosting online courses with verified certificates using Moodle for over 2 years.

If you want to host your own edX courses on the edX platform or combine courses to provide a specialised programme you need to contact edX. If you want to launch private courses from scratch using OCW you need to self host Open edX LMS or use edX Studio with edX Edge.

Sure we will go ahead with English. Yeah ! Higher education is mainly done in English based on British qualifications using classrooms. State universities are mainly for high school toppers. It depends on how the students react to e-learning? I gave out nearly 5000 edX coupons with the majority dropping out halfway and we are providing 4 year programme with no exit points. What is the quota?

Regards,

Rifai


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Sri Lanka WUaS

Jun 28, 2020, 5:37 AM (1 day ago)
to me, livestream, Peter, mazumdarp, Scott, Marisol
Hi !

I deleted the previous page and created a new page. I trimmed down the page and mentioned Autumn offering. Tamil page is also created but I am not very good at it. Better to get someone from South India to do it. They will have to reach me in Sinhala or Tamil and I can redirect them.

English rendering right click and translate. We have standard broadband facilities in urban areas and a growing number of users learning on PCs and smartphones.


Yeah ! It looks nice but it is not an easy language to learn. I can change the page to Sinhala in Sinhala itself and drop Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka World University and School is a really long name so we better drop country names from the university name. No I worked only on the landing page for now as I have to manually edit sentences.

I have taken but never completed. Have completed only in FutureLearn and Canvas. I do have experience in self hosting online courses with verified certificates using Moodle for over 2 years.

If you want to host your own edX courses on the edX platform or combine courses to provide a specialised programme you need to contact edX. If you want to launch private courses from scratch using OCW you need to self host Open edX LMS or use edX Studio with edX Edge.


Sure we will go ahead with English. Yeah ! Higher education is mainly done in English based on British qualifications using classrooms. State universities are mainly for high school toppers. It depends on how the students react to e-learning? I gave out nearly 5000 edX coupons with the majority dropping out halfway and we are providing a 4 year programme with no exit points. What is the quota?

Regards,

Rifai


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Rifai,

I just added this new World University and School in the Sinhala language -

Rifai and All, I wanted to get an idea of Bachelor's degrees offered in Sri Lanka (informed by a British system of education, as you've said) and found - https://www.bachelorstudies.com/Bachelor/Sri-Lanka/amp/ - and also found other similar Sri Lanka Bachelor degree descriptions and websites. I realize that Sri Lankan students will have prepared in high school for Sri Lankan universities, and as I've also written, WUaS seeks to become the online Harvard, Stanford, MIT of the internet - as if Sri Lankan students were applying to, getting accepted at, and then traveling to the US to matriculate on-the-ground at these universities for 4-year Bachelor degrees (and with their families probably paying $75,000 per year, for tuition, living expenses, books, etc.). Sri Lankan students would thus learn a different educational cultural system, whether it be MIT's, Stanford's or an American. MIT OCW, and edX online are different however.

So edX courses, and MIT OpenCourseWare courses (with WUaS instructors teaching them live in group video) are not Harvard, Stanford & MIT on the ground. They're a completely new educational system informed by information technologies. And WUaS seeks to create this WUaS 'educational culture online' eventually in Sri Lanka World Univ & Sch in Sinhala and offering Bachelor, Ph.D., Law, and MD, as well as IB high school degrees. WUaS seeks to facilitate live online professors and teachers teaching too!

Seeking to create the 'life of the mind,' of inquiry and problem-solving, and a book-ish online World Univ & Sch culture too. Looking forward to working out the IT for this. How to let book-ish circles - students and their parents - in Sri Lanka know about these free-to-students' online best STEM CC-4 OpenCourseWare Bachelor's degrees? Your Sinhala translations will help so, so much! Thank you!

More specifics about your recent emails soon.

