Skill Enhancement Exercises
Use simulations to upskill or enhance your self-efficacy in Pre-ETS
We wanted to go beyond online coursework to give you a chance to use your knowledge and practice your skills in everyday scenarios with youth and employers. We know that mastery in these areas translates into improved outcomes for youth with disabilities.
Courses 2 and 3 prepare you for topic-specific skill enhancement exercises. Course 2 will focus on (1) career counseling with a young person with a disability and parent; and (2) facilitating group work with adolescents with disabilities. Course 3 will focus on effective communication skills to engage employers in promoting work experiences for youth with disabilities.
How will we practice our skills?
Tools for eLearning have expanded over the years and we have chosen two methods for skill building. Each delivers an immersive experience, but they use different platforms, to include
- Engaging with live avatars in an online virtual simulation environment
- Role-playing with peers in a social virtual reality environment
Each experience seeks to go beyond traditional role-playing or programmed scripts - assisting you in mastering counseling moves and fostering opportunities for youth and others to support Pre-ETS.
Training Delivery Methods
Participants will be Participants will be randomly selected to participate in one of the three training delivery methods Participants will be described below. Each session will be supervised by two instructors.
Virtual Simulation
Participants may experience a virtual environment to talk with life-like youth about their interests and challenges in a group setting, as well as engage with a life-like employer to promote work. Our project teamed up with UWGLive to provide these live, interactive simulations for you.
Learn more →Social Virtual Reality
Step into the world of virtual reality (VR) with your colleagues across the state and country. Put on your VR headsets, embrace your avatar personality, and practice your engagement skills with youth and employers.
Learn more →Preparation for Skill Engagement Exercises
An online tutorial will precede each engagement activity to introduce you to the simulation mechanism.
Instructors will be present in each session to facilitate the process and provide immediate feedback. They will also give you a formal assessment after the event. You will also assess your own progress.
Evaluation of Skill Engagement Exercises
These diverse options are great for our participants but also allow us to learn from you. How was the experience? Did the modality work effectively? Were you able to immerse yourself in the experience? We truly want to know!
We will ask you to evaluate the training and delivery format when we send you a link to the survey. It is an essential part of our program and we appreciate your input.