Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

Randy Pausch was a fascinating and innovative educator. What an excellent example of someone creating and drafting a whole new way to teach. This particular lecture was heartbreaking to watch and contemplate, and sent me down a thought path as a parent that was very uncomfortable, contemplating what I would communicate to my children if I were not going to be around in their future.
The first constructive advice I absorbed from this lecture is how to position yourself to be an innovative teacher. Dr. Pausch found a place where his dream would be embraced, among administrators who were willing to flex rules and “look the other way”. He made no claims to knowing outcomes, and did not try to predict where his ideas were going. And yet, through his remarkable salesmanship, was able to convince others to get on board and try something new. I think that an educator who is ready to innovate must actively search out an environment that will encourage new thinking.
Dr. Pausch related a story from the beginning of his ETC program, where his mentor advised him “ You obviously don’t know where the bar should be, so don’t insult their [the students] intelligence by placing one.” What a great concept to remember as a teacher. When our students surprise us with their aptitude, push them further, challenge them harder.
A few minutes of the lecture were spent, outlining the program that Dr. Pausch created at Carnegie-Mellon. He spoke of his distaste for “book learning” and showed a diagram of the project based masters program he had developed. Few of us will ever have the opportunity to teach something that has never been taught before, but what a lesson on curriculum design for an entirely new genre of information. I am sure a great deal of the program’s success stems from the enthusiasm that Dr. Pausch had for learning and creating.
I feel that what Dr. Pausch would want educators to take from his last lecture, was how much fun learning can be. His students were given freedom to create, but strongly encouraged to have fun. Several times in EDM 310 we have been advised to choose project topics that we are interested in, because we learn best if we enjoy what we are working on. That is an amazing lesson to take into our classroom. It would be easy to buy into the reality that life isn’t always fun so learning doesn’t have to be either. But truly, we can find ways to apply learning to our students lives such that it will interest them and make the learning process fun.