Cheers, Scott





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Info WorldUniversity info@worlduniversityandschool.org

Sun, Jun 28, 10:21 AM (1 day ago)
to Nidahas, nidahasvidyalaya, Sri, Sri, livestream, Peter, mazumdarp, Scott, Marisol
More specifically per your recent emails:

Let's eventually call Sri Lanka World University and School in the Sinhala language  Sri Lanka World University and School in Sinhala; for the time being, if you'd like, dropping the Sri Lanka is fine () ... but keeping this long name might be much more welcoming to Sri Lankan students, even if at first in English, than the shorter name. What do you think?

How did you add a new page in WUaS's drive - eg https://sites.google.com/view/worlduniversityandschool/srilanka - and potentially for Peter's and Partha's information (if Partha's parents help translate this WUaS landing page into Bengali, for example)? I'm curious as well. 

I teach - http://worlduniversityandschool.org/InfoTechNetworkSocGlobalUniv.html - and would probably do so in Google Meet. You can see it listed in the WUaS course catalog - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VRHhXYsk-V9lvSh5onaU2hnEhwoapSN7HyBK1P09LIk/edit?usp=sharing (http://worlduniversityandschool.org/). But I might explore offering via the edX platform later; possibly having created a new course in edX, am curious how this would work to be able to tell other people too. 

May teach another actual-virtual Harbin ethnographic course here in Google Street View ~ http://tinyurl.com/p62rpcg ~ with this as a kind of text book ~ http://www.scottmacleod.com/ActualVirtualHarbinBook.html ~ (https://twitter.com/HarbinBook ~ http://bit.ly/HarbinBook).  In what ways do you think Sri Lankan students might be interested in learning online anthropology, - and potentially even in a realistic virtual earth for field work and in a realistic virtual Harbin Hot Springs? (It's a very innovative course, and research too, and regarding a new social science methodology even - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/search/label/ethno-wiki-virtual-world-graphy).

Could we aim for 100 Sri Lankan students to finish a 4 year WUaS free-to-students' Bachelor's degree - as quota (every year at first)?  I don't think there's much data at all about how many students finish 4 year online degrees, while there is so data about how many people finish a single course; a few years ago it was around 7%, 

How to use the wiki schools to welcome eventual matriculating students? Introduce WUAS wikis in Sri Lankan high schools - where high school students could become wiki-teachers to Youtube video even? (ie high school students could teach something about Sri Lanka they know and love, perhaps to a Youtube video, and then post this to an existing Subject - https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Subjects - or to a wiki subject they wiki-create ).

How best to reach out to the children of Sri Lankan professors for these free, best STEM CC-4 OpenCourseWare-centric degrees at WUaS? 

Regards, Scott




-- 

- Scott MacLeod - Founder & President  
- World University and School





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Sri Lanka WUaS

8:52 AM (2 hours ago)
to me, livestream, Peter, mazumdarp, Scott, Marisol
Hi !

I made some changes to the site. They have not got published. Should see what happened. Instead of categorising by country better to categorise by language as more than one language is spoken in each country. The page has to be changed to


Also I created a page in Tamil


You can try these links for comparison. Questions are welcome.




The best place for information on Sri Lankan degrees is the UGC of Sri Lanka. Students are mainly prepared for 3 year commonwealth degrees so they have actually covered part of an Associate Degree. They have to adapt to American plus online culture and you should have a discussion with the American Center in Sri Lanka who promote it. This is run by the Embassy of USA. Also we can get the help of colleges if we allow them to charge a facility fee from students who like to follow the degree at a college with mentor support. WUaS can charge a royalty from these colleges. Both fees can be decided by WUaS.

In order to build an online university with the things you mentioned it is mandatory to move to a self hosted LMS like Open edX or platform like edX which is easy to manage. These support plugins and are built for online teaching. Wiki might not be the right choice from a students point of view. If you can consider moving into an LMS that might be the turning point for WUaS. Volunteers can be provided teacher accounts and major languages are supported in an LMS.

It is welcoming but difficult to remember plus it prevents building a global brand. Anyway we are localizing that is welcoming too. We might have more success offering majors like Business Management, IT, Law, Creative Arts, Engineering, Medicine etc. Go to sites.google.com sign in. Click on the site at the bottom. On the right side you get add page.

