Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams Randy Pausch Carnegie Mellon University Sept 18, 2007

The elephant in the room…

I’m not in denial…

And I’m in good health now

What we’re not talking about Cancer ■ Things more important than childhood dreams: my wife and kids ■ Spirituality & Religion ■

➤ My

deathbed conversion

Today’s Talk My childhood dreams ■ Enabling the dreams of others ■ Lessons learned: how you can achieve your dreams or enable the dreams of others ■

My Childhood Dreams

My Childhood Dreams ■ ■ ■

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Being in zero gravity Playing in the NFL Authoring an article in the World Book encyclopedia Being Captain Kirk Winning stuffed animals Being a Disney Imagineer

Being in zero gravity

The “vomit comet”

Brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things

Football

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Dream: play in the NFL Coach Graham ➤ practice with no football ➤ fundamentals ➤ him riding me all practice

Coach Setliff ➤

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Power of enthusiasm

To this day, I am most comfortable on a football field

I Never Made it to the NFL But football got me where I am today ■ Fundamentals & Hard Work ■ “Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted” ■ Most of what we learn, we learn indirectly (or by “head fake”) ■

Being an author in the World Book Encyclopedia

Meeting Being like Captain Kirk

Dream ■

Being Captain Kirk

It’s cool to meet your boyhood idol.

Winning Stuffed Animals

I can hear the cynics…

Being an Imagineer

Brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things

1991: VR on Five Dollars a Day

CHI ‘91, and Tom Furness asks a question…

Jon Snoddy ■

I had to brief the Secretary of Defense

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Disney’s Aladdin project

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Lunch with Jon…

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“ But you're in the business of telling stuff, and we're in the business of keeping secrets” He taught me: “wait, and people will surprise you.”

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Our Villain; but all’s well that ends well

Brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things

Aladdin

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Working on Aladdin VR ■a

once in five careers opportunity ■ Forever changed me real people, real HCI issues ➤ how to put engineers & artists together ➤

Really being an Imagineer… and I said “no.”

Virtual Jungle Cruise

Enabling the Childhood Dreams of Others

… or, “Boy, am I glad I became a professor!”

Building Virtual Worlds ■

50 students from art, design, drama, and CS

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Randomly chosen teams, change per project

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Two weeks to design, implement, and test

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Five projects during the semester

The First Year ■

Listed in Five Departments (I love CMU!)

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Content: Anything you want ➤ ➤

No shooting violence No pornography

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They blew me away w/first assignment

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I called Andy van Dam

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The first show ➤ ➤

In McConomy for its A/V President Cohon’s reaction

Campus-wide Exhibition

BVW was a pioneering course ■

And as they say…

The Dream Fulfillment Factory

Don Marinelli (Drama)

Randy Pausch (CS)

Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) ■

Artists + Technologists working in small teams to make things

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2 year professional degree: Masters of Entertainment Technology

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Two kindred spirits: try things a new way; we’re both a little uncomfortable in academia

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CMU is the only place I know where this could happen.

Right Brain / Left Brain

Don & I shared an office for six years

Co-Director Credit for the ETC’s Success

The ETC is to “masters degrees” as Cirque Du Soleil is to “circus”

ETC Curriculum: First Draft First Year Spring

First Year Fall

Project Course

Project Course

Optional Internship Second Year Fall

Project Course

Second Year Spring

Project Course

ETC Curriculum First Year Spring

First Year Fall The Visual Story Improvisational Acting Intro to Entertainment Technology Building Virtual Worlds

ETC Interdisciplinary Project Course II Elective

Optional Internship Second Year Fall ETC Interdisciplinary Project Course III Elective

Second Year Spring ETC Interdisciplinary Project Course IV Elective

Key to the ETC’s Success: Freedom ■

No deans to report to

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License to “Break the mold”

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Project-based curriculum

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Intense, fun student experience

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Field trips!

Edutainment

Developed with FDNY ■ Networked simulation to train 1st responders to chemical spills and terrorist attacks ■

Companies guaranteed hiring our students

Don has taken the ETC global: Australia, Korea, Singapore

Keys to the ETC’s Success: Focus on People and Learning to work in Groups

Alice The Infinitely Scalable Dream Factory

And I guess this makes me the mad hatter…

Alice ■

Novel way to teach Computer Programming

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Kids make movies and games; the “head fake” is that they are learning to program

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Over 1 million downloads, 8 textbooks, 10% of US colleges using right now

Alice is my Professional Legacy ■

Helping millions of kids have fun while learning something hard

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v3.0 will release in 2008, in Java, with characters from the bestselling PC game in history: The Sims

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Can’t mention everyone, but… ➤ ➤ ➤

Dennis Cosgrove is building it Wanda Dann, Steve Cooper, Don Slater are developing the pedagogy Caitlin Kelleher is going to hit the home run with middle schoolers

Lessons Learned

The Roles of Parents, Mentors, and Students

My Dad, age 80

My Mom

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The theory qualifier

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My son, the doctor…

Other people who help us ■ Teachers ■ Mentors ■ Friends ■ Colleagues

Andy van Dam ■ Mythical

creature

■ Dutch

uncle-d me my sophomore year

■ Made

me go to graduate school

My “Bosses”: Respect authority while questioning it

We learn from our students ■ The

best “head fake” of all time – Caitlin’s idea about storytelling in Alice

More Lessons Learned

President Cohon’s Advice

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Tell them about having FUN

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Like a fish giving a talk about the importance of water

Decide if you’re Tigger or Eeyore

Never Lose the Child-like Wonder

Help others

MK Haley: Limit case of my large family theory “It’s kind of fun to do the impossible” “Professor boy”

Denny Proffitt: Forgotten more than I’ll ever know

Jessica Hodgins: The best gift ever

Loyalty is a two-way street

Never Give Up ■

Brown University – didn’t get in.

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Carnegie Mellon for Graduate School – didn’t get in. ➤ Meeting

with Nico

How to Get People to Help You ■

You can’t get there alone, and I believe in Karma

Tell the truth ■ Be earnest ■ Apologize when you screw up ■ Focus on others, not yourself (an example…) ■

Brick walls let us show our dedication

Don’t bail; the best gold is at the bottom of barrels of crap

Get a feedback loop; and listen to it!

Show Gratitude

How can you do this?

ETC admissions…

Don’t complain; just work harder.

Important Advice Be good at something: it makes you valuable ■ Work hard … “what’s your secret?” ■ Find the best in everybody; no matter how you have to wait for them to show it ■ Be prepared: “luck” is where preparation meets opportunity ■

Today’s Talk My childhood dreams ■ Enabling the dreams of others ■ Lessons learned: how you can achieve your dreams or enable the dreams of others ■

How to achieve your dreams ■

Have you figured out the head fake?

How to achieve your dreams Have you figured out the head fake?

How to lead your life

Have you figured out the second head fake?

Have you figured out the second head fake? This talk wasn’t for you guys. It was for Dylan, Logan, and Chloe.

Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams Randy Pausch Carnegie Mellon University Sept 18, 2007