USING TECHNOLOGY TO ENHANCE 4-H RECORD KEEPING Susan Murray SW District 4-H Program Specialist

FORMS Download forms from the State 4-H website at Oklahoma Report Form – Revised in 2011 – no revisions for 2014 Oklahoma 4-H Level III & IV Scholarship Application  Revised yearly to reflect current scholarships available  Download from website after January 1 each year

THE OKLAHOMA REPORT FORM Sections I-A, II and III  Based on linked text boxes  Cannot go to second page until first page is full  When the end of the field is reached, no more information will be displayed

THE OKLAHOMA REPORT FORM Formatting Suggestions  Use tables or graphs to illustrate repetitive activities or show time spent on project work  Use short statements to report one-time or short-term activities (include number of times or number of participants as appropriate)  Use short paragraphs to show impact of an intensive program, share details of a research project or career exploration activity  Selectively use bold type and/or color for emphasis  Be sure to show work toward each of the project ’ s objectives in some part of the 4-H member ’ s Record Book

THE OKLAHOMA REPORT FORM

Creating tables in spreadsheet programs Advantages: It is not necessary to “ build ” the table from scratch The program will perform calculations (total the data) the information for you in most situations Disadvantages: The default font is Arial 10. If the font is not changed to Times New Roman, Arial or Courier 12, the font will be too small and the book will be disqualified The table will not automatically be sized to fit inside the text box – several adjustments may be necessary

THE OKLAHOMA REPORT FORM Columns inside the text box Create a table without lines

THE OKLAHOMA REPORT FORM

ORF/COMPUTER INCOMPATIBILITY Solution:AdvantagesDisadvantages Regenerate (retype) the whole form No need to work around limitations of text boxes Duplicating formatting and margins may be difficult Create a blank document with margins slightly larger than the text box and put information into new document. Copy and paste the information into the ORF It is not necessary to recreate the whole form Formatting may be easier in a blank document than it is in the ORF template It may take several tries to get the margins exactly right

DOCUMENTING WITH PHOTOS  Include in 4-H Record Book:  3 pages of photos  3-4 photos per page  High quality photos  Show member engaged in  Project Work  Project-related Leadership  Project-related Community Service  Descriptive Captions  Attractive Presentation

PHOTO EDITING PROGRAMS FOR DIGITAL PHOTOS Adobe Photoshop®  Expensive, but produces the best results  Difficult for those with little photo editing experience  Hard to create pages with photos and text Microsoft® Digital Image  Easy to use  Good for fixing contrast/lighting effects Broderbund® Print Shop  Easy to use toolbars and options  Facilitate cropping, resizing, adjust lighting, etc.  Easy to create photo pages

PHOTO EDITING - CROPPING

PHOTO EDITING - RESIZING

CREATING PHOTO PAGES

Creating Photo Pages – Resizing/cropping photos

Creating Photo Pages – Arranging photos

Creating Photo Pages – Adding Text

Creating Photo Pages – Writing Captions

Creating Photo Pages – Removing Lines from Text Boxes

CREATING PHOTO PAGES FILM PHOTOS Manually crop photos Use 3-4 per page Layout photos on paper  Trace around photo  Measure from edge of paper  Create text boxes on a blank page  Print a test copy Place photos on test copy and adjust alignment as needed

CREATING PHOTO PAGES FILM PHOTOS Use high quality paper  26# or heavier Attach photos securely with  Rubber cement  Glue stick  Art/scrapbooking corners  Double-stick tape