Mastering Online Instruction: Key Strategies for Effective Teaching

Join us as we chat with Penny Waddell, an expert in online teaching, to explore the keys to building dynamic and effective virtual learning experiences. Whether you're an educator adapting to online platforms or a leader focused on faculty development, this episode is packed with practical tools, strategies, and insights.

Topics include:

• Proven methods to boost student engagement in online classrooms
• Strategies for creating an inclusive and interactive virtual environment
• Balancing technology with the personal connection students need

Don't miss this opportunity to gain actionable advice and discover how to excel in the evolving landscape of digital education!

Connect with Penny Waddell:
Waddell, EdD (Joyner) Penny | LinkedIn

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Contact Jen Lewis at jrlewis@kendallhunt.com

Transcript

 Jen R. Lewis   0:03
 Alright, welcome. On into the Higher Education podcast.
 I am your host, Jen Lewis, and we are talking about a topic today that I think everybody wants to talk about and that is mastering online instruction and some key strategies for effective teaching.
 I have a very, very special guest with us today and I'm so excited to introduce you to her. I've got Penny Waddell with me.
 So, Penny, why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself?
 Give us a little background into your career and let us know who you are.
penny waddell   1:01
 Thank you so much.
 It's nice to meet you too, Jen, and I appreciate you having me on the podcast today.
 My name is Penny Waddell and I have spent my entire career communicating from the time I was very little and even on 1st and 2nd 3rd grade report cards it would say Penny would be a great student if she would just quit talking so much.
Jen R. Lewis   1:21
 Me too.
 Me too.
penny waddell   1:24
 But Oh my goodness, look here and all of these years later and I'm still teaching communication skills, teaching public skills, public speaking skills. Loving every second of it as I watch people who are so painfully shy become amazing speakers. And I think that through the years when I.
 Watched them move from one complete area to the next with their public speaking and their communication skills.
 I have been so thrilled for them because I realized.
 With good communication skills, your world just really begins to open up and and you get to do all of the wonderful things that you've always dreamed of doing.
 Because you can tell people what you want and you know how to make sure that that is understood.
 So I've taught, as public speaking teacher.
 I've taught as a communication skills instructor, and I've served as Dean of Education for the college where I was I've written.
 Many books over the years I started writing books in 2004.
 All about public speaking and communication skills that have all been published and used all over.
 So I was really excited about that and I've worked with Kendall Hunt since 2006, so I'm really excited to have been working with you guys and to have two books that you've published, speech shark and communication shark.
 So thank you for having me here today.
Jen R. Lewis   2:50
 Yeah. So think whenever we talk about online teaching, I feel like let's just get the COVID question out of the way first, because I feel like that's always such a stereotypical question.
 So I guess for me and probably the listeners are curious, did you start leaning into online teaching because of COVID or did you do it prior to COVID?
penny waddell   3:10
 Oh my goodness.
 So my first experience with online teaching actually began when I was teaching the public speaking course at this Technical College in Georgia.
 But 25 years ago, when I was started teaching these face to face classes in public speaking and communication, I was teaching all face to face at one point.
 But I began teaching classes that were web enhanced, hybrid even 100% online as early as 2006.
 It was a great experience teaching speech with all those very, very different instructional delivery methods, but I can promise you it was never boring.
 So I enjoyed that entire process, but I also found that instructional delivery has really evolved over the years. And while a lot of people didn't start until COVID, I actually began this in 2006 and with a lot of success.
 So if you wanted to know how my online teaching evolved, I can say that my approach really evolved as my proficiency with online teaching improved because I became more comfortable with the technology and I gained more confidence as a result of that.
 So I hope that answers your question.
 The fact is, the more comfortable you can become with the technology that you're using.
 The better you become with that and then online teaching just becomes.
 Teaching.
Jen R. Lewis   4:43
 Well, and I think the really cool part about listening to you talk about this today is that the reason I ask about the COVID is because I think a lot of people fell into online teaching because they had to, right?
 It was.
 It was something like you just had to do so I think for you, by the time COVID came around, you were kind of already a master at your craft and you had all this experience.
 So you were intentionally teaching online and I think instead of just teaching by happenstance because of a global pandemic.
 So I think you know how how do you would you say?
 Your online teaching style or strategy evolved from when you first started. Maybe back in 2006, and then to up to this date.
penny waddell   5:22
 Well, it certainly has evolved.
