Blog Post #6

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

Randy Pausch was once told, "You're such a good salesman. You should be selling something worthwhile, like education." And that's exactly what he did.

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture was very inspiring. You're getting to witness a man discuss the high points of his entire life and have him tell you what he took from his experiences and what he thinks you should take away from your own life. His lecture was not just to teach you how to help someone else acheive their dreams, but to help you realize what you should do to better your own life while achieving your own dreams at the same time. He also pushed that, "Most of what we learn, we learn indirectly." He used the term "head-fake" method.

Pausch talked, for a bit, about his time at Carnegie-Mellon and how he conducted his classroom. For his graduate program he didn't use a single text book. It was completely project based. On the first project he assigned to his students, they completely astonished him and he wanted to give them all A's. But, Pausch being the skillful genius that he is, told his students, "That was pretty good, but I know you all can do better." That statement alone pushed his students further and further and their achievements were boundless. That is the staple of a great professor.

It was also required in this course for all projects to be theatrically presented in front of the class. Each project lasted two weeks with 4 members in a group and the group members would change for each project. I thought this was a great method to teaching a difficult subject. It got the students involved with their classmates and taught how to work well with others. At the end of each project the students would poll their classmates on their experience with working with them. At the end of the term a chart was presented with the data taken from over the semester. The students then saw a physical representation on their ability to work with others. I thought this was brilliant! It held students accountable for their participation, progress, and interactions throughout the course. Getting accurate feedback on something like working in a group environment makes the students more self-reflective and helps them know they should consider readjusting their actions. The program ended up becoming a campus-wide event and would eventually sell out. Pausch said this gives the students a chance to experience what it feels like to make other people excited and make them happy.

Pausch had four main points of advice on how to live your life:
1.) Be good at something because it makes you valuable.
2.) Work hard at everything you do.
3.) Find the best in everyone you meet no matter how long it may take to find.
4.) Be prepared because luck is where preparation meets opportunity.
Most of all, Pausch wanted his audience to take away that if you lead your life in the right way then karma will take care of itself and the dreams will come to you. He wanted his audience to take away that they shouldn't strive just for being great educators, they should also strive to be great people as well. He stressed on showing gratitude and having perseverance. To me, Pausch seems like a real modern-day saint and I am pleased to have watched his last lecture.