Blog Post 7

After watching ” Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture.” I couldn't help but feel inspired about how I can help perpetuate a child's dreams and aspirations. Dr. Pausch was an excellent professor who stressed the importance of creativity among his students and was very passionate in all that he taught. Amongst other things, Dr. Pausch wanted his students to understand the importance of respecting others, being honest, and bringing their own experiences to different situations.

This lecture made me realize the importance of engaging students in a fun way. So often as teachers we stick to a straight and narrow road, focused only on meeting required standards and learning objectives, not realizing that sometimes we may be disengaging the students. When students actually have fun with learning they are more likely to retain and master the information that is presented.

A main focus of the lecture was Entertainment Technology Center which was in use at Carnegie Mellon University. It required teamwork and out of the box thinkers to get it up and running but it is a wonderful addition to the University. In short, the program provides information about the fundamentals of Project Based Learning. Dr. Pausch also stated that self and peer editing are very important steps in project based learning. There are many things to be learned from Dr. Pausch about teaching and learning. First, a teacher should be innovative and willing to work on teams in order to achieve certain goals. Second, we should recognize the importance of valuing a student's unique set of knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes. Third, we shouldn't be afraid to be criticized or offer constructive criticism. Last but certainly not least, we as teachers should make learning fun!