Last Lecture

I loved Randy Pausch's Last lecture. I thought it was very interesting and inspiring. In his lecture he talks about various teaching techniques that he used that I thought were great. First of all he did project based learning. The students would do 5 projects a year. This means the the students spent the whole time making things and getting experience in the field. This was also great because he avoided what he called "book learning." By avoiding "book learning" the students were probably way more engaged in the material and got much more out of the course.

Another teaching technique that he talked about was group work. All the projects the students worked on in his class were in small groups. I think this is great for students. Through group work students have the opportunity to learn from each other and the teacher. They can also practice communication and collaborating with others to make a product. Another part of this was that the partners would be switched around at the end of each project. This allows the students to meet new people and learn something from everyone in the class.

The third technique I thought that was very important was that the students had to share their projects with others. At the end of each project the class would show off their projects to each other. Eventually it grew and other people came to watch these presentations. This is beneficial to both the students and the people watching. The students get practice showing off their products in front of large groups of people. The people get the beneifit of seeing what bright young minds can do with technology.

The last technique that Randy used that I thought was amazing was not setting a bar for his students. He let his students make whatever they wanted for their projects and they surprised him with the results. He didn't let them stop there however and each project got better and better. He had high expectations and his students rose to meet them. I think Randy did a great job of describing these techniques and I will definitely try to work some of them in when I become a teacher.