[MUSIC]. Hello, and welcome to the graduation
ceremony for my MOOC. I'm of course Dr Charles Severance, and
I'm your instructor. And I'll be awarding you your
certificate, when the time comes. I really appreciate the fact that you've
stuck with the class long enough to get a, to get a certificate.
but as is traditional with graduations, we have a graduation speaker.
And he's my good friend and colleague Curt Bonk, from, Indiana University.
And, so, before we do the, graduation ceremony, I would like to have our
graduation speaker talk briefly. Kurt.
>> This is going to be a PC talk. >> There you go.
What does that mean? >> Well, politically correct.
>> Okay. >> At least for one thing.
I got my red Indiana glasses, and my, blue.
>> Go Blue. >> Michigan, blue shirt on.
It's partly about what I'll call not personal computers, another PC word, but
Possible Courses, meaning possible paths. Not next courses you're going to take
with Doctor Chuck, necessarily. But what I want to walk you through is
four P words, four C words for your possible courses in life.
This, course, this MOOC, was about, your passion, your interest, what you decided
to do. You moved into an area, maybe a new area,
that's within your, comfort zone, or maybe a bit beyond it.
But you're trying to find, your element in life, as Sir Ken Robinson says.
We're all looking for our personal element, right?
So, at number one, passion. You have to be passionate about your
course interests in what you explore. As part of passion, you can't just be
passionate and expect to succeed in life. You need a purpose, you need a goal.
You need to be moving toward something. As this Professor at Stanford talks
about, The Highest Goal. Maybe this course you took wasn't your
highest goal. But it was a goal, nonetheless.
And we're all moving towards that. So we want to have purpose.
We want to have passion. But the only way you're going to get
through a MOOC, is to have persistence, or grit.
You push your way through it. Persevere in that class.
Find that extra energy inside. And I want to congratulate all of you for
finding that. You've got your passion, right?
You found your purpose, hopefully even just a course related purpose.
And per, persistence, perseverance, grit. That's the number one word today in
psychology. Number four, of course you're in this
class, so you have to have a little bit of playfulness along the way.
You know I got into MOOCing stance when I did my MOOC for a week.
You can take a look at it online, but I have a little playfulness in my MOOC.
Four P words, keep those in mind as you perceive, another P word, into life and
your possible courses in your life. C words, of course you chose, to get
involved, choice to C word you've had autonomy.
It's your personal decision to get into this class and complete that class to
know the C word. But commitment, the second C word I want
to focus on, you not always just decided or chose, you committed to it to
completing this course. And that, when you come, when you did
that, all your peers were watching you, and talking to you, and sharing with you,
and, next word, connections. A CMOOC, a connectivist MOOC and, any
class online, is about about connections and relationships.
Hopefully, you didn't just finish this class, you formed new bridges, new
relationships, new possible pathways, possible courses in your life.
And so those connections you have might help you down the road anywhere.
Not just for the content here, but maybe they'll help you get an new job
somewhere, or find out about a new interest, right?
And then, what is this about? Some of you will want the certificate,
you're going to want this. Some of you want your million dollars.
Well, maybe you won't make a million from taking this class or all your classes,
but what you will do is maybe like Steve Jobs is become innovative.
The book I'm listening to now in my car and I just finished Defining Your
Element. You have completed a course, you might
get a certificate, another C word. So those are the four P words, passion,
persistence, purpose, and playfulness. And the four C words we moved through,
choice, right? You want to have some choice in your
life. Commitment to things that you do choose
to, to pursue, and relationships or connections, and finally, completion.
A course, a certificate, and you move on in life.