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It is important to remember that within the accrual financial system of onCourse, that every action has an opposite. When an enrolment is created, an invoice is generated to the payer. When the payer pays the invoice, a payment in record is created. If you want to cancel an invoice or refund a payment, you need to generate an equal and opposite record. To reverse an invoice, you create a credit note (a negative invoice) and to give someone back their money, you need to create a payment out. This section outlines the common processes involved in creating credit notes and refunds.
Example 13.1. How to cancel a single enrolment
If you need to remove a student from a class, due to them withdrawing or failing to attend, you need to cancel their enrolment. If you wish to provide them with a credit note you can do this at the time of the enrolment cancellation.
The first step is to cancel and credit the existing enrolment.
Find the enrolment in the Enrolments window
Highlight the enrolment by clicking on it
Click on the cogwheel in the bttom right hand corner and choose "Cancel 1 enrolment". This will bring up a dialog with a checkbox offering to also credit the enrolment fee charged - it is unticked by default. If you tick this, you will create a create note as part of this process. If you keep it unticked, you will retain all the student's fees as part of your business income. 99% of the time you want to create a credit note. If the student's enrolment is unpaid, the credit note will pay their unpaid invoice, rather than leaving it as an unpaid debt on your books.
In the cancellation window, choose if you want to send the student a credit note email. If you are have not previously agreed to transfer the student to another class, or provide them with a refund, selecting this option will let the student know how much credit they have available with you for future redemption.
Hit "Proceed".
This process will cancel the enrolment, and create a credit note in the system for the value of the existing enrolment. Note that the credit note will apply to the original payer of the invoice. This may not be the student who enrolled in the class, but their employer, parent or other third party. Read the text in the cancellation window to confirm if the student and the payer are the same or different people.
If the invoice originally issued for this enrolment remains unpaid, the credit note created will create an automatic contra payment against that invoice, in effect 'cancelling' it from requiring payment.
If the originating invoice was paid in full, the credit note can be used to contra pay another outstanding invoice from that debtor, if you choose. You can manually select this option from the invoice list window in the cogwheel options.
Please note that a payment back to the student will not be automatically created after cancelling an enrolment. That student might want use the credit to enrol into another class. Or you may wish to contact the student and arrange a refund. The next sections explain these options in detail.
While all enrolments in onCourse create outcomes, including those in non-VET programs, the outcomes that can cause concern for reporting are those associated with VET enrolments.
During the enrolment cancellation a checkbox is ticked by default that says 'Delete outcomes linked to this enrolment with status "not set"'. If you have not given any outcomes a status yet, this will mean all the outcomes attached to the enrolment will be deleted. This will be desirable for most types of enrolments, where you do not want to report the student as having enrolled in this program at all for AVETMISS purposes. You cannot delete outcome associated with 'success' or 'unknown' tagged AVETMISS exports, and you also cannot delete outcomes associated with unrevoked certificates.
If the student needs to be reported as a withdrawn student for AVETMISS purposes, you have two options. Either set the value of the outcomes before the cancellation process, and they will be retained by default. Alternatively, you can untick the option 'Delete outcomes linked to this enrolment with status "not set"' so all outcomes, both set and not set, will be retained. To avoid AVETMISS errors, you will need to make sure that any unset outcomes that are retained are given a valid outcomes status, such as 60 - Withdrawn after processing the cancellation.
Retained outcomes attached to cancelled enrolments are reported like all other outcomes. If you want to suppress them from all reporting, set the enrolment to 'Do not report for AVETMISS' within the VET section of the enrolment record.
You can also elect to charge a cancellation fee (with or without tax) as per your college policies. The difference between the fee paid, and the cancellation fee charged will be available as credit to the student, or can be refunded to them.
Note that if you charge GST, this amount will be added on to the value you specify e.g. in the screen shot below a $20 plus GST fee has been charged, totalling $22.
You can select to have this administrative fee deposited into the income account of your choice. By default, the income account associated with the enrolment income line will be selected. Any GST component will be credited to the GST account.
On occasion, you may have cause to cancel and enrolment that was originally paid for by an onCourse voucher. If this is the case, a warning will appear in the cancellation window to advise you that a credit note will be made for this student, just like for any other cancelled enrolment. There is no automatic 'crediting' of their original voucher.
If you have a business rule that states that students who paid with vouchers can not access a refund, then use the credit note to purchase a new voucher for the student that they can again redeem.
In the example below, the enrolment fee of $264 was paid for partially by a voucher ($200) and partially by cash ($64) - this can be found by looking at the original invoice for the enrolment.
When the enrolment is cancelled and the credit note created, I could then purchase another $200 voucher for the student with the credit note, leaving them with $64 in general credit, that could either be used towards another enrolment or refunded.
If you are planning of transferring an enrolment, you can do this from the enrolment list view. This is similar to the 'cancel enrolment' process with the addition of opening Checkout at the end of the process, pre loaded with the student, payer and course details, allowing you to make a speedy transfer of the student to another class.
