The Effects of an Agricultural Communications Workshop on Self-Efficacy and Career Interest: A Comparison between Agriculture and Non-Agriculture Students

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of a one-week workshop on urban agriculture and non-agriculture students' self-efficacy and career interest related to agricultural communications. Non-agriculture students experienced increases in self-efficacy for agricultural communications tasks, self-efficacy toward overcoming obstacles for pursuing a degree in agricultural communications and interest in agricultural communications careers. Agriculture students decreased in all three constructs. The differences in the changes between agriculture students and non-agriculture students were statistically significant for both self-efficacy constructs but not for career interest. Based on the results, similar programs should focus efforts on non-agriculture students to expand the recruitment base for colleges of agriculture. Efforts should continue to increase urban agriculture programs to provide more long-term exposure to career opportunities in agriculture and natural resources.