Animation turns spotlight on local stories
Last year, parent Turner International, in a maiden effort, set up a multi-million dollar unit in India to develop and produce animated films and original live action TV series.
The animation industry in India, including entertainment, visual effects and gaming, is estimated at about $500m (£300m) and forecast to double by 2012, according to financial services firm Ernst & Young. The entertainment segment is likely to grow at 18 per cent annually.
Partners with eLearning for Kids
Ardmore, PA (USA)/São Paulo (BR), September 2009 – eLearning for Kids (EFK), a global non-profit foundation dedicated to providing free learning on the Internet (or via CD ROM) for children 5-12, has announced its partnership with the Bradesco Foundation. The Bradesco Foundation is one of the largest foundations in Brazil with a focus on education for children in need.
The partnership between the Bradesco Foundation and eLearning for Kids will provide all forty Foundation Bradesco K12 schools and 110,000 students with access to EFK courseware. The partnership will further make EFK courseware available through the Bradesco Foundation “Virtual School”, which serves 150,000 students.
Company news; boyd gaming to buy coast casinos for $820 million
The Boyd Gaming Corporation said yesterday that it was acquiring Coast Casinos Inc. for $820 million in cash and stock, consolidating two longtime Las Vegas-based gambling companies. Boyd said Coast shareholders would receive about $495 million in cash, plus an estimated 19.4 million shares worth about $325 million. Boyd will assume about $460 million of Coast debt. The deal is expected to close this summer, after approval by shareholders and gambling and governmental regulators. Boyd stock closed up $1.19, or more than 6 percent, to close at $20.40 on the New York Stock Exchange. The combined company will operate under the Boyd Gaming name.
Staffordshire University launches JISC funded initiative for federating open courseware using HarvestRoad Hive DR
Staffordshire University is taking part in a pilot study to explore the issues and benefits involved in making its ‘stock’ of learning content freely available.
The project, made possible by the use of Giunti Labs’ HarvestRoad Hive digital repository (DR) allied to the Blackboard virtual learning environment (VLE), is one of seven such projects being funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) – a Government-funded body which supports education and research by promoting innovation in new technologies and by the central support of information and communications technology (ICT) services.
The project involving Staffordshire University involves making some 700 ‘credits’ of learning materials available in various forms, including video, ‘hardcopy’ notes and so on. These materials, originally kept within the Blackboard VLE, or learning management system, have been migrated to Giunti Labs’ DR; then federated to the JISC repository (known as JORAM Open) and made available to learners via RSS feed alerts.
Professor Mark Stiles, the University’s Head of Learning Development and Innovation, and a member of the board of directors of the IMS Global Learning Consortium, explained: “We bought Giunti Labs’ Harvest Road Hive – in 2006 – because we wanted flexibility in how we used our learning content. We already had the Blackboard VLE but we wanted to use the content on this system in other ways.