BBC Outreach & Corporate Responsibility Feed

Getting to the STEM of careers in the BBC

2016-11-17T10:46:40+00:00

Marvin McKenzie and dozens of BBC STEM Ambassadors bring school subjects alive for hundreds of school pupils each year by showing them science, technology, engineering and maths at work in the BBC. Marvin reflects on the latest STEM Challenge season.

'I felt inspired by all our staff who’d be able to gain valuable insights working with young people'

“Well, this isn’t gonna be an easy one, Marv,” were my first thoughts when I sat down to consider what I was setting out to achieve with BBC volunteers across the UK.

But 595 miles and 32 schools later I’m at the other side of what has been one of the most rewarding periods during my time working with BBC Outreach.

I manage the BBC’s volunteer community of STEM ambassadors, who are members of staff sharing their skills and expertise to help young people gain a greater understanding of STEM careers in the BBC.

They are some of the coolest people with some of the coolest roles, yet the average 12-14 year old has very little idea that their science, technology, engineering and maths subjects could lead to jobs like theirs in the media.

A STEM challenge underway

In each city where we hold a STEM challenge, we invite around 10 schools to join us for a morning of careers exploration. As the STEM events had become so popular, we - well, I - agreed to do a mini tour of the UK for October.

When I first said it out loud, travelling the UK to spread the gospel of STEM sounded amazing in principle - a real opportunity to get the message out to schools that the BBC is a place for all. I felt inspired by all our staff who’d be able to gain valuable insights working with young people.

Planning for events with over 30 schools, recruiting the volunteers to support the students, and then finding spaces to deliver events of this scale, all to the BBC’s quality hallmarks, seemed a big challenge. Each site visit gives the students around 10 STEM challenges, including weather forecasting, news deployment planning, budgeting for a TV channel, coding, user-testing games and apps, design and engineering, and sound effects. Every venue gives its own special flavour of the output and skills on site.

So, first stop Birmingham. A great turn out of STEM ambassadors, plus special presentations from the city's resident Digital Guerrillas. Birmingham really set the standard for what we would go on to deliver at the next venues.

The Blue Room team continued their wonderful commitment to hard-to-reach audiences and went the extra (500) miles to make sure we had a mobile Blue Room set up in Glasgow matching our offer to the schools in England.

The BBC STEM Ambassadors are a truly amazing group of people, and so, so inspiring. Using their own career experiences, they each design and deliver practical challenges for the students to work on.

Thanks to BBC STEM ambassadors from Glasgow, London, Wood Norton, Birmingham and Salford, and with the brilliant Nick Wyatt & Sukhi Nagra all keeping things running logistically-smoothly, I’m pleased to say Outreach volunteers delivered some of the best youth engagement activities I have seen since being at the BBC.

As much as it was a real reward to see BBC mentors sharing their skills engaging with young people, hearing the young people’s thoughts of the BBC and what they could do here was amazing.

A teenage boy in Glasgow said to me: "Hey Marvin, just wanted to say this is brilliant I wish I knew about this before"; a teenage girl in Birmingham said: “Wow this is so cool, you must really love your job.”

I smiled broadly and said, “Yep, I love it.” Bringing BBC staff together with hard-to reach-audiences and showing both sides that they have loads to teach each other - what’s not to love about that!

BBC Outreach & Corporate Responsibility brings the BBC closer to its audiences - particularly those audiences we have identified as harder to reach - with face-to-face activity, community support and staff volunteering.

Growing the next STEM generation

2016-02-16T12:24:08+00:00

BBC Senior Web Developer, Azizur Rahman is a BBC Ambassador for StemNet, and uses his technical knowledge to encourage school pupils to take up STEM subjects – Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.

‘If I get one person to continue to study STEM subjects and follow the right direction then I have succeeded in making a difference.'

I was really interested to do something outside my usual work that would allow me to give something back to the community. So when I joined the BBC and met a colleague who was a STEM Ambassador, I thought I would like to become one also. It would be a great opportunity to share my technical knowledge and reach out to young students.

The BBC had just launched a STEM Ambassador programme and had become an official training partner. I relished the opportunity to go to schools and encourage young students to study STEM subjects. Teens are often not aware of the possibilities of what they can do when they grow up, and I really wanted to help students think about the right career path, and explain different subject choices.

Full attention at a Stem careers event at MediaCityUK, Salford

More importantly, the students gain an insight by meeting people who are working in STEM jobs. If they would like to become a broadcast or a software engineer I could advise on the STEM subjects I selected in school, and how I studied computer science at university.

My first STEM event was in Trafford College in July 2014. There I met pupils from six local secondary schools around Greater Manchester. Other STEM ambassadors came from large corporations from across the UK, and there were even directors of operations present. Back then, I worked with BBC Bitesize on iWonder, and students were interested in learning how I helped build Bitesize and how it worked.

