Response to Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture

In watching Randy’s video he noted three things, childhood dreams, enabling childhood dreams of others, and lessons learned. This was a very interesting video to watch and learn about. I was not too thrilled about the time length but it flew by due to the interest I had in it. I will discuss his topics in the next three paragraphs.

The first thing he talked about was his childhood dreams. He set them at a young age and was determine to achieve all of them.

1. Being in Zero Gravity-achieved
2. Playing in NFL-never achieved, but he learned a lot from this goal
3. Being a Author in World Encyclopedia-achieved
4. Meeting Captain Kirk-achieved
5. Winning Stuff Animals-achieved
6. Being an Imagineer at Disney-achieved
He achieved all but one goal. That is great for him to have done so, but it took a lot of work and dedication of him to achieve the goals. He got to experience zero gravity in the Comet Vomit with a team he created. He learned a lot from playing football that “Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted”. The encyclopedia did approve him as an author. He did get to meet Captain Kirk because he built a virtual reality center for Star Trek. He won lots of stuffed animals and even had pictures to prove it. He went through a hard time to actually become an imagineer at Disney, but he accomplished that goal as well. After he got to work on the Aladdin Virtual Reality, Disney wanted him to stay and he refused to work full-time, but he did help them for ten years.

The second thing he talked about was enabling the childhood dreams of others. He wanted it to be possible for others to achieve their dreams just as he did. He worked really hard to establish programs that would allow students to achieve their dreams. He created a course named Virtual Worlds. This allowed 50 student each semester to build their own virtual world and their work blew him away. The course was very popular and he had parents and other students coming to class to see what was going on. After creating that course, he created the Dream Fulfillment Factory. This allowed students to enter the Entertainment Technology Center. They could achieve a master’s degree with this program. It was referred to as Edutainment. It was video technology to teach the students and the students had written agreements to be hired before they graduated. He believed that this allowed the students to chase their dreams. Some of the students are the creators of popular video games and some movies.

The third thing he talked about was lessons learned. He looked at the roles of parents, mentors, and students. He learned from teachers, mentors, colleagues, and friends. He noted to respect authority but sometimes question it. He wants everyone to decide whether they are a Tigger or Eeyore. He noted that he is a Tigger. He noted to help others and loyalty is a two way street. Lessons he learned included never giving up, get people to help you, don’t bail, and brick walls are there to show your dedication. He also noted to do the right thing and good will come back, use feedback, show gratitude, don’t complain, just work hard, be prepared, and find the good in people.