 I have to tell you when I first began, I was just testing the waters and doing this myself.
 But as program director for the College, I began to have and recruit other instructors who felt comfortable enough to give it a try.
 And we were using different instructional delivery type methods. So as I mentioned, you know, we started in the very beginning just doing.
 Offering web enhanced courses.
 In other words, we were face to face most of the time.
 But we used a lot of Internet sourced materials.
 We had a lot of activities and assignments where students had to go to the Internet to find it, and then we were venturing into hybrid, which is what would be 1/2 and half 1/2 of the class was face to face the other half half of the.
 Class was completely online and so then we moved to 100% online not for all the classes. You understand we would.
 Offer all of these different instructional delivery methodologies so that people could choose the one that they felt most comfortable with, or the one where they felt they would excel. So say for example you were terrified of online, you might just choose to register for a face to face.
 Class no online work and someone who was a little more comfortable might register for the web, enhance class and someone who is more comfortable than that.
 Would register for the hybrid class.
 And then we would have those few who were full time moms and they worked full time and they had a husband and a family full of of wonderful people, that they were responsible for.
 And they looked at the online class as an opportunity for them to advance their career, advance their education, but still be able to take care of the children that were home, get them off the bus, take care of their dinners, get them to bed at night, and then.
 They would do.
 Their homework assignments.
 And they would study because they could do it at a time that was convenient for them. And you know something. Now to Jen, that's new and it's not too new.
 It's it's a year or two old at this point, but a lot of people don't talk about it.
 There is another instructional delivery method on the horizon that people aren't really talking about that much, and it's called High Flex.
 Have you heard of it?
Jen R. Lewis   7:48
 I haven't.
 I don't know what that is.
penny waddell   7:50
 I actually covered it in one of my in my textbook of communication Shard textbook.
 And basically what this is, it's a hybrid type course. In other words, when you sign up for a high flex class and it's spelled HYFLEX.
 In case you're wondering, when you sign up for that particular type of class, what you do is you say, OK.
Jen R. Lewis   8:08
 Got it.
penny waddell   8:13
 I know that you're going to be meeting, let's say, Tuesdays at 2:00 PM from 2:00 to 4:00 PM.
 And so I know you're going to be meeting.
 Tuesdays from 2:00 to 4:00. But the teacher, when she gets in the classroom or he is in the classroom.
 And teaching that course they're teaching face to face to the people that are in that class, but at the same point.
 They're teaching and they're instructional.
 Time is being filmed and it's being saved. The recordings being saved and then delivered to all the other students who register for that class that might not have come that day.
 The cool thing we've learned, too, is we've actually decided to start sending that recording out to everyone, regardless of whether you were there.
 Or whether you weren't simply because sometimes your mind might wander or, you know, you might want to revisit what that instructor said about a particular module.
 And so you could always go back to that recording, replay it, listen to it again.
 It also was very helpful when it came time for testing because the students I mean could really revisit that again.
 So that was an excellent way to do it, but High Flex is you can come that Tuesday at 20 clock for.
 For the on campus face to face class, if that worked in your schedule that week. But if that that particular week your child might have needed to go to the dentist, or let's say your work schedule changed and you couldn't go, you still were part of that class.
 You still were responsible for everything in that class, but you didn't actually have to be in the brick and mortar walls that were there.
 Of the campus.
 You could get that online at home when you wanted to that day or later.
 Using your computer so.
Jen R. Lewis   10:02
 I think that's so great because I think a lot of people who did not have these opportunities, I think success rates are probably much higher for people completing courses. When you have the flexibility right, because not everybody has a traditional college career path, you know, maybe they're a.
 Mom. Or maybe they have a family like you mentioned.
 So let's let's pretend for a second here we've got somebody listening who is maybe new in their career.
 They don't have a lot of experience teaching online.
 What kind of strategies would you tell them?
 Use or are the most beneficial for keeping students engaged online, because whether you're teaching communications or whether you're teaching, you know another discipline. What is?
 What is a way that you keep your students engaged online?
penny waddell   10:47
 That's a great question.
 Well, teachers have to maintain student engagement regardless of whether they're in an online class environment or a face to face class.
 So here are a couple of strategies that I follow.
 One, I want to make sure that I create a learning community and that I set expectations and model the engagement that I'd like for my students to show.
 So I have to do all of those things.
 Those things don't just happen.
 You have to be very intentional about creating that learning community, but I think it's so important I can go into detail.