Highlight the enrolment you want to transfer, then go to the cogwheel and select the option 'Transfer an enrolment'. Once you have done this a popup will appear advising you what is going to happen. You then have the ability to delete outcomes linked to this enrolment with the status "not set", this option is marked as default. You also have the ability to do the following things related to the invoice or invoices attached to this enrolment:
Create a credit note to reverse the enrolment fee to the payer - this is marked as default.
Charge the payer an administrative fee of your choice - you can also choose if it includes GST and what account it gets recorded against.
You can only transfer one enrolment at a time.
Once you have checked what you need to and pressed 'Proceed', a pre-populated checkout window will then open with the student's and payer's contact details along with the course from the 'transferred' enrolment. Select a new class, then ensure the correct credit note is being applied to the new enrolment in the Payments section by clicking on the 'previous credit'. If a credit note was created for the transfer and it is being applied then the payment method should appear as 'No Payment'.
On occasion, you may need to create a credit note of refund for a student without using the enrolment cancellation process. This may be because you wish to offer the student a credit to apply to further training (perhaps there was problem with the class they attended), because they purchased another product outside of the class enrolment, or because you created a credit note for the wrong amount during the enrolment cancellation.
Before you can issue any type of refund, you must create a credit note. You can create a credit note manually in the invoice window. Note that this process is not necessary if you create a credit note during the enrolment cancellation process.
The quickest way to create a credit note to fix an error is to find the original invoice, duplicate it and reverse it.
Example 13.2. How to reverse an invoice to create a credit note
Reversing an invoice manually allows you to make an adjustment (partial reversal) or complete reversal to an invoice created in error. Begin by opening the invoice window and locating the invoice that is problematic.
Single click on the invoice, and from the cogwheel select the option 'Duplicate and reverse invoice'. A new manual invoice/credit note window will open.
This new credit note will contain all the same invoice lines as the origional invoice line, but with each line item reversed. Remove any invoice lines you do not want to include in this credit note.
To adjust the value of a remaining invoice line or charge the reversal to a different income account, click to expand it. You can make changes to any of the fields available in the box.
Optionally link the reversal back to it's original course-class code to deduct this amount from the class income. This will also make the invoice show in the class budget tab.
Repeat the process for each additional invoice line you want to reverse.
Remove the check box from the 'send email' option if you do not want a copy of this adjustment to be sent to the payer.
Ensure the balance of the new invoice/credit note is as you expect before choosing save. You can not edit the invoice/credit note after saving it.
Example 13.3. How to create a manual credit note
Begin by opening the Invoice window. In the bottom right hand corner is a plus button. Click it.
In the new Invoice record window, type the name of the contact you wish to give the credit note/refund too. The contact needs to already exist within onCourse.
In the invoice lines section of the window, click on the '+' button to add charges/credits to the record. Give your item a title, select the general ledger income account it will be debited from, enter the appropriate negative amount in the 'Price Each Ex Tax' field. Ensure if you are creating a credit note that the value has a minus sign in front of it.
Enter any other relevant information and save the credit note. You will now see in the list view window an unbalanced invoice for a negative amount. This is the credit note.
Sometimes students enrol in classes and pay the full fee, and after enrolment they realise a discount needs to be provided as the student was eligible for a reduced enrolment fee.
In onCourse, when a discount is issued the COS account Discounts Given is credited and the chosen income account is debited.
To create a manual discount, follow the steps above to issue a manual credit note, but enter an amount in the Discount Each ex tax field. This will create a credit note, but add the cost of the discount to the COS account, just like if it was taken during the enrolment.
Please note that discounts processed manually will not be linked to the class and will not show in the class budget, unless you add the link back to the class in the invoice line.
Contacts with credit will appear in the invoices window as 'unbalanced' invoices, showing with a negative balance. The next time the contact enrols, or pays for another student's enrolment, they will automatically be offered their credit to use towards their fee payment in the checkout process.
This information will show in the Payments section of the checkout window next to previous owing as a minus amount. The amount due for payment will automatically adjust.
If you processed a payment in record in error, i.e. recorded an EFTPOS payment that failed to process through your EFTPOS terminal, and want to reverse the payment to set the invoice back to unpaid, you can do this in the Payments In window.
To reverse a payment, it first of all must be unbanked. Some payment types are set to bank automatically on creation. If your payment is banked, double click on the payment in record and removed the date banked date, then save and close the record.
Your payment in is now ready to reverse via the following steps:
In onCourse go to "Accounts" then "Payment In".
Highlight the payment in record to be reversed.
Click on the cog wheel and select "Reverse payment".
Click reverse of the new pop up window to confirm you want to the record to be reversed.
A new negative payment in will be created of the same payment type as your original payment, and both payment lines will have the status REVERSED. If the original payment was already marked as banked, then this reversal process will cause it to be unbanked.
The banking deposit window will show both halves of the reversal. You should bank them together so they balance each other out.
Only 1 payment In item can be reversed at one time and the date of reversal will be set as today's date
If you wish to give a contact back their money, you need to create a credit note first, and then a payment out record. You can return cash to the payer, write a cheque, or if they have paid by a credit card through onCourse (not via an EFTPOS terminal) you can automatically reverse the payment back to their card. Manual credit card reversals can also be done through an EFTPOS terminal, but you will need to contact the payer to get their card details first.
