Poh Heng

Elaine and i were saddened by the news of the sudden death of Dr Randy Pausch, the person who gave us the “Last Lecture”.

When we read the report in the newspapers and found out that he actually published a book “The Last Lecture” , Elaine wasted no time to dash down to the nearest bookstore to get hold of the book which she is still reading now.  You can also grab it here:

I would also like to quote a review on this book by Robert Kall “Rob Kall of Opednews.com”

“Pausch, an engineer, takes lessons from his life that he wants to pass on to his very young three children and his students. He’s a man who has accomplished some impressive things in his life, so that lends credibility to what would otherwise be solid, wise advise.

I love his attitude towards “brick walls.” When you reach a brick wall that seems unsurmountable and unpassable, he advises, “The brick walls are there for a reason. They’re not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a c hance to show how badly we want something.” Then he tells several stories illustrating how brick walls challenged him and how he overcame the challenges.

Coming from spending over 30 years in the world of biofeedback, I was pleased to see that Pausch believes, “In the end, educators best serve students by helping them be more self-reflective. THe only way any of us can improve… is if we develop a real ability to assess ourselves. If we can’t accurately do that, how can we tell if we’re getting better or worse?”

I love chapter 39, “Be the First Penguin.” He writes that “experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted. …. It’s a phrase worth considering at every brick wall we encounter, and at every disappointment. It’s also a reminder that failure is not just acceptable, it’s often essential.”

Pausch tells the story that how, for the “Building Virtual Worlds” course he taught at Carnegie Mellon, he created a “First Penguin Award. “It went to the team that took the biggest gamble in trying new ideas or new technology, while failing to achieve their stated goals. In essence, it was an award for ‘glorious failure’ and it celebrated out-of-the-box thinking and using imagination in a daring way.

“The other students came to understand: ‘First Penguin’ winners were losers who were definitely going somewhere.

“The title of the award came from the notion that when penguins are about to jump into water that might contain predators, well, somebody’s got to be the first penguin. ”

More about “The Last Lecture” from my previous post.