Page 12: Easing the Transition: From Welfare to Work

What happens to families leaving welfare? How can mothers and fathers struggling to make ends meet find the time and resources to develop the skills necessary to secure a decent-paying job?

UCF’s Mentoring and Workforce Development lab develops and tests tools and strategies designed to help ease the transition from welfare to work. Led by Assistant Professor of Psychology Kimberly Smith-Jentsch, this dedicated team of researchers has partnered with Workforce Central Florida, a non-profit organization, to develop one of their training resources: an online mentoring program. This program will connect Central Floridians that are transitioning off welfare to local professionals from all walks of life. The mentors and trainees interact via electronic chat once a week for four weeks in an effort to build self-confidence and trade ideas and advice.

Another resource currently being tested is a computer-based simulation that trains essential interpersonal skills, such as assertiveness and cooperation. Together, Assistant Professor Jan Cannon-Bowers (Institute for Simulation and Training and the department of film & digital media) and Kimberly Smith-Jentsch secured a two-year, half-million dollar grant from the State of Florida to develop and test this system. Trainees are immersed in a 40-minute scenario where they play the role of an emergency room customer service representative. Simulated customers and co-workers engage the trainee with problems or questions. Using a headset and microphone, the trainee responds orally to each situation. Voice recognition software advances the scene after each trainee response. When the simulation is over, trainees listen to a recording of their interactions and are guided through a self-critique. This professional-quality training system was developed entirely by Smith-Jentsch, Cannon-Bowers, and their teams of UCF students.

In addition to use as a training tool, plans are underway to test the computer simulation as a selection device for emergency room customer service representatives. In this way, the simulation would enable management to both test potential employees and to train new hires.

As the research team continues to hone their mentoring and simulation-based training methods, their work has drawn attention from other industries. One example is the local hospitality industry. The lab will continue to investigate more effective means for training both inexperienced employees and seasoned professionals, since even the most qualified team of workers can improve with better communication. The team aims to create a community with the greatest level of productivity, prosperity, and quality of life among its entire workforce.

Training for Students, Too!
The lab also applies their workforce training techniques to the UCF student population. Researchers follow undergraduate freshman as they interact with upperclassmen mentors on a one-to-one basis. The students communicate with their mentor once a week for four weeks, either face-to-face, by phone, or via electronic chat. Researchers transcribe the communications and keep track of test scores, class attendance, and overall grade point average. Results to date show that the program has a significant impact on the freshmen’s class attendance and GPA. The freshmen also reported reduced stress and greater self-confidence.

Want to know more?
Psychology website: www.psych.ucf.edu
Kimberly Smith-Jentsch, kjentsch@mail.ucf.edu

QUEST 2005

DATE
Spring 2005

CONTACT
Sae Schatz
Arts & Sciences
Academic Promotions
407-823-5164
sae@cs.ucf.edu

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