Blog Post Number Seven-- Randy Paush's Last Lecture

Achieving Your Childhood Dreams
Randy Pausch taught a BVW (Build Virtual Worlds) course for 10 years. He then started the ETC program at Carnegie Mellon University. His partners name was Don. This video talks a lot about what they have accomplished, what it took to get there, the lessons learned along the way, and the progress that is still being made.

This lecture by Randy Pausch was one of the best I have ever heard. It was full of very useful advive, however, it was enjoyable too. You can tell right from the beginning that he is not your ordinary professor. He brings the "monkey" out of the closet in the very beginning. He tells everyone that he dies have 10 tumors on his liver and that his doctors (some of the best out there) have given him 3 to 6 months to live. With all of this, he seems very high spirited. This lecture was very touching and inspiring.

He talked about his childhood dreams. Things like, experiencing zero gravity and being Captain Kirk. He found ways to achieve a part of every one of his dreams. How he made those achievements and the lessons he learned it what he gives his advice from. He has "actually been there." He said he wasn't going to talk about cancer, family, spirituality or religion. He wanted to talk about Enabling the Dreams of Others and the Lessons Learned.
He played football as a child and one of the coaches asked him after he was ridden really hard at practice, "Coach was really hard on you today, huh?" When he answered, "yes", the coach said, "Good, when you are screwing up and no one says anything, it means they gave up on you." I never thought of it like that before, but that is very true.

"Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted", said Randy. That is an awesome way to look at failures. It means to keep your head up and never give up. He kept pushing until he got what he wanted. Even a job at Disney working on a secret Virtual Reality Product. He said when you hit a brick wall, it shows you how bad you want something. If you want it bad enough; you won't let failure stop you.

He also talked about "Head Fake" Learning. This is when you have a child who plays a sport. He says, "you don't actually want them to learn the sport, you want them to learn the lessons from it." Things like: teamwork, good sportmanship, honor, and integrity.  These are things he learned from Football and brought into his classroom. He taught his students these things with the projects they did.

I am going to make a list of some of the advice he gave. This is advice that I think he used with his students and the way he ran his class.
- Raise the bar.  When they reached one level he raised it higher because he believed in them.
- Show them how to help others achieve their dreams.
- Learn by Doing. (No Book Learning, Work In Groups)
- Make it Intense and Fun
- Use Feedback.

His ETC class and his partner have designed the ALICE program. It is a computer program that teaches Computer Programming. ALICE is his professional legacy. He said it is something that kids can use and have fun while learning. I think he wanted all his students to learn by having fun. Even if they were learning something extremely hard.  

Mr. Pausch then gives advice on How to Achieve and Lessons Learned. I will list them out for you. The reason I am listing all these points is because I think they are very important. It is advice that everyone can use.
- The roles of Parents, Mentors, and Students are important.
- Respect Authority while Questioning Them
- We Learn From Our Students
- HAVE FUN!! (Decide if you are Tigger or Eeyore)
- Never Lose the Childlike Wonders
- Help Others
- Loyalty is A Two Way Street
- Never Give Up

This lecture was full of wonderful advice. I could sit here and share what Randy Pausch said with you all day. However, I think everyone should watch this whole video. It is long, but so worth the time. It made a major impression on me. I hope that one day I can leave a legacy like that with the future adults of the world.