在線(xiàn)教育和知識(shí)變現(xiàn)的時(shí)代，各種課程琳瑯滿(mǎn)目讓人應(yīng)接不暇，不知道選什么，那么這個(gè)時(shí)候，我們不妨參考下，世界首富的選擇，會(huì)是什么呢？
原帖出自蓋茨的官方博客 gatesnotes，地址是：
https://www.gatesnotes.com/Education/Great-Lectures-from-The-Teaching-Company
以下是原文和翻譯：
Great Lectures from The Teaching Company
TTC公司的優(yōu)秀課程
A lot of people ask me what I’m reading and how I learn about new topics that interest me. I am fortunate to have time to read a lot and I also like to view courses online from MIT’s OpenCourseware, Academic Earth, and others. These courses have ignited a passion of mine, which is to think about how to harness this approach so students who otherwise wouldn’t have access can experience these great courses and learn from these great teachers.
很多人會(huì)問(wèn)我，我在讀什么書(shū)，我是如何學(xué)習(xí)感興趣的新內(nèi)容的。首先，我很慶幸自己有大把的時(shí)間用來(lái)閱讀，同時(shí)，我很喜歡觀(guān)看在線(xiàn)課程，比如 MIT 的 OpenCourseware、Academic Earth 網(wǎng)站上的課程。在觀(guān)看這些課程的時(shí)候，我內(nèi)心的激情被點(diǎn)燃了，我希望通過(guò)這種方式，讓沒(méi)有機(jī)會(huì)接觸這些課程的學(xué)生，能夠聽(tīng)優(yōu)秀的老師講課、學(xué)優(yōu)質(zhì)的內(nèi)容。
One of my favorite sources for great lectures is The Teaching Company. Most of their courses are available as audio downloads and on DVD. I had a chance to meet with The Teaching Company team, and the way they find the very best professors and best courseware is impressive and it shows in the overall quality of the teaching.
我最喜歡的一個(gè)優(yōu)秀課程學(xué)習(xí)平臺(tái)是 TTC（The Teaching Company），他們的大多數(shù)課程都是可下載的音頻或視頻。我有幸和TTC的團(tuán)隊(duì)接觸過(guò)，他們獲取最優(yōu)秀講師和最優(yōu)質(zhì)課件的方式讓我印象深刻，這種方式從整體上展現(xiàn)了教學(xué)的質(zhì)量。
Most of my friends know how much I enjoy these courses as they’ve received many of them as holiday gifts.
我的朋友中，大多數(shù)都知道到我有多喜歡這些課程，因?yàn)槲視?huì)把很多課程當(dāng)作禮物送給他們。
1
At first I just watched all their science courses – geology, biology, medicine. Those are quite good and I learned quite a bit.
一開(kāi)始，我只看科技類(lèi)課程，比如地質(zhì)類(lèi)、生物類(lèi)和醫(yī)療類(lèi)。這些課程非常棒，我從中學(xué)到了很多。
Then I watched Big History which is taught by David Christian and is still my favorite course of all. The course is so broad that it synthesizes the history of everything including the sciences into one framework.
后來(lái)，我看了 David Christian 的《大歷史》，如今這門(mén)課程成了我最喜歡的一門(mén)課程。這門(mén)課程的內(nèi)容太廣泛了，它綜合了所有學(xué)科的歷史，包括科學(xué)，融入到一個(gè)體系中。
I’ve gotten to know David over the past couple of years and we’re starting some work now to offer a version of Big History for high school students free online—it’s something that I am incredibly excited about.
我認(rèn)識(shí) David 有很多年了，現(xiàn)在我和他正在一起做一個(gè)可以讓高中生免費(fèi)在線(xiàn)學(xué)習(xí)的《大歷史》課程，這件事是我現(xiàn)在最為之激動(dòng)的事。
2
The first economics course I watched was Modern Economic Issues by Robert Whaples.
我看的第一個(gè)經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)課程是 Robert Whaples 的《現(xiàn)代經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)問(wèn)題》。
This course does a very good job explaining the economic viewpoint and how it applies in lots of situations.
