Blog #7

Achieving Your Childhood Dreams
By: Randy Pausch

In his last lecture at Carnegie Melon, Randy Pausch’s presentation “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” was really inspiring. I knew going into this video that Randy Pausch was a great speaker and always had great lectures, but after finishing his last lecture I was completely blown away by what he lecturing. He had three points to his lecture. They were: childhood dreams, enabling dreams of others, and the lesson learned:how to achieve your dreams and enable others. When Pausch discusses his childhood dreams, he states how he had several of them. He was quick to state how he knew that even though he had several, he knew he they wouldn't happen. Pausch goes on to show pictures of him as a child and explains how he was a happy child. He states how he had a good childhood. Here are a few of Randy Pausch’s childhood dreams: being in zero gravity, being Captain Kirk, and being the author of an article in the World Book encyclopedia. He explains brick walls, which he says they are there for a reason, to show how badly you want things. He said how he got more out of not accomplishing his dream of being in the NFL then actually accomplishing it. Pausch states a quote, "Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you want", which I agree 100% with.

After Pausch finishes discussing his childhood dreams, he moves of to the next part which is enabling dreams of others. He introduces the audience to a course he created called Building Virtual Worlds. This course he said is basically about childhood dreams. The course had 50 students from art, design, drama, and CS. The teams were chosen randomly and would change each project. Each team had two weeks two weeks to design, implement, and test. There were five projects each semester. when he first started the program, he didn't know what to expect. He was surprised how well the students did on their first project. He talks about how he talked to his mentor after his students did so well on their project and he said his mentor told him to tells his students they did good, but they can do better. He explains that this advice was good and it motivated his students to work harder. I think this advice would be great to use in all classrooms.

Paush then moves on to talk about his ETC course. It was created by Pausch and Don Marinelli, which they called it the Dream Fulfillment Factory. This is a course where artists and technologists work in small teams and make things. It was a 2-year masters of entertainment technology degree. He explains that him and the other creator Don were two kindred spirits. He says how they are two very different people. Pausch explains how they like to do things in a new way and they were both uncomfortable with academia. Also, Carnegie Melon University (CMU) is the only place that Pausch believes this program can happen. The course is projected based and very hands on. Pausch states how his students were having so much fun, that they didn't realize they were learning.

Lastly, Pausch talks about the lessons he learned and how they were helpful. Pausch believes that it should all start with the parents, which I agree with. Parents are the ones who should teach their children help others. He talked about his parents and how they influenced him. He shared how they helped children in Thailand go to school and now Randy does the same. They were supportive of Randy and of his dreams. Other people who are helpful are teachers and mentors. As a teacher I want to be supportive of my students and especially of their dreams. I want to encourage my students the way Randy encouraged and inspired his students. He was a great educator and and excellent speaker.