Randy Pausch Inspires

Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch has received recent attention for his last lecture.  His personal outlook and situation are enough to inspire by themselves, however, it’s his passion for connecting art and technology along with his specific desire to encourage women to engage in computer science that inspired me.  While I don’t know much about the Alice project yet the references to it lead to an understanding that it uses virtual worlds and storytelling to teach programming (among other things).

Essentially, you create an engaging environment and teach along the way.  Where learning and interaction appear to come naturally.  Without trying to diminish the real contributions of this line of thinking it would be nice to see systems that engage us each day in the workplace try to integrate such concepts.  Create simple environments that enable powerful outcomes without burdening the user.  It’s no longer enough to just automate processes or facilitate communication.  Systems should engage, drive and encourage learning and sharing (regardless the target audience and desired outcome).