"Randy Pausch had every right to do whatever he wanted. After all, he was a highly reputable professor at the prestigious Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). Virtual reality was his area of expertise, and at the time it was a groundbreaking technology. He first started out in 1997 after clinching a role with the coveted Walt Disney Imagineering team. He could have dived deep into the technological advances he had made in VR, having many papers under his name."
"Instead, on the day of his "last lecture" - a tradition for CMU professors leaving or retiring - Randy spoke about his childhood dreams, enabling the dreams of others, and lessons learned along the way. There were stories filled with humor: vomit comets, drawings on walls, a student who became a living Jedi, and more. Eventually, he did talk about designing VR, how he taught it to students, and how to overcome setbacks."
Randy Pausch emphasized childhood dreams and enabling others to achieve theirs. Practical life lessons, humility, and resilience were prioritized over self-promotion. His career included pioneering virtual reality research, a role at Walt Disney Imagineering, founding the Entertainment Technology Center at CMU, and leading creation of ALICE, educational software that taught children programming. Humorous anecdotes—vomit comets, drawings on walls, and a student who became a living Jedi—illustrated teaching approaches and values. Instructional methods for designing VR, mentoring students, and overcoming setbacks were presented with an emphasis on persistence, creativity, and leaving a meaningful legacy.
Read at Medium
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]