At STEM event students are divided into groups of five to seven people for the equivalent of a five minute STEM speed-date. At first I was a bit nervous explaining what I did and how they could get into STEM subjects. However the students were interested and even the teachers talked about using BBC Learning in the classroom. During the last STEM Event in BBC MediaCityUK around 10 schools attended.

I now work for BBC Digital Content Discovery and I am working with the team building the BBC Homepage. I enjoy explaining to students about how STEM subjects are applied behind some of the user interactions.

From my experience as a STEM Ambassador I am now more confident standing in front of a group of teens and speaking. Speaking about my job has allowed me to become less introverted and more confident at public speaking. I have learned to adjust my communication style depending on who I am speaking to at the time. In my day job it has given me more confidence to interact with more senior members of my team.

I would like to continue this Ambassador work, and leave a legacy behind. If I get one person to continue to study STEM subjects and follow the right direction then I have succeeded in making a difference.

StemNet careers events are organised and hosted by BBC Outreach. They give Year-9 students the opportunity to meet BBC Stem Ambassadors who use science, technology, engineering or maths in their BBC roles. BBC Salford worked with 12 Ambassadors who, during the event, gave practical demonstrations on their roles and advice on GCSE STEM subjects.

Outreach moves you up the career ladder

2016-02-15T15:16:13+00:00

Beth Salmon is a researcher with BBC Outreach. She has analysed and mapped organisations and groups which bring the BBC closer to its harder to reach audiences in priority communities. She has worked on location at outreach events, and now prepares to join BBC Children in Need.

‘BBC Outreach experiences are definitely linked to me gaining my next role.’

I have been working with BBC Outreach as a researcher since October 2015 as part of the BBC’s Extend Scheme. Before I started with Outreach I had little knowledge of the BBC’s workings or what ‘Outreach’ actually meant. Five months later and it’s my last week in Birmingham – because my Outreach experiences have helped me gain a permanent job with Children in Need. I leave with so much valuable knowledge about how BBC Outreach and outreach principles connect BBC staff with varied and diverse audiences.

Two of my highlights in the last five months were when I worked at the Who Benefits? TV & Poverty conference which took place in Manchester in November 2015, and when the BBC Music Awards came to the NEC in December 2015.

Here’s a little more of what I have learnt along the way.

BBC Outreach unites audiences and staff
If you want to engage with the BBC or a particular BBC audience, then my colleagues at BBC Outreach should be your first port of call. The BBC Outreach team has insatiable passion and energy for producing high quality events which engage with some the UK’s hardest to reach audiences.

A highlight: One Direction heading for the 2015 BBC Music Awards at the Birmingham NEC.

BBC Outreach is diversity and inclusivity
BBC Outreach embodies the BBC’s aim of being one BBC. Outreach works across the BBC’s departments, regions, and nations. Outreach’s work has highlighted to me the diversity and nationwide reach of the BBC. As a member of the Extend Scheme I have been included in the team with open arms and more than adequate understanding and adjustments. Outreach meets audiences and staff where they are at, helping to ensure that the BBC is accessible and engaging no matter what your circumstances.

BBC Outreach is new ideas, skills, and perspectives
As the one of the world's premier public broadcasting organisations with a vast and diverse audience, the BBC's constant challenge is to stay engaging and relevant. Outreach work generates new skills, perspectives and experiences within both audience and BBC staff populations. For example, I have learnt how to film with iPads, to engage young people in STEM careers, and to generate relationships with disparate grass roots organisations. I also now know about social media strategies and how to generate GIFs. BBC Outreach equips me (and the wider BBC) with an increased ability to engage and communicate with diverse, young, and technology-savvy audiences.

These skills and my BBC Outreach experiences are definitely linked to me gaining my next role with Children in Need - testament to the fact that Outreach is all about mutually-beneficial outcomes.

Another highlight: the conference Who Benefits? TV & Poverty. It heard from no-nonsense nun Sister Rita, the subject of an observational series on BBC One, Sister Rita to the Rescue. She is pictured, left, with Natalie Carter.

Volunteering, engaging with audiences, stepping out of your comfort zone can be challenging, but it’s also highly enjoyable. Outreach’s commitment to representing and engaging with all of the UK is a value which sets the BBC apart. I’m a bit biased, but I would now recommend volunteering in communities to all my BBC colleagues because you will learn a lot and have fun in the process.

BBC Outreach & Corporate Responsibility Feed

﻿Getting to the STEM of careers in the BBC

Growing the next STEM generation

Outreach moves you up the career ladder

Getting to the STEM of careers in the BBC