 With those, if you want, you can let me know, but I also like to design course content and I like to design activities that keep the students attention so often they will get bored or they will just zone out because they have so many other things on their.
 Minds so having the course content, designed wonderfully and also providing lots of activities for practice and for interaction in the classroom, keeps their attention and keeps them engaged.
 I like to model professionalism.
 I want my students to behave professionally in my class, which you do.
 I have to make sure I am the model of professionalism for them, so that means always being there, always being on time, always being prepared, whether I am in class or speaking to them through a computer in an online class.
 So it doesn't matter.
 I still have to make sure I'm ready for them and they know.
 Without a doubt, when it's that time when they're supposed to show up for class, whether it's synchronous or asynchronous.
 They're gonna know I'm there, and I'm gonna be ready, and I'm gonna be excited to greet them.
 I need to have student office hours. I can have those virtually if I'd like to. I can also have them face to face and I like.
 Personally, I like to offer a combination of those so that it works.
 For whatever the students need, and when you're creating that learning community, I like to use teen projects. I like to set the class up in groups where they can create.
 Peer connections with others that are in the classroom.
 And when they start to engage not only with their instructor, but with other students in the classroom, then that's a buy in Jen so that they start to feel connected enough that now they they feel responsible.
 They don't want to let go. They want to make sure that they're doing all the things that they're supposed to be.
 And I guess my last thing would be we should always be mindful of students needs their physical needs and their mental needs.
 So what do they need to learn?
 How do they learn?
 You know, it's the teacher teaching in a way that will be effective for that person's learning style.
 And when I say physical, you know we have all different types of people in our classes and some of them have certain needs.
 Whether it be I can't sit for two hours because I might have a back injury or you know, an issue that keeps me from sitting is the teacher, OK, if that person stands and you know.
 For part of the class and the answer is yes.
 Why not?
 And then whatever they might happen to be, and if they have any disabilities by, you know, chance, then we need to make sure that we are being mindful of those things.
 So we can make them feel comfortable and happy where they happen to be.
 So of course I can go go into great detail on how to create a learn. That's a class, I guess a podcast on it is creating a learning community and setting expectations, but that is one thing that teachers have to do and they have to do it.
Jen R. Lewis   14:19
 Yeah.
penny waddell   14:27
 On the first day of class or before the first day of class ever starts, because having those specific strategies will help you to be a more effective teacher and will help to maintain that student engagement that will make an online environment all the stronger.
Jen R. Lewis   14:45
 And it probably doesn't hurt that you're an incredibly engaging speaker, and I don't think anybody has ever said about listening to a a cute little Georgia accent.
 I love your accent so much. I already told you that.
 So so for anyone out there listening, adopt A Georgia accent and people will listen to you.
penny waddell   14:57
 You.
 Thanks.
Jen R. Lewis   15:04
 So. So let's talk about and. You know, you're fostering a community. You're keeping students engaged. So beyond, like, a basic learning management system. What kind of digital tools or platforms have helped you?
 Transform your online teaching.
penny waddell   15:20
 Oh my goodness.
 So I have lots of favorite tools that I like to use.
 One is of course, since I'm teaching a public speaking class and a communication skills class, we use a lot of video equipment, and since we're using that, we use a lot of noise counseling tools.
 But you know you have to use those with any type of online class that you're using, so it's really good to get used to using those types of things.
 I love the screen sharing tools that we're able to use and the ability.
 To record classes so that you can share them with others after the classes they were with. Of course, most schools will have an LMS that they require and and when we use those different platforms, those online platforms, those become very much important tools that we use and every.
 College, every university, every school has their own learning management system.
 That they use and of course I've acronymed.
 I shortened it acronym.
 That's just an educational thing that we do and should not do it so often. I'm so sorry.
 But the LMS stands for learning management systems and when we're using online platforms such as Blackboard or or D2L or Angel or you know there's so many different ones. We have to understand, they're all pretty much the same as the next they. They work the same.
 Way they interface the same way.
 So even if you move from that.
 To online platform such as Zoom or Google meets or teams.
 They all fairly much work the same, so it's good to understand all the wonderful little tricks and treasures you can get from using those platforms.
 Also, I guess I can't avoid saying this though Jen, I do love my calendly link that I use for students so they can make appointments. So when people need to work with me instead of them calling me and saying OK penny, what is your?
 What is your schedule like for next week?
