m*STAR  -  Multimedia Students At Risk Project
February 2002
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The purpose of the Multimedia Students At Risk (m*STAR) pilot project was to re-engage small groups of students at risk of not completing their schooling, through the use of multimedia production techniques.

The m*STAR experience offers young people the opportunity to engage in a meaningful way with adults and the world of work.

The m*STAR experience highlighted the great need that young people have to be creative and to work in partnership with adults to achieve a common goal.  A constant theme that emerged, both in casual conversation and in formal self-evaluation sessions, was the lack of engagement participants had with adults.  They all felt the m*STAR experience gave them a unique opportunity to mix with a range of adults within a workplace setting.  Several of them described the m*STAR experience as the first time they had talked with adults other than family or teachers.  The m*STAR project is fundamentally different from traditional work experience programs.  In these students have to ‘fit’ into the concerns and priorities of the host employer, with minimal opportunities to be involved in decision-making.  In the m*STAR experience the students and adults worked together to determine common goals, order priorities and establish work patterns.  All of the participants rated the ‘real workplace’ environment and the inclusive goal setting and decision-making as the most important feature of the m*STAR experience.  In addition the focus on building social skills through informal interactions is a critical feature of the workplace setting.  Having meal breaks together, all being addressed on first name basis, sharing stories and jokes were all part of the experience.

Recommendation

Future m*STAR projects must simulate the ‘real workplace’ environment and inclusive goal setting and decision-making processes.  These processes need be customised to meet the unique needs and capacities of each group of young people.

Future m*STAR projects must maintain and develop appropriate social activities that promote social interactions between participants and m*STAR Project Team.

The m*STAR experience offers the opportunity to explore difficult personal issues in a ‘safe’ and controlled environment.

The m*STAR experience was deliberately targeted at students at risk of not completing their schooling.  They had a range of personal issues that were inhibiting their school and social progress.  To proactively address these issues the m*STAR Project Team developed innovative animation techniques that enabled the young people to develop characters or ‘avatars’, based on their digital photograph.  With these characters the group was able to collectively explore difficult issues such as peer group pressure, anti-social behaviour, high-risk activities and bullying in the ‘third person’.  

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Addressing these issues can be confronting for young people.  At different times throughout the m*STAR experience all of the participants needed intensive one-to-one interventions from all of the members of the m*STAR Project Team. This required both skilled and experienced facilitators, comfortable with working with young people in informal settings and high ratio of facilitators to participants (3:5).  It is recognised that this approach is very resource intensive and cannot be funded under current Department of Education and Skills (DfES) funding formulas.  To replicate and develop the m*STAR experience it will be necessary to seek external funding to support the m*STAR Project.  One possible direction identified by the m*STAR Project Team is working in partnership with public and private agencies that need to engage disaffected young people to address a range of social issues such as alcohol and other drug abuse, fire setting, petty crime and vandalism.  Future m*STAR experiences could be commissioned work where Mediac and The City School focus on particular issues to produce youth oriented multimedia productions that can be used by these public and private agencies in targeted campaigns.  In addition corporate sponsorship opportunities need to be developed for the m*STAR experience. 

Recommendation

Future m*STAR experiences need skilled and experienced facilitators, comfortable with working with young people in informal settings.  Solving the funding issue is critical for the success the m*STAR experience.  

The m*STAR experience offers the opportunity to use multimedia tools as a mechanism to address digital divide issues.

In understanding the m*STAR experience it is easy to focus on the tangible output of the brief ‘FLASH’ animation and the skills and technology associated with it’s production.   However the m*STAR experience was able to demonstrate to young people their capacity to create and distribute their own stories.  In the experience of Mediac, many young people from Manor and Castle are disengaged from many of the social structures and institutions in their world.  They feel powerless to effect, control or change these institutions.  Their attitude towards mainstream media is no different.  The m*STAR experience opened participants to the possibility of being able to create and disseminate ‘content’ on their own terms.  The ability to develop and create relevant multimedia content is critical to addressing the digital divide.  

To create multimedia productions requires detailed knowledge of technology and complex computer software.  The participants in the m*STAR experience were not expected to be able to master these skills in four (4) days.  The m*STAR Project Team identified manageable technical tasks which could be undertaken by the participants without prior skills.  These included: creating the ‘avatars’, taking digital photographs, recording and processing sound and music.  The more complex tasks were handled by the m*STAR Project Team but the participants had editorial control of this content.  To achieve this balance required skill and patience of members of the m*STAR Project Team. 

Recommendation

Future m*STAR experiences need to concentrate on content development with participants and identifying manageable technical tasks which are within their skill levels.  The collaborative approach to editorial decision making is critical to the success of the m*STAR experience.