Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

I had heard of the "Last Lecture" a couple of times from various friends for some time now. They all raved about how this powerful and intriguing lecture. After watching it for myself I agree with all of them. To be able to stand on front of 400 people and give a lecture about your life knowing that you will soon die is astonishing, and he did it with such poise and gracefulness. Randy Pausch suffered from pancreatic cancer. Randy Pausch lost his battle with cancer July 25, 2008.

The title of the lecture was "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams". The first method I noticed in his lecture was organization. His thoughts were very organized and his slides reflected that. He did not just stand up at the podium and ramble about whatever came to his mind. The first part of his lecture was about his childhood dreams. He wanted to play in the NFL, be Captain Kurk, be an Disney Imagineer and a couple of other things as well. Pausch went through and told how he accomplished or at least attempted these dreams and the experiences that followed. He showed that no matter what yours dreams are, they are your dreams and you should try to accomplish them.

One thing that really stuck out to me about Pausch's teaching was when he started talking about his Masters class. He didn't give tests, quizzes or lectures. Heck, he didn't even make them buy a book. The first day of class he split the class up into teams. The teams were responsible for creating a virtual world. He talked about that at that point they weren't going to learn anything else from a book and that the best way to learn was to have hands on experience. The revealings of these turned into a big ordeal among other students. One thing that he said that really stood out to me. One of his group of students showed them their project early and he said that he was absolutely stunned. They exceeded his expectations immensely. Instead of sayin "wow, that is awesome", he said "good job, but I know you can do better". He didn't want to set a bar on their ability, he wanted to push that bar as high as it would go and that really stood out to me.

Randy Pauch's life was one of great impact. He influenced and challenged them all. He wanted them to do their best. He was a focused individual. He was someone that people looked to for help and advice. He was a positive man in the face of death. He was a great teacher. He was dedicated to his profession and to his students. The "Last Lecture" was definately worth the time to watch.