A brief questionnaire that can be used to routinely monitor the quality of structured experiences for youth is discussed in this paper. Structured experiences are discrete periods of time in which youth gather for activity under the supervision of adult or youth leaders. Four-item measures of perceived value and engagement were created. A questionnaire including these measures along with items from the 4-H Common Measures was administered to 219 youth from 11 4-H clubs. Data were analyzed for evidence of reliability and validity. Alpha reliability estimates were .82 and .71 for the two multipleitem monitoring instruments. Correlations (validity coefficients) ranged from .48 to .61. Multiple regression results were consistent with predictions. Significant relations were found between perceived value, engagement, meaningfulness and supportiveness of social climate and safety of social climate. Results thus suggest that these instruments may be appropriate for use in monitoring structured experiences for youth.

Using themes (such as the Wild West or Survivor or Star Wars) in camp settings may enhance the quality of camp activities and youths' overall camp experience. We evaluated the effect of theming camp experiences on the quality of subjective experiences of campers. Campers (N = 231) in 3 sessions of a residential 4-H camp participated in the study. One camp session was fully themed (all activities used tangible and intangible props, cues, and imaginary story contexts), a second was partially themed (intangible cues and stories only), and the third was not themed. Questionnaires measuring the quality of immediate subjective experiences (N=1,847) were completed following each of 8 activity sessions (e.g., climbing, fishing, swimming). Campers also completed a questionnaire for the purpose of overall camp evaluation at the end of their camp sessions. Activity-level data were analyzed using linear mixed modeling techniques. Ordinary least-squares regression was used to analyze campers' overall camp experiences. Results at the activity level revealed significant theme-by-activity interaction effects. At the camp level, a hypothesized causal sequence linking theme to likelihood to recommend was supported.

We describe a process for construction and use of a "dashboard" for monitoring the quality of in-person nonformal education programs. We followed the process to develop a 4-H special interest (SPIN) club dashboard, but the steps are applicable to any education program that includes instruction over multiple sessions. The dashboard construction process comprises selecting performance measures, choosing data collection strategies, designing the content and layout of the dashboard, collecting data, and populating the dashboard with performance metrics. Although these process steps are intuitive, specific decision options within each step can be complex. Our article includes discussion of these complexities in the context of our SPIN club application.

We evaluated 4 “experience industry” strategies for enhancing the quality of immediate experiences for 4-H youth: theming, adding multisensory experiences, personalizing interactions, and providing memorabilia. These strategies are commonly used by theme parks, restaurants, resorts, attractions, and other experience industry organizations, but their application to youth services is sporadic. 4-H youth (n = 30) participated in a series of 8 outdoor recreation activity sessions. Each activity session, 1 per week for 8 consecutive weeks, was structured using a unique combination of the 4 strategies. Participants completed questionnaires measuring 5 dimensions of experience quality after each activity session. Theme and personalization of experiences were found to significantly increase experience quality.