2023 – Central District All Faculty Symposium – 4-H Youth Development
M. Souers, E. Reichel, UF/IFAS Orange County, Orlando, FL, and B. White, UF/IFAS Lake County, Tavares, FL.
Situation/Objectives: The District VIII 4-H citrus project is open to Orange, Lake, Seminole, and Volusia counties. In 2022, there were seventy youth participants needing timely information about tree care, workshops, and contest preparation. The team created a website to provide on- demand information for youth and parents. The objective of the website was to create a single stop resource for 4-H families using educational elements including video, written instructions, project record books, study guides and fieldtrip/workshop information. Education Methods/Approach: The website has a home page plus subsidiary pages. The home page provides an overview of the program, promotions for upcoming events, self-directed educational activities, timely announcements, and contact information for county offices. Subsidiary pages include tree care, pests, diseases, the citrus industry, project record books and contest details.
The team used email communication for reminders but directed participants to the website as the primary resource for project-related information. Results: From May 2022 through year-end there were two-hundred fifty-one web visits. To date in 2023, more than seventy people have accessed the site. Participant families were surveyed to determine if they found the site useful.
Eleven families responded, which represented twenty-four of the participants (34% of total). All counties were included in the survey. Results indicated that 100% responding had used the website. Nine of eleven families (82%) rated the website as useful in support of the project and ten of eleven (91%) indicated that they had used the site for multiple resources. Comments included “website is wonderful, everything easy to find” “please add a spot to ask questions” and another preferred Facebook. Conclusion: The website has proven to be a useful resource to many of the participating families. We plan to incorporate suggested additions to the site for 2023-24 to improve the user experience and provide 24/7 access to project information.
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