I was moved after watching Diane Sawyer's last coverage of Randy Pausch. As I get ready to start the new academic year, I continue to mull over his words about brick walls and obstacles that loom in our way. They are words worth sharing with our students - not once, but weekly. Not just as a large class motivational piece, but quietly with the struggling student, as well as loudly and happily with the student who celebrates overcoming what was once perceived as unconquerable. They are words worth putting up on the back wall of my computer lab.
So what does this entry have to do with Web 2.0? Actually a great deal. Watch a few of his videos and contemplate the immense power of this medium called online video. I am grateful that he chose to share his life, and death, with us, and thankful that this medium allows so many others to hear what he had to say.
Thanks so much for pointing me to Randy. I'm crying, but I feel inspired.
ReplyDeleteI met Randy in July 2007, at the Alice Workshop at Carnegie Mellon University. As he was talking to our class, I was surfing the web, and came across his web page.
ReplyDeleteThis web page described is battle to date with cancer. Yet as Randy sat and talked about the Alice project with us, he never mentioned this.
In September, I watched his Last Lecture, and showed it the next week to my Intermediate/Advanced Computer Science students.
They had been working with Alice for several weeks at this point. I introduced the video by saying it was a lecture from the person who developed Alice, and explained the idea behind the Last Lecture series.
My students were glued to the screen. They stayed a few minutes after the bell. They asked me a ton of questions about Randy, as they knew I had met him (if even briefly).
I found it difficult to watch all of the piece that ran a couple of weeks ago when Randy passed away. Maybe I'll be I'll be able to return to it in the future.