 I can just give them my calendly link. They can look at my schedule and they can say, oh, she's open on.
 Thursdays at 4:00 I I can grab that appointment.
 Or, you know, maybe I can see her Friday afternoon at two and. And the fact is, they can see your appointment schedule.
 So they can make the time the time set, and then you get the. Note that says, oh, you have an appointment with Jan at at 20 clock on Tuesday, so you know the cool thing is when you have that it shares a lot. So I use a.
 Lot of those different types of tools.
 And I have to tell you, they all make our jobs so much easier.
 As we're we're trying to look for solutions for all the challenges that instructors have to make sure their students are well cared for.
 But it's our job as an instructor to make sure that our students know how to use those tools as well.
 So don't just assume they understand how to use those tools.
Jen R. Lewis   18:21
 I think even what you mentioned earlier about how you send out videos to everyone. I'm not gonna lie to you.
 That makes me like, honestly, a little jealous when I hear stuff like that, because I think back when I was in college and as you mentioned, some people might space out or, you know, maybe not.
 Pay attention for a portion of it. So sending out the videos like you said you do is kind of like a digital notebook, right?
 So if you missed a part and you weren't taking notes, I think it's really important that you have that playback so you can go back because not everybody retains everything when people are speaking.
 Right. We're all different kinds of learners.
 So outside of the tools that you're using, you know everything you're doing is only as good as your student feedback.
 So can you walk me through maybe how you gather responses from students to let you know how their experience is going online?
penny waddell   19:10
 Sure, I think.
 I think that that's just so important that we have feedback from our students to may, I say, because without that, there's so many little things that we might have just completely missed.
 But when you get the student feedback, you're able to really see what they need.
 So I'm really glad you asked this question every time I teach a class, I start the very beginning of the class, letting the participants know that they all are bringing a lot to.
 So understand, I teach adults. So I teach adults and colleges.
 I teach adults in universities, not just in Georgia, but all over the country. And then of course, even abroad.
 From time to time, I teach industries that are local, state, national and global industries.
 So when I have people that are in my workshops or in my class, they often know a lot.
 A lot of information that I may not be aware of, so everything you learn is not always from the instructor. The instructor is the manager of the class and of course offers a lot of content knowledge. But at the same time there are people in our classes that.
 Have had experiences and knowledge that others will never have and we can all learn from each other.
 So I began the class by letting them know that they bring a lot to the table and I want to encourage them to be interactive during.
 Classroom meetings.
 I I just love it when they speak up Jen, and they add their own observations or their own understandings about something that we happen to talk about, and then that lets me know that I'm doing something right. Because that means that my class is now interactive and it.
 Filled with a classroom of people that are learning.
 They're not just sitting in a seat, so I invite student feedback 'cause I think it's a primary way for us to make our.
 Online courses more effective.
 I mean, imagine Jen, if you had 30 to 40 participants and a course maybe more and they're all taking online courses for various subjects and topics.
 So they're getting lots of different experiences with other instructors who are also leading an online or a hybrid type of course and having their feedback.
 Can provide curriculum developers with ideas of how to combat challenges.
 That we may not even know existed. So we have to have that student feedback throughout the course from the first day to the last day, instructors must listen.
 We have to listen to our students and take their suggestions to heart as we're writing these teaching materials and as we're delivering the courses.
 Because you know that we we need they they know they they're seeing it from lots of different teachers they know.
 Which teachers are doing the best?
 Instructional design and with their delivery. And we need to take advantage of that. You know, lots of colleges and universities and industries will invite participants to offer feedback in a formal evaluation at the end of every course or at the end of their very workshop. So we need.
 To take that feedback very seriously, and I'm constantly making notes regarding how the session's progressing and how it's going.
 I'll ask myself, what are the problems and I'll.
 Note of that and I'll say did this activity flop yet?
 That one worked and I'll analyze it and try to decide exactly what happened with the activity that tanked.
 So I might need to tweak the activity.
 I might need to throw it out altogether, but I won't know that unless I can ask myself. What can I do to make it better?
 Is this salvageable or do I need to remove it?
 Do I need to try something else?
 You know, and all of those things.
 And together will help us all. It has a ripple effect.
 So when we do something really great and our students know it, but it also has a negative ripple effect if we're handling something the wrong way. And if we do not listen to our students, then they'll know that as well.
 So hopefully that that will help and and the reason why feedback is so, so important.
