Does the use of AET (The Agricultural

Experience Tracker) lead students to keep

more accurate and detailed records for their
SAE (Supervised Agricultural Experience)
over a Google Sheets record book?

Brooke Hall
EDIT 677
Introduction 3

Review of Literature 4

Methodology 7

Analysis 9
Quantitative Data Analysis 9
Qualitative Data Analysis 9

Findings 14

References 15

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Introduction

A Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) is a required component of the three-circle

model of School-Based Agricultural Education Programs therefore all students must create,

implement and successfully keep records for an SAE. Record-keeping is a vital piece of this

process whether a student is enrolled in an agriculture class for one semester or their entire high

school career. Whether the SAE is classified as a placement at a local business or an individually

conducted research experiment, records must be maintained on how much time, money, and

skills are being used and learned throughout the process of the project.

As paper recordbooks have become less popular over the years, I chose to utilize an

electronic recordbook during my first year of teaching. This recordbook was drafted by another

agriculture educator in Google Sheets and allowed space for students to write journals, tally

hours and upload pictures. At the end of my first year of teaching, I was given the opportunity to

request funds on technology that would improve student experiential learning. My school used

these funds to purchase an annual subscription to the AET at the recommendation of several

agriculture educators in the area.

Created by a high school agriculture teacher, the Agricultural Experience Tracker (AET)

is a program that helps students expertly keep records of their SAE using written journals,

creating financial statements, uploading pictures, and utilizing other documenting tools. The

AET program is sold as a website and mobile application that schools can purchase a

subscription with to give all agriculture students access to a personalized account. Since this

subscription costs our school upwards of $600 a year, the question begs Does the use of AET

(The Agricultural Experience Tracker) lead students to keep more accurate and detailed records

for their SAE (Supervised Agricultural Experience) over a Google Sheets record book?

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Review of Literature

As the AET was only just created in 2007, there is not a plethora of research about the

program itself, but published journals on recordkeeping and experiential learning proved to be

helpful in identifying the needs of learners and designing this action-research project. For

decades, educators and stakeholders have recognized the importance of experiential learning, but

many, as Shaw (2013) mentions, fail to compliment this methodology with imperative reflection

and recordkeeping skills. This project is centered around the thought that if a sophisticated and

specific system such as AET is utilized, then students will create more detailed and accurate SAE

records.

Dorn (2016) notes that recordkeeping systems are a vital tool for organizations to remain

accurate, organized, and effective throughout the years. The systems being reviewed in this

article merely collected quantitative data in the form of hours while AET in comparison is a must

higher caliber program giving users the ability to keep several categories of quantitative and

qualitative data. While reviewing several systems, Dorn kept a focus on selecting systems that

were easily reviewable, user-friendly, and accomplished the goal of raising the caliber of records

kept over years.

As electronic record books are helpful tools, they are less valuable when users do not

have the ability to write quality logs. Glover (1974) notes that reading and writing skills can

always be cross-curricular so vocational teachers should make effort to require recordkeeping of

experiences and hands-on learning labs. Although this article is nearly 50 years old, the theme of

vocational, now career and technical education, classes teaching students valuable life skills such

as recordkeeping is still needed and should be advocated for by all educators, no matter the

subject.

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 Aside from needing writing skills to complete records, students also need to adopt

consistency in order to produce quality record books. Shaw (2013) notes that preservice teachers

struggled to accurately reflect on experiences due to a lack of dedication to weekly records and

journal logs. This study out of Australia was examining the behavior of student teachers while

utilizing electric forms of recordkeeping. At the beginning of the study, recordkeeping was

identified as a wonderful tool and doorway to reflection opportunities, but the purpose of the

study was to gauge the perception of recordkeeping over a designated period of time. Student

teachers being surveyed had inconsistent recordkeeping and it was concluded that external

factors, aside from the use of the technology itself aided in the lack of records kept. Post

interviews will help this research determine if external factors or internal factors, such as work-

flow of the AET website, deterred quality and consistent student SAE records.

As SAEs are comprised of both hands-on learning and reflection, educators must be trained on

effective techniques for introducing these complementary skills to students. Rolan & Fisher

(2016) teach through their article examples of projects for students to complete for their SAE.

Although this study was conducted within the bounds of a 4H program, it mirrors the same goals,

methods, and missions of the National FFA Organization and SAE (Supervised Agricultural

Experience) within school-based agricultural education programs. Research conducted with these

youth projects in 4H concluded that children were much more engaged with hands-on projects

and were more likely to complete records throughout the project.

