From "Ummm" to Eager: Developing Your Natural Speaking and Communication Skill

From "Ummm" to Eager: Developing Your Natural Speaking and Communication Skill is unique because it is designed to meet today’s changing and emerging learning environment. Post-secondary education is undergoing radical disruption; options are increasing, providing greater choice and independence for learners. This publication is designed with that disruption in mind and fills an enormous gap in instructional material. This book supports the learner whether they are in a more traditional degree setting, a corporate/work-based training or pursuing a range of self-directed learning opportunities. From Umm to Eager is an interactive publication that allows the user to develop the thinking and skills useful to a range of communication contexts.

This publication is unique, designed for the disrupted and emerging educational landscape. Uniqueness means:

• Best Pedagogical Practices. Traditional textbooks concentrate on explaining subject-matter content, relying on the instructor to provide videos, supplemental articles, and engaged activities whether in-class or as homework. In contrast, this publication provides those materials together and designed in the most effective manner: define a concept, explore it through examples, apply it through activities, reflect on how definitions and application align.
• Learner Autonomy and Choice. While an instructor can assign specific topics and lessons provided in the book, the learner retains the ability of choice and opportunity to select additional lessons. Pedagogical research demonstrates that when learners are engaged, they will seek out additional information on their own. By providing a range of activities and hyperlinks, learners have on-ramps to relevant material to explore on their own at a pace that suits them.
• Flexible and Widely Applicable. This book is not a traditional subject-based textbook though it can be used for a specific course. This book is designed to support those seeking to teach or learn communication concepts and skills regardless of application or subject. For example, a TA cohort in chemistry could use this book to learn how to teach, how to communicate complex chemistry concepts to their own students and why certain techniques work better than others. Similarly, a corporate trainer can assign this book to augment their own materials.  
• Embedded lessons. Traditional textbooks provide a small collection of activities, analytical inquiries and reflective questions at the end of each chapter. This publication, in contrast, embeds activities and hyperlinked support materials such as TED Talks with the relevant concept. This allows learning to be more effective because learners will engage the material in the moment.
• Supports Life-Long Learning. With 200+ activities and 100+ hyperlinks, this publication supports a learner beyond a single course or program. Learners can return to the publication over and over, exploring new lessons or revisiting previously studied ones. Many of the activities are designed to explore with others, whether those others are learners in the same program, family members, friends, co-workers, community groups or other associates.
• Supports Instructors Regardless of Expertise. With this book you do not have to be a communication scholar to engage others in the study of communication. Because this book is a self-contained program to teach communication principles, concepts and skills, any instructor can use it. All individuals, companies and organizations can benefit from a scholar-based (vs. popular culture) study of communication. Yet, there are not enough communication experts to fill the need. This publication can be adopted by any organization and facilitated in various ways.
• Author Availability. The author, Dr. Amanda Feller, is available for consultations, facilitations and workshops related to communication skills and abilities. Whether you opt for a brief consultation or several weeks of instruction, the author is available to support your goals.

Designed as a stand-alone tutorial program or as a support to existing designs, this publication offers over 200 activities, exercises and opportunities for engagement. It provides the user with surveys, templates and other rubrics as interactive, pedagogical tools. Additionally, over 100 hyperlinks to articles, videos and other contemporary material are embedded, allowing the user to explore related content more in-depth. Included are topics such as the nature of learning, empathetic listening, building communication confidence, creating organized thought for effective messaging and nonverbal development.

Adopt this book if you are:

• An Individual learning independently or through distance, online or hybrid courses. This book will support you throughout a range of courses regardless of course topics. The study of communication is essential.
• A Teaching or Research Assistant new to the role, regardless of discipline. This publication is designed in alignment with best pedagogical practices, and also provides instruction in how people learn. Improving one’s communication is inherent to improving one’s teaching and presentational abilities.
• A Member of the Core Curriculum Committee. Most general education or core programs include communication specific learning outcomes. This publication provides a vehicle for a university to help students meet those learning outcomes regardless of faculty background. This also applies to colleges and universities with inter and multi-disciplinary programs who want to elevate the role of communication in their core and liberal arts curricula.
• A Communication Instructor who wants to enhance your core communication instruction by allowing students to explore the complex and multi-disciplinary nature of communication practices. A department can adopt this book for all majors and minors to be used throughout their studies, not just for a single course.
• A Community Organizer and/or Activist. Communicating effectively around a specific social agenda is increasingly challenging. A place to gain effectiveness is training staff and volunteers in a common set of communication concepts and practices. This is challenging work that is often underfunded and reliant on volunteers. This publication can provide a common course of communication study that is cost-effective and increases organizational outcomes.
• A Consultant or Trainer looking to provide participants with a digital, dynamic and broad-based curriculum, especially one that addresses engagement in difficult conversations. For example, perhaps you already provide workshops in effective leadership, this publication would support that existing work while also providing insight to the communication concepts that undergird leadership ability.
• A Leader, Manager, or C-suite Member in the Professional Setting who wants to effectively interact with stakeholders and engage with them more meaningfully. Many companies create challenges or fail to address them due to a lack of communication acumen. Similar situations occur within an organization regarding internal conversations and information. “Quite quitting”, “The Great Resignation” and other labor movements can be frustrating as businesses struggle to adapt. This book provides a way to navigate such challenges with integrity by increasing communication effectiveness whether within the C-suite or across the entire organization.
• A K-12 Educator or Administrator seeking expert and comprehensive communication training that can assist with student engagement as well as interactions with parents, administrators, union leaders, municipal leaders and the general public. The k-12 environment has become even more complex than pre-pandemic days. Adopting this book within a district or similar k-12 organization will provide much needed support.
• Young adults who are faced with an increasingly complex world made more accessible (and problematic) through online technologies. As post-secondary education undergoes radical disruption and realignment, younger learners are experiencing similar changes. Teens have more opportunities to learn whether independently or in structured programs. This book is designed to support teens especially since teaching effective communication is not a standard part of the typical K-12 curriculum.