100 is a good target. We can promote that only 1000 slots are offered free as scholarships. Atleast 10% might complete. We need to reach leading schools then.

Regards,

Rifai





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Info WorldUniversity
9:03 AM (2 hours ago)
to Nidahas, nidahasvidyalaya, Sri, livestream, Peter, mazumdarp, Scott, Marisol

HI Sri, and All,

First thing, and as you may know, WUaS plans to be in all ~200 countries (in their official / main languages, and for licensing /accreditation and even reimbursement + ), each a major online university, and in 7,117 known living languages, each wiki schools for open teaching and learning - so both Sri Lanka WUaS in Google Sites - https://sites.google.com/view/worlduniversityandschool/srilanka - and Sinhala language in Google Sites - https://sites.google.com/view/worlduniversityandschool/sinhala - are good, and central and important even.

These Google Sites' pages you've made will also correspond with these wiki pages (and the countries and languages in them) -
https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Nation_States
https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Languages

More later, thanks - and what you've done is so great!

Regards,
Scott
- https://sites.google.com/view/worlduniversityandschool/ -
- https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/World_University -
- worlduniversityandschool.org -






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Info WorldUniversity info@worlduniversityandschool.org

9:50 AM (1 hour ago)
to Sri, Nidahas, nidahasvidyalaya, livestream, Peter, mazumdarp, Scott, Marisol
Rifai, Partha, and All,

Let's explore adding the degree web sites you shared to Sri Lanka WUaS wiki ... https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Sri_Lanka ... for people's future reference (such as potential English-speaking (first) Sri Lankan students themselves), critical comparative thinking - and group knowledge sharing. 

Great too - 
As you may recall, (in 2015) WUaS donated itself to Wikidata (as 'back end' structured knowledge database - in Wikipedia's ~300 languages) for co-development - and languages are KEY or central to WUaS - and received the 'front end'  WUaS Miraheze MediaWiki in 2017 ... but they aren't yet interoperable. This is an example of 'front end'  WUaS Miraheze MediaWiki https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Sri_Lanka. 

As you know, the WUaS Course Catalog, and newly with the ORAP edX list you shared, make available edX course links (and best STEM OpenCourseWare CC-4 MIT OCW links - in its 4 languages - and MITx links, and other course links). WUaS seeks to automate the process of adding these links to both our WUaS academic wiki subject pages, as well as to our Course Catalog itself - and in all ~200 countries' official and main languages, for accrediting online degrees (Bach. Ph.D., Law, MD and IB).  


So at this point, WUaS in G Suite for Education is seeking to develop in this as the LMS - Learning Management System - and it's pretty sophisticated, and one of the best, with relatively good ease of use. See for example - Assignments - https://edu.google.com/assignments. I think I can give you Admin access to WUaS in G Suite for Education, if you might be interested too.

Again, WUaS seeks to become like Stanford or Harvard, yet online, and with edX and MIT OCW courses - and so Sri Lankan students would be studying these online. So the degrees that Sri Lankans get from WUAS first in 4 years, would be like the degrees Sri Lankans get from Harvard and Stanford on-the-ground (with similar licensing and accreditation process), but newly online. Partha works in the American Embassy. Partha, would you like to share your thoughts about some of this?  

And WUaS seeks to connect matriculating students - 
https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/You_at_World_University (probably with a Wikidata PIN # - planning for students in all 200 countries, speakers of all 7117 languages, and even all 7.5 people on planet as wiki teachers).
with their countries - 

Thanks too for this information about how to begin a new page in Google Sites: 

"Go to sites.google.com sign in. Click on the site at the bottom. On the right side you get add page." - Peter, Partha, Marisol? 

Would you like to explore taking on developing Google Sites' WUaS pages for all ~200 countries - and in their official languages with time? Shall we see if we can get native speakers to connect with you about this to develop translation. Could I interview you about how this might work. Monday's WUaS Livestream emails for example, have many non-English native speakers among us. May I send an invitation to you in 10 minutes to join the WUaS Livestram, Rifai? 


Regards, 
Scott


Have blogged about our recent emails here - 







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at

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