Explore, Learn, Experience: Berwick Campus News

Some of the final year students before the exhibition opens.

Guests explore the students' folios on the Apple computers.

Most Outstanding Student in Third Year Studio, John Treseder.

Top Multimedia Students Honoured in Exhibition and Awards Ceremony

The Berwick School of Information Technology celebrated the talent of their final year students with an exhibition and awards evening at the Caulfield campus last month.

More than 30 graduating students presented their work to industry peers, academic staff and supporters through portals on a row of Apple computers. Guests were treated to a diverse range of multimedia work including 3D, animation, game design, digital video, educational applications, web applications, database programming and Flash Development.

Students were on-hand to discuss their work and provide demonstrations before taking their seats for a dynamic retrospective of their work and the 2008 Berwick School of Information Technology Awards .

Key note speaker and former Monash University Master of Multimedia Program Coordinator, Dennis Messina, congratulated the students on their outstanding work and highlighted the healthy state of the industry they will be entering.

The evening culminated in the presentation of awards to the top performing students in their final year subjects and two awards for outstanding acheivement by a first and second year student.

John Treseder was awarded the top honour of Outstanding Student in Third Year Studio for his project, 'The Tea Lady.' Studio Coordinator, Matthew Butler said there was tough competition in this category with many students producing innovative and accomplished projects throughout the year. It was Mr Treseder's creativity and bold ambition that stood out from his peers when Mr Butler was assessing his work.

'The Tea Lady,' created in Flash, processes custom made cups of tea for the fastidious tastes of the tea connoisseur. "I did it out of sheer love for tea and my own need to have the perfect cup while studying. I also knew that it wasn't going to be easy but I wanted to challenge myself," said Mr Treseder.

"When John first came to me with this project, I thought he was crazy. It was incredibly ambitious and I just didn't know whether it could be pulled off, but he did it!" said Mr Butler.

The recipients of the 2008 Berwick School of Information Technology Awards are;

Outstanding First Year Student Award: Trent Gwillim

Outstanding Second Year Student Award: Jeremie Delbosc

Outstanding Student in Animation and FX: Bennett Owen

Outstanding Student in Digital Video Post Production: Jamie Dunbar

Outstanding Student in Interactive Environments: Sarah Jonas

Outstanding Student in Principles of Educational Multimedia: Jared Yeo

Outstanding Student in Third Year Studio: John Treseder

Outstanding Student in Advanced Website Authoring: Keegan Street

Outstanding Student in Information Visualisation: Jared Yeo

To find out more about the multimedia major at Berwick, click here.

Members of the World-beating Team Baldwin.

Virtual Business Proves Successful for Berwick Students

Five final year Business and Commerce students from Berwick have used their business nous to beat more than 2082 teams from some of the world's leading universities in an online business simulation program . Team Baldwin competed in the program as part of their third year business studies.

"The students run their own companies in a simulated buisness world environment. Every team begins the contest with $40 million virtual cash and a simulated company. Over twelve-weeks, scaled to represent eight years of trading, the players plotted corporate expansion, launched products, resisted take-overs and fought share market slumps," said Subject Coordinator, Professor Sonja Petrovic-Lazarevic.

Berwick's Team Baldwin members, Gabor Kiss, Joel Sloane, Jaimie Chicic, Andrei Fagarasan and Svend Alexander Eriksen said it was a great learning experience. "It complemented our course. We realised how one decision can affect other things," said Alex.

The competition for undergraduates attracts players from 500 universities around the world, including teams from the prestigious USA and UK univerisities Harvard, Oxford and Yale. Monash University was the first Australian university to enter the competition in 2004 and this is the first time the subject has been offered at Berwick. While Monash students have always performed admirably, Team Baldwin have been the most succesful to date. "Students have demonstrated a high level of performance. It is a great success for the Department of Management and Monash University," Professor Petrovic-Lazarevic said.

Team Baldwin ranked fourth based on final profit achieved. "It wasn't luck; it was a better product at a better price. We performed better and sold more, a pretty simple equation really,"

Berwick School of Information Technology researcher, Matthew Coller demonstrates his software.

