聘请谷歌掌门人讲课的神秘大学

    奇点大学没有庞大的永久教师队伍，因此可以将来自各方面的经验引入到课堂当中。奇点大学颠覆了传统的办学模式：与偶尔在暑假参与咨询活动的专业学者不同，奇点大学的教师——不论临时还是核心教师团队——大部分仍在实际工作中不断学习。他们把自己在实际工作中积累的经验带进课堂与学生分享，引领了“在实践中学习”的风气。对于一项技术的潜力与局限性，他们总能提出自己的见解。当然，专业知识并非全部，精通一门学科的人并不一定是好教师。奇点大学选择教师的标准是能够以一种能激发兴趣、有启发性的方式，将自己的专业知识传授给非专业人士。

    既然临时教师都已经颇具知名度，在专业领域也有广泛的人脉，他们从与大学的关系中又能得到什么？声誉是其中之一。但加入奇点大学真正的好处是他们有机会与学生和其他教师进行发人深省的讨论。学校对于学生和教师的选择均非常挑剔，因此可以保证师生之间高水平的对话，而这反过来又可以吸引最优秀的学生和教师。打破传统的办学模式，不提供学位和永久任期，这些特点让学校有一些经营教育的感觉，因而可以吸引那些在学术界可能找不到位置的学者加入进来。

    借助一个由供应商、客户与合伙人组成的“生态系统”或网络，组织可以利用很少的人手覆盖更大的区域，尤其涉及进入新市场、发布新产品或服务等事宜的时候。生态系统还可以促进学习过程提速。它有助于提高所有人的表现。但前提是，公司要允许参与者共同完成实际的项目，更关注相关的人、而不是技术本身，同时对参与者能够获得的回报保持透明。（财富中文网）

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓    

    By not having a large permanent faculty, the school can draw from a broad spectrum of experience to bring to the classroom. It flips the traditional model: rather than academics who dabble in consulting engagements during the summer, the faculty -- temporary and core -- is primarily out learning through work in the field. They bring that experience back to share with students, reinforcing the ethos of "learning through doing" and providing insights into the potential and the constraints of a technology. Of course, expertise is not everything, and masters of a discipline are not always good at teaching it. Singularity ultimately selects people who are able to communicate their expertise and excitement to non-experts in a compelling and inspiring way.

    What do temporary faculty, already well known and with large professional networks, derive from this relationship? Prestige is part of it. But the real benefits of affiliation come from the opportunity to engage in thought-provoking discussions with students and other faculty members. The school's selectivity in choosing both students and faculty ensures a high-caliber conversation, which in turn draws the best students and lecturers. The nontraditional format and lack of degrees and tenure contribute to a sense of meritocracy and appeal to lecturers who may not have found a home in academia.

    An "ecosystem" or network -- of vendors, customers, and partners -- allows an organization to achieve greater reach with a small number of employees, particularly for initiatives like entering a new market or launching a new product or service. Ecosystems can also accelerate learning. This helps everyone perform better, but only if companies let participants do actual project work together, focus more on the people involved than the technology itself, and are transparent about what they can offer participants.