Jen R. Lewis   23:30
 No, I I love to go off of our set list of questions sometimes 'cause. I was just thinking of this question as you were talking about this. So I'm just gonna throw one at you here.
penny waddell   23:38
 You're head.
 I'm ready.
Jen R. Lewis   23:41
 Yeah. So as I'm sitting here thinking about my experience in college or a lot of us didn't have a digital, you know, experience in higher education and now it's kind of becoming the norm, right?
 So for you as a teacher, and I think this could be, you know, as a professor, as somebody who works in a different.
 Career how do you set boundaries with your students?
 Because I think what happens when you're so digitally accessible, your students think that you're available all the time.
 So my question to you is maybe twofold.
 How do you set boundaries with your students and letting them know that you are not in fact available 24/7? And how do you use time management to make sure that you are available when they need you?
penny waddell   24:25
 Well, you really do ask the best questions so.
Jen R. Lewis   24:28
 Thank you.
penny waddell   24:30
 So that's also something you start on the first day. So the first day of class, even before I begin the first day of class, I'm sending my students for that semester an e-mail, contacting them through text, calling them if I can't get in touch with them in another.
 Direction just to introduce myself and let them know who I am. But I also will provide for them.
 Prior to them walking in the class, they've already got a copy of my syllabus.
 They already know where my office is.
 They already know what my office hours are.
 They know what all their assignments will be for the semester.
 They know how they can contact me and they also know.
 When they can contact me so they know that I would be on campus from the hours that I would be on campus.
 They also know the hours I'm not on campus.
 They know they can e-mail me anytime.
 Question. And if I'm not working or not on campus that day and I can answer an e-mail, I might answer the e-mail, but they also know that they may not get that answer until the next morning when I'm back on campus again.
 And so, but I'm still welcome them to go ahead and send that e-mail and if I can, I will.
 But I have a family.
 I have a wonderful husband. I've been married to for years.
 And a 100 million years and a house full of children and grandchildren and lots of friends and lots of wonderful things.
 Mom and my sisters that are very important to my life and I'm with them quite a bit.
 So I do have personal boundaries, but I wanted to tell you something.
 I know you kind of mentioned about balance and and how you handle that well about 10 years ago I attended a speech and you might want to check this guy out.
 I just love him, but his his name is Dan Thurman.
 I don't know if you've ever heard the name, but he wrote a book and it was called off balance on purpose.
 And I was able to meet him and talk to him, attend one of his speeches and found that he really has a.
 Approach to balance.
 And we need to take this approach to heart. And I think instructors would do well to take this approach to heart. And his approach is that, you know, sometimes we do have to be flexible and shift during the times when life happens because life is constantly changing and.
 Evolving sounds a lot like online instruction, right?
Jen R. Lewis   27:04
 Oh yeah.
penny waddell   27:07
 I know, but it's true.
 So what?
 This guy does is he rides onto a stage on a unicycle.
 Now, have you ever seen a unicycle, Jen?
Jen R. Lewis   27:17
 Yes, I can't say I've ever seen one roll on the stage on one.
 But yes, I know what it is.
penny waddell   27:22
 So then I can guess you've never ridden one then, right?
Jen R. Lewis   27:25
 No, I would never.
 As I mentioned to you, I bruise like a Peach, so I'm not.
 I'm not gonna even attempt that.
penny waddell   27:31
 OK.
 So even.
 Just imagine if you're not very good and you're on a bicycle.
 Let's talk about that.
 So even if you're on a bicycle or a skateboard, Oh my goodness.
 So that's a lot of fun.
 No. OK.
 I better go back to the unicycle. Right. OK.
 All right, imagine.
Jen R. Lewis   27:48
 Still, like skateboarders right at it.
 I've tried snowboarding.
 I'm not good at that either, so let's go back to the unicent.
penny waddell   27:54
 OK.
 Well, go back to the unicycle.
 So Dan actually rides this unicycle onto the stage and it's the neatest thing, because nobody's expecting it.
 Normally, speakers walk on stage while the audience is applauding, and then they watch the person walk the lectern and the person starts to speak.
 But not this guy.
 No, he rides on a unicycle A1 wheel cycle and as he's moving on to the stage, you notice that sometimes he's actually having.
 To lean forward when he wants to propel himself forward.
 But then sometimes he has to.
 Kind of pull and lean backwards when he's going too fast.
 Or he might end up on the other side of the stage running down those steps and falling, falling to his death. So we don't want that to happen.