這個(gè)課程在講述經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)觀(guān)點(diǎn)和如何應(yīng)用方面做得非常好。
I try to bring this type of thinking to problems. You could say this course is mostly a microeconomics course—individual and business decisions based on price signals.
我嘗試將種思考方式應(yīng)用到具體的問(wèn)題當(dāng)中。你可以認(rèn)為這個(gè)課程大部分是微觀(guān)經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)課程——基于價(jià)格信號(hào)而作出的個(gè)人和商業(yè)決策。
Whaples also talks about government policies relative to wages and improving the economy.
Whaples也講到了關(guān)于最低工資的政策和國(guó)家經(jīng)濟(jì)的提升。
I would say Whaples is a very good teacher – clear with great examples and explanations.
我認(rèn)為 Whaples 是一個(gè)非常優(yōu)秀的老師——充分闡述了經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)理論在生活中的應(yīng)用。
3
My second economics course was America and the New Global Economy by Timothy Taylor.
我的第二門(mén)經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)課程是 Timothy Taylor 的《美國(guó)與全球新經(jīng)濟(jì)》。
This is a fantastic course focusing on macroeconomics (overall economic results). He really explains what has happened in the world economy.
這是一個(gè)非常了不起的介紹宏觀(guān)經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)（綜合經(jīng)濟(jì)效益）的教程，他解釋了經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)世界中發(fā)生的事情。
I found his region-by-region analysis incredibly valuable. I knew some of the facts but I had never seen it explained as a whole like he did.
我發(fā)現(xiàn)他的 region-by-region 分析方法非常有價(jià)值。我知道其中的某些方面，但是從未見(jiàn)過(guò)有人向他那樣如此系統(tǒng)完整清楚的徹底講述過(guò)。
I would say he is an even better teacher than Whaples—one of the best even by the very high standards of The Teaching Company.
我認(rèn)為他是一個(gè)甚至比 Whaples 還要好的老師——即便在高標(biāo)準(zhǔn)嚴(yán)要求的 TTC 講師群體里，也是最優(yōu)秀的一位。
His discussion of government policies including investing in education and infrastructure are extremely lucid.
這門(mén)課對(duì)于政府政策比如基建投入，教育投入等等方面的討論，非常的清楚易懂。
I agree with both of these economists almost 100%, even when they talk about some issues that are considered controversial.
我100%同意這些經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家的觀(guān)點(diǎn)，即便有些觀(guān)點(diǎn)看起來(lái)爭(zhēng)議性極大。
4
Neither of these courses requires you to know economics before you watch them. They both explain the terms they use very well.
這兩門(mén)課都不要求你有任何的經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)基礎(chǔ)知識(shí)，課程對(duì)專(zhuān)業(yè)術(shù)語(yǔ)的講解都非常簡(jiǎn)單易懂。
If you are going to watch both I would suggest doing it in the order that I did.?I’ll be writing more about some of my OpenCourseware favorites as well as other good sources for online educational material.
如果你想學(xué)習(xí)這兩門(mén)課，我建議你最好按照我提到的順序觀(guān)看（即先看 Modern Economic Issues 再看 America and the New Global Economy）。我將會(huì)持續(xù)介紹更多的我所喜愛(ài)的開(kāi)放課程，以及其他優(yōu)秀在線(xiàn)教育資源給你們。
以上三門(mén)，就是比爾認(rèn)為非常好的在線(xiàn)教育課程，我看完了《Modern Economic Issues》，其中經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)課程的確非常有用，看完后對(duì)于思考能力，和邏輯思維能力有很大幫助，尤其它提供了多種看世界，分析世界的方法和工具，非常推薦。
這些課程哪里找呢？不用擔(dān)心，我正在整理，未來(lái)會(huì)給出資源，并帶大家系統(tǒng)梳理一下——這個(gè)主要原因，是因?yàn)楸娝苤脑?，去買(mǎi)官方課程，其實(shí)不太容易的。當(dāng)然，搜索能力強(qiáng)的同學(xué)，不需要等我投食，你懂的。需要的同學(xué)可以加我微信 johnnypeibai。
