Youth and Adult Perceptions of a New Technology in California 4-H: The Online Record Book

Abstract

Youth development research suggests that adult volunteers have the potential to influence the how and when youth engage with technology as a legitimate form of program participation. The adults' comfort levels with technology, coupled with the historical structure of the youth development organization itself, shapes which technologies are made available to, adopted by, or perceived as relevant or useful to youth. This study explores how adults and youth members of California 4-H perceived the 4-H Online Record Book (ORB), an electronic version of the traditional 4-H record book. Survey data from 236 self-identified users and non-users of ORB provided feedback about their use of and feelings towards ORB, with youth expressing more positive feelings towards ORB and adults feeling more negative about the system. Youth however, felt supported by adults to use ORB.

Youth in 4-H Latino Initiative programs achieve similar outcomes to youth in 4-H community clubs

“…Table 1 summarizes eight 4-H Latino Initiative programs included in this study (note: more than eight programs were implemented but youth surveys were only administered in these eight), and their core components. Community club youth, aged 9 to 18, completed surveys online using the Online Record Book (ORB) (for an explanation of ORB, see Lewis and Worker 2016), Qualtrics, or paper and pencil. Younger youth, aged 5 to 8, completed surveys at state events near the end of the program year.…”