We are here at TEDxYYC at the Grand Theatre. I'm Michelle Slar. joined by Ron Glassberg, who is one of our presenters at TEDxYYC. Thank you so much for joining us. Oh, you're very welcome. Now, you are a professor at the University of Calgary. That's right. What is the, you know, the topic of which you are often, you know, doing your major teachings? Well, I deal with the integration of knowledge, pulling things together so that things don't remain fragmented, giving people a big picture of things. That's what I seek to do all the time. It was interesting, you know, our theme, of course, at the event is about community and forward motion. And a lot of what we're doing right now throughout the day is bringing together a lot of different ideas and different opportunities. And, you know, maybe you can kind of, with some of your insight, crystallize some of the things that you've heard from some of the presenters today. And, you know, kind of give us your pedagogy on it. Well, one of the things I heard was, there was a person, I think it was Megan. I can't remember her last name now, but she was talking about empathy and the need to feel things. And that's one part of knowledge. It doesn't have a big place at the university because as I was arguing, what people tend to do is, step, is actually trying to control or master things. And that's not complete. So what I keep trying to do is actually not just give another framework, a wider framework, but actually show how all frameworks can be integrated and to create a complete or total education, as opposed to a partial education. So whatever happens at TED is good because it shows another approach, but there has to be a key to bringing those approaches together. And that's what I'm trying to do. And I think that's what a part of education is as well, trying to find ways to bring different approaches together. And not just say, you do it. I think people need guidance about bringing it together. Absolutely. You know, it's interesting because we also heard from a couple of the speakers that, you know, you walk into, you know, deliver this major piece of knowledge that you're hoping to impart upon your students. And they could probably look at you cross-eyed going, I've never heard that before. You're now putting me in a situation where I need to start thinking differently. So, you know, taking someone through the ABCs is starting to think differently. What's that experience like? Okay, that's a really good question because you're right. The students are not in a comfort zone. They're scared. And at first they don't even get it. So, you have to first of all be really kind to them. You have to relax them. Use humor a lot. Make them forget themselves. In fact, the key is making them forget their fear, their nervousness. Because so many students come in not with a fear of props, but a fear of each other. And the second thing you've got to do is appeal to their own curiosity. They'll forget themselves if they become fascinated or let themselves become fascinated. And so many students have been so used to school as a place of boredom that they don't even know what fascinates them anymore. So, you have to ask questions to bring out their inner, I don't know, their inner question. Because everyone's got one. Like there must be something at you, for example, really want to know about. And that comes to a discourse or dialogue. So, the next thing you do is never be, let them be passive. Always engage. Always question. It doesn't matter there are 5,000 people in the room. You've got to talk to all of them. And you've got to also be ready to drop whatever it is that you've put together for a class in order to let the moment of what's going on in the classroom take over. And that's one of the ways of doing it. It's very difficult, I think, when you're going through such a regimented scholastic system, which we've all been through. To then almost have the maturity and experience enough to sort of pull yourself away from that situation. And kind of spit around and try to look at it in a different way. Because oftentimes, I think that it's once you kind of get some of those life experiences that you force yourself to kind of take a stand back and evaluate. I think one of the things that's great about the program that we're running here is that we've invited a lot of students. And I think that it's great to start to mesh a lot of these different experiences and demographics and that type of thing. And it must be interesting, hopefully inspiring for you to see that there is such a mix of people. And that's great because one of the ways to get them involved is to hear not just your life experiences, but theirs. They've all got them. And to bring that out there is to create a community. Because as you share life experiences, you also forget about the rigid barriers that divide them and make them afraid of each other. And they're interesting and that creates the fascination. And one of the things that you were showing in Ted was how one person can start a big change. Well, it isn't me. It's the students. Once one student, the second student, the third student gets involved in this. You start to bring along the whole group. And even if not everyone comes in, at least a number have, and at least they get involved. And maybe the others will come in later on in their lives. But you can't wait about trying to get in everyone. It's only those who are ready and never try and push someone beyond what they can take. Ron, thank you so much for joining us. I appreciate that. Ron at Glassberg at the University of Calgary, we would hear Ted XYYC in Calgary. I'm Michelle Sklar. Thank you.