This week for our blog we were told to watch the video Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams. Randy opened up his speech with what he called, "introducing the elephant in the room". He told the audience that he has cancer, and has about 5 months to live. Instead of being or depressed about the manner, he explained that it was pointless and he would rather live the life he has left to the fullest. Upon hearing this, I felt absolutely inspired. The driving question from this blog is, what can we learn about teaching from Randy Pausch. Well firstly, this man has a wonderful outlook on life, and even though he is in a bad situation in his life right now he is making the most of it. I think that is definitely a lesson learned right there. In his presentation, he talked about his goals when he was a kid and how his goals either came true or at least something good came out of them. The main teaching moment I saw from his video is that it is important to make goals, and stick to them. No matter how outrageous they may be, stick to them because worst case scenario "Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted". So no matter what, try for it and live your life to the fullest! I think if anyone who hasn't yet seen this video, then they should definitely watch it. Randy's dedication, and determination are truly inspiring, and a lot can be learned from this wonderful video. This is a video that will take some time to watch, it is over an hour long, but do not let the time get you down. It is totally worth it! I hope many individuals can learn from him and remember all the wonderful things he has done and accomplished.
Some additional questions: Was he more of a coach or a teacher? Did he use PBL? How were his classes different from the ones you have taken? Although you watched a lecture do you think that lectures played a significant part in his teaching? What role does fun play in learning? What did he mean by "head fake learning"? Why "raise the bar"? Did Dr. Pausch encourage self-reflection and self-evaluation?
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