EDM 310 Blog #8

Randy Pausch's Last Amazing Lecture

The virtual reality expert, Randy Pausch's last lecture was amazing. His lecture made one reflect upon how to make childhood dreams a reality and enable others to do the same. Unfortunately, it was Dr. Pausch's last lecture because he was diagnosed with cancer. He was given 6 more months of good health before his condition would eventually take his life. When one hears this news it is depressing; but being depressed is the complete antithesis of everything Pausch talks about in his lecture. As a matter of fact he doesn't want people to pity him, he'd rather have them enjoying their lives and making a difference.

Pausch speaks about his life experiences which all revolve around accomplishing his childhood dreams. Pausch's experiences consist of creating a new virtual reality course at Carnegie Mellon (CMU) which paved the way for a master's program, working as an imagineer for Disney, and winning big stuffed animals at carnivals to name a few. I however loved the fact that he created his own course at CMU. It's already amazing that one can become a professor of a subject that they are passionate about, but to be able to create your own course that you would proceed to teach would be out of this world! Pausch created college level course entitled creating virtual environments. The course was collaborative and included five different departments at CMU which allowed a hodgepodge of creative minds to come together and create virtual environments. To top it all off, every part of Pausch's pedagogy puts the student at the center of the curriculum and it focuses on the importance of interaction with others which is how learning should take place.

In a nut shell this lecture was amazing I could talk about his course work and academic achievements for the rest of this post as Pausch was an extremely intelligent and successful man. However, I'd rather focus on some practical tips that he gave in his presentation. These tips/tidbits/words of wisdom I named "Pauschisms" can pertain to anyone, especially those who coach, teach, or work with children. Here are some of the Pauschisms that I found most useful...

1.) Brick walls are a good thing. When you are trying to achieve a dream and you hit a brick wall it happens for a reason. Brick walls remind you of how badly you want something. They also keep those who don't want it as badly as you away.

2.)When you screw up and no one says anything it means they don't care anymore and have given up on you. Don't get to this spot, it's a bad place to be. Your critics love you and want you to succeed and better yourself. Suck it up and keep trying.

3.)It's good to accomplish your dream but it's better to enable someone else to accomplish their dream.

4.)There is both a good way and a bad way to say the same thing...Always use the good way.

5.)When given enough time people will impress you.

This one's for teacher's and anyone who wants to work with kids:

6.) If you don't set the bar high for your students, you are doing a disservice to them.

To say the least, this lecture was great. I really don't care that I had to sit for an hour (I hate to sit still and I missed my run...oh well!) and listen to it. It was an hour very well spent.

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

Comments 4 Kids Week #9

This week I got the opportunity to comment on Kahlanie's blog who lives in New Zeland. Kahlanie had a great video to watch on her blog and it was entitled "The Christmas Bullies". The video was great and it looked like the kids put a lot of work into it. This is one of the many examples of how technologically literate today's kids are. Also it demonstrates yet another example of how to use technology in the classroom.

"The Christmas Bullies"