All students in agriculture classes are required to have a SAEs so it is important that teachers take time to

showcase a variety of hands-on SAE project ideas. This article reinforces the theme that recordkeeping

skills are necessary to learn but must be paired with a stable and hands-on SAE or they will be difficult to

accurately describe.

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 Authors Rubenstein & Thorn (2014) Authors recognized a lack of literature and direction

for teachers in advising students to have successful SAE programs. American Star finalists

(national winners for their SAE Programs) were interviewed to shed light on the necessities of an

effective SAE. Seven components were compiled after the study: goal planning/learner

learning/career planning, utilization of program partners, income from SAE program, personal

satisfaction, FFA participation, awards, and degree structure, hard work/personal growth, and

complete records. All 15 participants agreed that “complete records” are a key component of a

successful SAE. It was listed towards the end of this section that all participants had paper record

books (required to use during the interview) but several also utilized electronic versions of their

record books. Let it be noted that AET was created in 2007 and was beginning to gain traction

during the 2010s. Our study will not be evaluating the use of paper records as all SAE records

are now required to be submitted electronically for judging by the National FFA Organization

and this also closely models the standards of the modern-day agriculture industry.

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Methodology

Using a mixed-method research approach, this study was designed to gauge the feedback and

performance of students in order to test the effectiveness of the AET program successfully helping

students to keep more detailed and accurate records. As SAEs are a required component in equal fashing

in agriculture classes of all levels, this project was able to rely on historical data from my spring 2021

classes. These 3 classes were compared with a different 3 classes from spring 2022. The 2021 cohort

completed SAE recordkeeping using a Google Sheet created by a South Carolina agriculture teacher

while the 2022 cohort utilized the AET online program to log all records.

Utilizing a 60-point rubric split between 12 criteria, students’ SAE logs were evaluated on a 4-

week basis throughout both semesters. This rubric remained a control while the method of logging SAEs

is what changed as one group used Google Sheets while the other used the AET. Student scores produced

a quantitative data set that helps show how detailed and complete student logs were throughout the class.

A class-wide survey and selective follow-up interviews were conducted to garner the qualitative

data set. While all students completed the survey, a select group of 25 students who were a part of both

the historical group and control group was interviewed at the end of the research to specifically gain

insight on comparing their 2 experiences with SAE recordkeeping. Administered with 4 weeks remaining

in the semester, this survey asked students about their experience so far with utilizing the AET for SAE

recordkeeping. Students were asked the following questions and given space on the electronic Google

Form to add any additional comments.

1. How many agriculture classes have you taken (including this semester)?

2. How many of those classes have utilized the AET?

3. Please describe your SAE project in one sentence.

4. What do you like about AET for logging SAE records?

5. What do you not like about AET for logging SAE records?

6. If I had to describe AET in one word it would be…

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 7. Have you used a Google Sheet in previous agriculture classes for SAE records?

8. If you answered yes to #7, which method do you prefer for recordkeeping? Why?

All questions were designed to lead students toward answering the research question of is AET a

useful tool for creating more detailed SAE records. Question #3 was used to anonymously gauge student

understanding of their SAE so that the small sample of students who were not participating correctly

would not be able to skew data and weigh in unfairly on a program that they have not properly acquainted

themselves with.

The survey was completed by all 76 students in this semester’s 3 agriculture classes. A larger

sample was available for the quantitative data as 155 student SAEs have been evaluated using the same

rubric between the historical and current classes. At the beginning of the action research, the 25 students

who were a part of both groups were asked to keep their past experience in mind this semester as they

considered and evaluated for themselves the effectiveness of the AET versus the Google Sheet. Each of

these students was asked the same 3 questions at the end of the research and asked to explain in as much

detail as possible their opinion on which method would best serve future students.

1. Which of the programs was more user-friendly for creating SAE records? Why?

2. Which of the programs was more user-friendly for reviewing SAE records? Why?

3. Which program would you recommend be used for future classes? Why?

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Analysis

Quantitative Data Analysis

Findings reported that SAE project averages grew 8 points higher in spring 2022 using

the AET compared to spring 2021 using Google Sheets for recordkeeping. Growing from a class

average of 80 to 88 (Figure 2). Taking a deeper look, students were found to be more productive

with recordkeeping with the AET going from a minimum score of 0 to a minimum score of 35

with the AET. The 25th percentile grew from 79 to 90 and the 75 percentile decreased from 100

to 97. Maximum stayed consistent with some students attaining a 100 average in both semesters

(Figure 1). As part of a student survey, the students who participated in both groups of

recordkeeping methods were asked to identify their preference. Out of 25 students, 76% choose

the AET while only 24% indicated that Google Sheets was still their method of choice.