Berwick School of Information Technology Software Assists in Prediction of the Impact that Climate-change has on Gippsland Communities

Ground-breaking multimedia software has been used in collaboration with research from the Gippsland School of Geography to help assess flood risks affecting Gippsland communities.

The software, created by Berwick Masters student, Matthew Coller, visualises damage to communities resulting from severe weather events. This is an important modeling tool allowing coastal councils to plan for increased storms and rising sea levels as a result of climate-change.

Matthew Coller and his collaborators, Peter Wheeler, Joshphar Kunapo, Associate Professor Jim Peterson and Michael McMahon, were comissioned by the Gippsland Coastal Board to build a prototype using multimedia to present geographic visualisations of Lakes Entrance affected by rising sea levels.

Climate-change is evident in Lakes Entrance with the community being hit with two major floods within 10 years. The team were appointed as a result of these floods to enable town planning that minimises the impact of storm surges, rising sea levels and climate-change on the community.

To try out the software, click here.

TRU, in collaboration with its partners, hopes to foster pro-environmental behaviour in Australian zoos.

TRU Awarded ARC Funding for Zoos Partnership

One month after celebrating it's 5th anniversary, the Berwick-based Tourism Research Group (TRU) is in the spotlight again. The team has been awarded a prestigious Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Grant to undertake a three-year, multi-zoo, nation-wide research project aimed at enhancing the persuasion potential of zoos and other organisations to influence zoo visiotrs' pro-environmental behaviours.

The project, led by TRU Director, Professor Betty Weiler together with Australian Postdoctoral Fellow Liam Smith, will be undertaken in collaboration with Taronga Conservation Society Australia, Zoos Victoria, Zoos SA and Perth Zoo.

Professor Weiler and Mr Smith proposed that Australian zoos are uniquely placed to use their emotive wildlife experiences to persuade their visitors to engage in behaviours that may redress some of the threats to wildlife and their habitats.

The ARC has awarded the research team $314, 000 to undertake the project. With more than 14.4 million visitors attending Australian zoos each year, the funding will greatly assist TRU and its collaborators to make a significant impact on the environment by encouraging zoos to be an effective platform for pro-environmental behaviour.

To find out more about TRU, click here.

Above: Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Phillip Steele (left) and Dr Glen Croy congratulate Berwick Secondary College student, Matthew Wills, for successfully partcipating in the 2008 High Fives Program

It's High Fives All-Round as the Campus Celebrates the Region's Top Year 11 Students

The 2008 High Fives Program finished on a high note this month with participants, academics and school principals attending a presentation ceremony and afternoon tea. Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Phillip Steele presented the participants with certificates and made an inspiring speech that challenged students to tackle the problems facing the world today and tomorrow in a fitting conclusion to the program.

More than 90 of the region's top performing Year 11 students representing Beaconhills College, St Margaret's School, Berwick Secondary College, St Francis Xavier College, Cranbourne Secondary College, Koo Wee Rup Secondary College and Eumemmerring College attended the program hosted by Monash University Berwick Campus and the South East Education Steering Committee.

The students critical thinking and problem solving skills were put to the test in a series of academic workshops presented by some of Monash University's leading academics. A highlight of the program was the collaboration between participants and six third-year tourism students who assisted Dr Glen Croy's workshop 'Tourism the Media and a Community.' The students led tutorial groups where participants were asked to represent key community stakeholder groups and make crucial planning decisions for their town.

Third-year student Jimmy Marinas said the experience helped him make his decision to continue at the University in post-graduate research. "I really enjoyed mentoring the students. They're incredibly bright and understood concepts that I didn't expect they would. It's given me more confidence in front of a tutorial group and definitely helped me decide that I want to teach," said Mr Marinas.

The High Fives Program will continue in 2009 with a new group and tougher challenges.

For more news and information from the South East Education Forum, click here.

Fitter, Stronger, Faster: Monash Sport Comes to Berwick

Monash Sport opened its newest gym at the Berwick campus during semester break. The gym offers students and staff a complete work out with the latest fitness equipment. This marks the start of Monash Sport's presence on campus with group fitness activities planned for Semester 2 and more Berwick participants joining TeamMonash than ever before.

For more information about Sport at Berwick click here.

For more information about Monash Sport click here.

Previous issues of Berwick Campus News available here