Monday, October 19, 2020

Fritillaria imperialis: WUaS Partnering with edX (Verified Courses) for FREE-To-Students' online Bachelor degrees (first in English, then in your countries' language), Seeking 50-400 online students in Jan 2021 from all ~200 countries, Shahrzad Shirvani's questions regarding Iranian English-speaking students from Iran studying online at WUaS from their homes +


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 ~ 

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


.... Minutes to come.

Cheers, 
Scott
This Livestream will be recorded to this 2nd WUaS Youtube channel - 
(accessible by clicking on the 'WUaS Livestream' button from - https://www.youtube.com/user/WorldUnivandSch)







-- 
- Scott MacLeod - Founder, President & Professor

- World University and School

- 415 480 4577

- 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. 



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Scott MacLeod Shahrzad Shirvani graduation UC Berkeley 2015.jpg

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



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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 +)
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 


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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/wiki/World_University_Foundation

Your questions make me appreciate your enthusiasm for World Univ & Sch, Shahrzad - thank you! Does this answer most of your questions, and the sense behind your questions too? 

And please let me know if you can help find Iranian English-speaking students to take verified edX courses at WUaS in January, as well as your thoughts about fundraising among your Iranian contacts, - and your thoughts too about developing your academic career at MIT OCW-centric World Univ & Sch in these regards.

Best, 
Scott
I hope to blog about some of this today here: 


==World University and School's Board of Clerks / Directors / Trustees / Executives ==

Scott MacLeod, M.A., D.R., (USA; English, German):
President, CEO, Founder, Professor,
http://www.scottmacleod.com

Larry Viehland, Ph.D. (USA; English):
Chair of the Board, CFO,          
https://chatham.edu/academics/undergraduate/chemistry/faculty/larry-viehland.html



==World University and School's / WUaS Press's General Board of Clerks / Directors / Trustees==

Tito Dimas Atmawijaya (Indonesia; Indonesian):
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tito-dimas-atmawijaya-55431313/

Yuping Chung (USA, Taiwan; English, Mandarin):
https://www.linkedin.com/in/yupingchungtechexecutive

Juan Manuel Méndez Rey (Spain; Spanish):
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mendezr/

Jayni Shah (USA, India; English, Hindi, Gujarati):
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayniashah/

Kyle Wagner (USA, Hong Kong, English)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kwagssd3/


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Scott: 

So, I attempted to make the following video newly again using StreamYard (since Jitsi and 8X8 video conference-to-Youtube platforms stopped working for free), but it (S.Y.) didn't stream or record to WUaS's 2nd WUaS LiveStream channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdURAADdLc9ctxnbismtXzQ ... (accessible from - https://www.youtube.com/user/WorldUnivandSch)

I was however able to download the 14:21 minute video I made - WUaS Partnering with edX (Verified Courses), Seeking 50-400 online students in Jan 2021 from all _20.mp4 - to my local computer, but it's too big a file to upload to this blogspot blog ... so I'm including Shahrzad Shirvani's questions, and my answers below ... 



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News Q&A #WUaSLivestream M 10/19/20 today regarding i) official #WUaSPartneringWithEdX for #edXverifiedCourses & ii) Seeking 50-400 students for Jan 2021 didn't work out but see https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/10/fritillaria-imperialis-wuas-partnering.html Free degrees? Email info@ worlduniversityandschool.org

@WUaSPress @WorldUnivAndSch~

https://twitter.com/WorldUnivAndSch/status/1318301786441068544?s=20

https://twitter.com/WUaSPress/status/1318303059903094784?s=20

https://twitter.com/scottmacleod/status/1318301020204617730?s=20

https://twitter.com/sgkmacleod/status/1318303518642434048?s=20

https://twitter.com/TheOpenBand/status/1318304314629050368?s=20

https://twitter.com/HarbinBook/status/1318304031031189504?s=20


Fritillaria imperialis: WUaS Partnering with edX (Verified Courses) for FREE-To-Students' online Bachelor degrees (first in English, then in your countries' language), Seeking 50-400 online students in Jan 2021 from all ~200 countries, Shahrzad Shirvani's questions regarding Iranian English-speaking students from Iran studying online at WUaS from their homes +

https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/10/fritillaria-imperialis-wuas-partnering.html




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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritillaria_imperialis

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