Qualitative Data Analysis

At the end of the spring 2022 semester, students were surveyed with 8 questions about

their experience with utilizing AET for their SAE records for the semester. While reviewing the

data, similar answers were categorized in order to streamline the presentation of the data set. For

questions #4-#6, answers were listed in the order of their prevalence in student responses.

1. How many agriculture classes have you taken (including this semester)?

Answers ranged from 1 to 4 years. Students with more than 1 year of experience

were asked follow-up questions to determine if they would fit in the specialized

group for the study.

2. How many of those classes have utilized the AET?

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 Students answering higher than 1 were asked to participate in follow-up

interviews at the conclusion of the semester. 25 students fit into this niche

category of having experience with both Google Sheets records and AET records.

3. Please describe your SAE project in one sentence.

Answers were not relevant to research questions and therefore were only utilized

to validate student understanding of AET in conjunction with SAEs.

4. What do you like about AET for logging SAE records?

“Organized”, “Easy to use”, “Simple”, “Keeps track”, “Consistency”

5. What do you not like about AET for logging SAE records?

“Nothing”, “Hard to log in”, “Overwhelming options”

6. If I had to describe AET in one word it would be…

“Helpful”, “Useful”, “Organized”

7. Have you used a Google Sheet in previous agriculture classes for SAE records?

25 students answered “yes” to this question.

8. If you answered yes to #7, which method do you prefer for recordkeeping? Why?

76% of the group above reported that they prefer using AET while 24%

advocated for Google Sheets. Those in favor of AET justified their answer by

discussing AET’s “user-friendly website”, “ability to easily review past logs”, and

“consistency of formatting”. Those selecting Google Sheets discussed the “lack of

needing to log in”, “ease of logs being in Google Drive” and “familiarity of

Google”.

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Figure 1 shows the effectiveness of AET in Spring 22 versus the Google Sheet Method in Spring

21. These charts compare the minimum value, the 25th percentile, the 75th percentile, and the

maximum value for each method.

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Figure 2 shows the effectiveness of AET in Spring 22 versus the Google Sheet Method in Spring

21. These charts compare the average project grade for both methods.

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Figure 3 shows the results of a survey given to the 25 students present in both groups, asking for

their preference for SAE recordkeeping methods.

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Findings

Data collected indicates that the AET is a more effective program for helping students to

create, develop and review consistent SAE records over the course of a semester. Students

preferred the accessibility, ease, and organization of AET whether utilizing the website or mobile

application to input their records for their project.

Google Sheets as a method showed to be ineffective as several students never utilized the

log to enter any records. On this application, students had to conduct more math on the spot

which lead to miscalculations on total hours and income/expenses. Furthermore, the pictures

were not compatible with the application and there was a lack of consistency in size, quality, and

placement on the sheet.

As agriculture programs look to further research, there is a need for examining the ease of

mobile applications and developing more abilities for mobile use. Furthermore, strategies should

be developed for how to measure and increase student engagement with SAEs and in conjunction

AET as they develop records.

Overall, the hypothesis was confirmed that this website, specifically created for and by

agricultural educators, promotes more detailed and accurate student SAE records. To improve

the accuracy of this report, larger sample size will help to ensure the validity of the data, and

student interviews can be conducted on a larger scale as now more students will have experience

with the AET.

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 References

Dorn, S. (2016). A Review of Extension Master Gardener Program Record-Keeping

Systems. Journal of Extension, 54(4).

Glover, M., & New Mexico State Dept. of Education, S. F. D. of I. S. (1974). Record-

Keeping and Checklists for Reading and Writing. Methods for Keeping Track of

Individual Progress.

Roland, T. J., & Fisher, M. (2016). Teaching Record-Keeping Skills to 4-H Youths

through Experiential Learning Techniques. Journal of Extension, 54(5).

Rubenstein, E. D., & Thorn, A. C. (2014). Successful Supervised Agricultural Experience

Programs as Defined by American FFA Degree Star Finalists. Journal of Agricultural

Education, 55(3), 162–174.

Shaw, S. G., Pedersen, S., Cooley, D., & Callingham, R. A. (2013). Intentions and Behaviours:

Record-Keeping Practices of Pre-Service Teachers during Professional Experience.

Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 38(6)

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