Blog Assignment 7

Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture

Randy Pausch was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University. In his last lecture, he spoke about achieving your childhood dreams. He talked about his career as a professor and some of the techniques he used in his classroom. At Carnegie Mellon, he taught a class called Building Virtual Worlds. Since it was the first class of its kind, the school gave him the power to do whatever he wanted. He didn’t have to report to any Deans or follow a certain curriculum. So, he didn’t use textbooks and instead had the students break into groups and create virtual worlds.

Furthermore, Dr. Pausch talked about head fakes. A head fake is when we learn something indirectly while doing something else. He used this method of teaching in his classes. He said his students thought they were just creating virtual worlds and having fun, but in reality, they were learning how to program. He also used an example of football and other sports. You’re not just learning how to play the sport, but you’re learning teamwork, sportsmanship, and perseverance.

Another thing Dr. Pausch did in his classes was he kept raising the bar for his students. When they surprised him with what they could do with the virtual world projects, instead of congratulating them, he told them that he knew they could do better. He said that was the best response he could give them because when you set a bar when you don’t know where it should be, you do the students a disservice. By pushing them to do better, they will impress you with how far they can go.

I really enjoyed listening to Randy Pausch’s lecture. I liked his expression that brick walls are only there to prove to us how badly we want something. I never thought of it that way, but it is true. He had plenty of good advice such as work hard, help others, tell the truth, and apologize when you screw up. This speech makes me feel like anything is possible. It was so inspiring and definitely worth the time to watch it.