 So yes, it's so cool because what you learn from that one thing lets you know that you can't have just one rigid posture for every day of your life.
Jen R. Lewis   28:39
 It has wild.
penny waddell   28:53
 Or sooner or later, if you jig when you really should have jogged, you're gonna crash.
Jen R. Lewis   28:59
 Yeah, that's so funny.
penny waddell   28:59
 You know, so there's a lot of things that for that. So that's why he says you have to be off balance on purpose. And I really believe when you're teaching online.
 You should kind of follow the same plan as you follow when you're teaching face to face, you're still teaching.
 You're still delivering the content. Some people say, oh, it's going to be so much easier to teach online.
 I can do this or I could do that.
 No, it's actually harder to teach online than it is face to face. You actually put in.
 More effort, more energy, more planning, more stress.
 Because what happens if your camera's not working?
 Hello so.
Jen R. Lewis   29:39
 Right. Well, and that's actually really interesting.
 You say that because that was one of the questions I wanted to make sure we covered was accessibility considerations.
 So I think you know back in the day, it's, oh, my car shut down or I couldn't get there.
 You know, I went to school in Chicago.
 I was like, oh, I missed the train, so I was late. So there are all these excuses. I think sometimes that can come up while you're attending a higher education course.
 So my question for you is what kind of things do you hear and how do you handle those?
 Technological challenges.
 My Internet's not working. My computer crashed.
 How do you deal with those and try to decipher which ones are valid and which ones aren't?
penny waddell   30:19
 Oh my goodness.
 So you do have to realize that you are teaching human beings and you're teaching people who have lives. You're not just teaching ahead in your in your on your online screen.
 You're not just teaching that person, So what you don't know is behind that door, or even if it's a face to face class and you have all the students in your in your classroom, you don't know what type of day they had that day.
Jen R. Lewis   30:35
 Mm hmm.
penny waddell   30:46
 What they're going to go home to that afternoon.
 You don't know how much money's in their pocket.
 You don't know if they're hungry or if they're, you know.
 Healthy if they feel good, you can look and try to decide some of those things, but you know you're not there to judge.
 So one thing I think we have to realize is that that life happens and you have to be thoughtful about these people that are sitting in your class because they are very, very special and wonderful people. And you as the instructor.
 You have a responsibility to give them your very best and to make sure that they're getting what they came to get that, you know we are.
 We are in customer service. I tell people all of the time you're in education.
 Yes, you're in education.
 Nope, Nope. You are in customer service.
 These are your customers without the students that are in your classroom and without them as your customers, and treating them as very.
 Very valued customers, they'll go somewhere else to get their education.
 And then where is your college going to be?
 So you see colleges that are failing because they don't have enough students and and they are having to let teachers go. And now teachers are teaching more students in one class because they don't replace the teachers and you have to understand, we've got to make sure that we.
 Are giving them the experience that they need because it's just it's so different so.
 Kid, I mean, students need customers. Need a face to face experience.
 That's one of the reasons why they don't 100%.
 Love online business?
 They sometimes they want to go in and ask a question. They've got a problem. They want to make sure they ask a question or they could be married to an old dinosaur like I am and.
 He just doesn't love the computer.
 Well, I love the computer. So you know, everybody's different.
 So I think that they have.
Jen R. Lewis   32:48
 Yeah.
penny waddell   32:50
 We have to think, what do our customers need? And we also have to think what do our customers prefer?
 So yes, they could have a car accident on the way in, or they.
 Their their family member could have had a car accident with all of our traffic that's around.
 It's not unusual.
 Traffic could have kept them from it.
 They could have just had a bad day and people that day, so we need to be empathetic with them.
Jen R. Lewis   33:12
 Mm hmm.
penny waddell   33:15
 We need to think about that and, you know, stop it and and consider what they need now.
 It's not just about whether they missed a class or whether they missed an assignment, or how you handle that, but we have to make our online classes accessible for everybody, and that's not a new trend.
 That that is something we've been doing for years and years and years.
 But it's extremely important and it's necessary for all of us that our instructors and those of us that are instructional designers.
 So we have to design our courses and and make sure that we can do whatever we have to to help them find success as they learn new course content and as they put their new found knowledge into practice as they're using this because this is applicable to all.
 Students, regardless of whether they have learning preference, different learning pref.
 Or are they exceptional students?
