Students and faculty had a first-hand look at how changing technology can be used to reach out to students.

Submissions to the iLife Academic Challenge were shown Monday in the Grand Ballroom of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

The goal of the iLife Academic Challenge showed what resources are available to students and how technology can be used to reach out to them.

“The grand old professor on the stage, looking down at students.they expect more than that,” says Jason Beckham, who acts as liaison between Apple and Eastern.

Movies submitted to the competition had to meet two requirements. The movie’s topic

had to be related to academics and the movies had to be created using iLife programs such as iMovie, GarageBand, and iDVD.

The submissions were scored based on production quality and the material itself and the winner was announce Monday.

The winning submission, “Expedition Nature’s Realm,” looked at the purpose and story behind a documentary series of the same name created by Eastern climatology instructor Cameron D. Craig and geography major Kevin Jeanes. The purpose of the original series was to inform students about a growing population’s impact on the environment.

“The lighting and the quality of the interviews (were) very professional,” said Rachal Roach, an Illinois State University Video Conference Coordinator and Eastern Alumni who acted as one of three judges at the competition.

The other two judges were Carol Scheidenhelm of Loyola University in Chicago and Morrie Reece, Apple’s Senior Education Development Executive.

After the judges cast their votes the audience members got a chance to have their say; 60 audience members were given keypads to vote for their favorite movie out of the top five. Before the judge’s picks were shown audience members could view any of the nine submissions that explored topics such as difficulties with teaching international students, the undergraduate research program at Eastern’s physics department, and what the phrase, “I am EIU,” means to students.

“I expected more people to be here,” said Elias Sahyouni, sophomore management information major, though she still thought the movies were interesting.

The event was sponsored by Eastern’s Center for Academic Technology Support and Apple. Prizes from the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union bookstore were handed out to the first, second, and third place winners.

Joshua Van Dyke can be contacted at jmvandyke@eiu.edu.

Economics professors Linda Ghent and Jim Bruehler utilize the Student Recreation Center’s iLife Movie during Eastern’s Illinois iLife Academic Challenge Showcase in the University Ballroom of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union on Monday. (John Ba

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