McGraw-Hill Education, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. (NYSE: MHP), announced the acquisition of Tegrity, Inc., a privately held company. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Tegrity's service acts, in part, as a fully searchable digital video recorder for the classroom, enabling colleges and universities to automatically record every class for review by students anytime and anywhere. But this innovative lecture capture technology takes student engagement well beyond the passive act of listening to, or viewing recorded course content. Rather, students using Tegrity can interact with the content, along with fellow classmates and instructors, in ways that make the learning process more efficient and more personal. With Tegrity's innovative "search anything" technology, students can instantly recall key class moments for replay online, or on mobile devices.
Tegrity's highly scalable, automated lecture capture service has been sold to more than 200 educational institutions and used by thousands of instructors to record classes, learning tutorials, review sessions and more. The acquisition puts McGraw-Hill at the forefront of delivering course content digitally in order to enhance learning efficiency and promote collaborative study.
"Students have repeatedly told us that the ability to go back and review material presented in class anytime, anywhere is their most powerful tool for studying and learning, and Tegrity is already one of the most popular features in McGraw-Hill Connect¨, our all-digital teaching and learning platform," said Peter C. Davis, president, McGraw-Hill Education. "Our acquisition of Tegrity expands our commitment to the growing demand for digital content and tools for today's students."
Tegrity lecture capture has been a core feature of McGraw-Hill Connect since the platform's debut in fall 2009. In a recent survey of Connect users, more than 75 percent of students found that class capture made their study time more effective, demonstrating that class capture technology is not only popular among students, but it also improves learning outcomes. Instructors were also strong supporters of the technology.
"In addition to serving as a great study tool for my students, Tegrity lets me spend more class time on difficult topics that students can struggle with if they're only reading the text," said Dr. Genie Black, professor of management at Arkansas Tech University. "While there's no substitute for attending class, students who were absent can easily access classes whenever and wherever they wanted, and my foreign students were able to review lectures to pick up on information they missed in the classroom."
In order to bring these compelling benefits to all students, Tegrity's unique cloud-based service model (content can be stored in the Tegrity Cloud or on campus) offers institutions a completely automated workflow; and does not require that they purchase, install, manage or maintain any special hardware, software or classroom-based appliances. Rather, all that's needed is a PC or Mac and a supported web browser.
Intel to receive NIS 678m government grant
Intel had asked for a grant of $400 million, which is 15% of the cost of expanding the Kiryat Gat plant, but will only receive about $200 million.The grant will be spread over eight years, and in exchange, Intel will commit to invest NIS 10 billion in Israel and to hire hundreds of new employees at its Kiryat Gat plant, and dozens of new employees at its Jerusalem R&D center.
Intel have also been offered an additional NIS 63 million grant if it expands some of its R&D centers in Israel's peripheral regions or makes R&D investments at Israeli research institutes.
The grant is subject to the approval of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor's Investment Center and the Knesset Finance Committee.
A statement from the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor said, "In discussions representatives of Intel committed, on behalf of the company, to make every effort to see that Intel's next investment in upgrading technology will be implemented in Israel."
Elbit Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: ESLT; TASE: ESLT) wins upgrade contract
Ackerman added that both Elbit Systems subsidiaries Elbit Systems Land & C4I - Tadiran and Elbit Systems Electro-optics (Elop) will take part in the project.
IMF optimistic on Israel's 2010 growth
The IMF forecast is higher than the Bank of Israel's 4% prediction, which was issued on September 29, having been revised upwards from its 3.7% forecast in April.
In 2011 the IMF expects a slight slowdown in Israeli GDP growth to 3.8%, exactly the same prediction as the Bank of Israel.
Israel's 2010 IMF growth forecast is considerably higher than most other developed economies. The IMF predicts 3.3% growth for Germany, 1.6% for France, 1% for Italy, 1.7% for the UK, 2.9% for Switzerland, 1.8% for Holland, 2.6% for the US and 3.1% for Canada.
The IMF predicts that Israel's Consumer Price Index (CPI) will rise 2.3% in 2010.
Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC) has been told by Israel's Ministries of Industry, Trade and Labor, and Finance that they have agreed to a grant of NIS 678 million for the expansion of its fab at Kiryat Gat.
The deal is worth approximately $56 million
Elbit said that the tank upgrade project will include the installation of advanced battle management systems, as well as cutting edge observation and surveillance systems. The project will be completed within two years.
Elbit Systems president and CEO Joseph Ackerman said, "Our selection for this upgrade project, following previous projects we have carried out for this customer, attests to the high level of satisfaction with our systems and performance."
The IMF forecast is higher than the Bank of Israel's 4% prediction.
6 October 10 17:7, Ron Dagoni, Washington
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts 4.2% GDP growth in Israel in 2010, up from 0.8% growth in 2009. The optimistic forecast is contained in the IMF's bi-annual World Economic Outlook report which was published today on the eve of the IMF conference in Washington DC.