 Or maybe they have some sort of physical limitations that we need to take into effect too, so.
Jen R. Lewis   34:19
 I think I'm listening to.
 I'm hearing a lot of parallels between what you do and when you say customer service.
 It's very similar to publishing, right?
 We're we're in the higher education realm, just like you and I think publishing sometimes, you know, of course, we want to sell books, but the reality of our job is to provide content that's going to help change higher education. The most beneficial way possible and give those stud.
penny waddell   34:30
 Play.
Jen R. Lewis   34:46
 The best experience, and that's why we try to reach out and make connections with professors and.
 People who offer books like yourself, so I think that's really well said and a really great, great way to end the conversation.
 But I want to give you the opportunity to, you know, mention anything you want to talk about.
 Maybe your books or anything you're doing. I'm happy to put your books in the footnote so people can find you.
 Maybe to share anything that you know you got going on and you want people to be aware of other than the fact that you make honey and I'll be sitting by my mailbox waiting for you to send me some.
 But yeah, why did you go ahead and share anything you want to share with anybody to let you know what you got going on?
penny waddell   35:25
 Oh my goodness.
 Thank you for that.
 So I do have the two books through Kendall Hunt publishers. The books are speech shark and communication shark. Both of them are are quite different because one really just teaches you how to make speeches in a public setting. But that's whether you're online or whether you're face to.
 Face and also it covers a lot of how to behave.
 The the etiquette you you would need to know for online and virtual communication.
 So if you do a lot of online meetings and you're in a business, that's a good place to start too, and to learn what is expected for online communications. Then of course, communication shark is a human communication book.
 That one covers relationships and how to communicate with others and how to look at how you communicate with yourself.
 So a lot of that has to do with social and emotional.
 Intelligence, but also includes.
 To speak in public as well. So that is a fun part that I've I've been doing with Kendall Hunt for years and years and excited about the different additions we have and we're talking about coming out with a new edition and looking for maybe some other authors who.
 Might be interested in collaborating with those two books as we work on future editions with that.
 So that's an interesting thing. If anybody's interested in that. The other thing is I have been working lately with continuing.
 Education. Professional development.
 Some people call it training and development and have had so much fun with that, where I'm able to go into industries and speak with local, state, national and global industries about their workplace communication skills so I can train their staff members and I can train their managers and.
 I've even had the opportunity to train their upper.
 Areas of their administration.
 So that's a lot of fun too, so.
 A lot of them are private companies and then of course we have a lot of government agencies that I've been able to work with as well.
 So it's it's a lot of fun to do that now with doing that, I've been able to link in with Kendall Hunt again and you've put me in touch with another one of your publishers, your sister, publisher, which is Innovative, Inc.
 And I'm working with them now. Creating workbooks, student workbooks.
Jen R. Lewis   37:51
 OK.
penny waddell   37:56
 Instructor workbooks. Visual aids.
 And all of the talking points needed for a person to teach a professional development session.
 On their own turf, so perhaps you would not want to hire a workshop leader to come in.
 You've got enough talent there at your own company, but you don't have someone that can develop the curriculum.
 Well, I have an instructional design degree and I'm really, really good at creating instructional design materials. And so because of that, I can create the materials.
 And you can just use them. So it would give you student workbooks for all of your students. You as the instructor would get a workbook and you do not have to create a PowerPoint or visual aids or find videos that work with it as examples or even come.
 Up with activities or projects that your workshop participants can take part in so that they can practice what they're learning.
 So it's just a lot of fun.
 So whether it's team building exercises you need or.
 A class and how to?
 How to communicate with others in your workplace?
 Those are training and development tips that everybody needs right now, so especially coming out of COVID, as you said, because thing a lot has changed since then.
Jen R. Lewis   39:15
 So you've got a lot going on. So let me just say I'm very grateful you took some time to talk to me today.
 I really enjoyed our conversation and you are holding up the cliche. Just sweet as a Georgia Peach.
 My goodness gracious. You are so sweet.
 But yeah, thank you so much for taking time to talk about your craft.
penny waddell   39:29
 Thanks.
Jen R. Lewis   39:32
 You know you are an expert in your field, so I'm appreciative that we're able to create this content and share it with anybody who wants to listen.
 So thank you.
 Thank you.
 Thank you from myself and everyone at Kendall Hunt.
 We are so appreciative of your time.
penny waddell   39:45
 Thank you, Jen. Always a pleasure.  |
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