If you refund a fee via an EFTPOS terminal, you will still need to record a payment out entry within onCourse, simply select payment type 'EFTPOS', even if the reversal was to a credit card. It's the method that is important to record here, not the card type.
Example 13.4. How to create a payment out from the credit note
Go to the Invoices window and single click on the credit note you want to apply a payment out to. Clicking the + button directly on the Payments Out window will also re-direct you to the Invoices window.
From the cogwheel choose 'apply payment out'. This will create a new Payment Out record
The Payment Out window will open displaying the new record, the contact name will be pre-filled
Continue with selecting the refund type from the drop-down box, and type in the amount to be refunded. NOTE: if the type chose is Credit Card, you must also choose the payment that is being refunded from the drop down box list of previous payments made by the listed contact
Select a credit note to apply the refund to. Refunds must always apply to a credit note, otherwise the system will not allow it to be processed. The refund amount must be less than or equal to the amount in the credit note selected.
Hit Save to process the refund. If there is an error, or if the bank declines the refund for whatever reason, you'll be notified via an error message.
onCourse does not store credit card numbers. What it does store is a transaction reference number supplied by the bank. This transaction reference number allows you to reverse up to the original amount paid during the transaction. This means you can refund the payer with complete confidence that the payment is being returned to the original credit card that paid for the enrolment.
There are some limitations that you need to be aware of however:
1. Credit card transactions are only available to reverse up to three months after the initial date of purchase. An attempted refund to a transaction older than this will fail.
2. You can only refund UP TO the original amount of the transaction. You can not refund the student more than they paid per transaction. For example, if two $100 enrolments we paid for in separate credit card transactions by the same contact and both cancelled and eligible for a refund, you would need to process two payments out of $100 each, once against each transaction.
3. If the credit card you are attempting to refund has been cancelled by it's owner, or expired, the attempt to refund it will fail. You will need to contact the student and arrange an alternate refund method.
If your class is not financially viable, or needs to be cancelled for other reasons, onCourse has the tools to allow you to cancel the enrolments, notify the students, refund the students or provide them with credit notes, and use their credit to book them in to another, or the next available class.
Before you cancel the class, you may wish to print a record of the enrolled students, via a report like a class roll or student contact list so you can annotate their preference of refund, credit note or transfer.
There is an optional script you can enable to automatically notify all students enrolled in the class that their class is no longer running as scheduled. If this script is enabled, it will contact the students at the end of this process and there is no option to prevent the message from sending on a class by class basis. See below for more information regarding enabling and disabling the script.
To cancel the class, select the class in the classes window and from the cogwheel option in the bottom right, select "cancel class". There are a couple choices to make in this window:
Create credit note to reverse the enrolment fee - this is always checked and cannot be changed. This will notify you how many credit notes will be created.
Send credit note email (ticked by default) - this sends the credit note details created by the first step to each payer of the enrolment, advising them of the credit they now have available to use towards another enrolment, or request to be refunded.
Create credit notes to reverse invoices manually (ticked by default) - if you have manually created and linked additional invoices to the class, these will also be reversed
Once a class is cancelled it will appear greyed out the class list view, and be available in the core filter 'cancelled classes'. Cancelled classes that were visible on the web will be removed.
A cancelled class can not be 'un-cancelled'. However, should you need to reinstate the class, highlight your cancelled class and from the cogwheel option choose 'Duplicate 1 class' moving the class forward by zero days (essentially making another copy of the class with a new class code, but all the other details the same). This will not re-enrol the previously cancelled students... should you wish to do this you will need to enrol them again in the new class as per the usual processes.
To prevent large scale errors, cancellations of classes are not available for bulk processing. You will need to cancel each class individually.
Two scripts and sets of email templates are available by default in onCourse to contact the students enrolled and the tutors assigned to a class when it is cancelled.
The 'Cancelled class notice for tutor' must be enabled to automatically contact tutors via the 'Tutor notice of class cancellation' email template.
The 'Send class cancellation' must be enabled to automatically contact enrolled students via the 'Class cancellation' email template.
It is important you read, and possibly customise, the text of these two sets of email templates before enabling the scripts as the wording must be consistent with your college policies regarding cancelled classes, refund options and credit notes.
If you adjust the wording of any of the email templates, be sure to adjust the plain text and HTML versions in the same way.
The student notification email can also be sent manually from the enrolment window. Highlight the enrolments you wish to send the message to and choose send email from template > Class cancellation from the cogwheel options.
Advertising classes, taking enrolments and payments and then having to cancelling the class due to insufficient enrolments or change or circumstance is a real cost to a training organisation.
From a business perspective, rescheduling a class to a future date is far more advisable than cancelling a class, but sometimes a cancellation will still be necessary. As an organisation, should you wish to understand your cancellation rates and 'lost' potential income, a report called 'Cancelled classes count' is available from the class list of reports.
Begin by selecting the core filter 'cancelled classes' to show only your cancelled classes in the list view. Then search or highlight the classes in the range you wish to report on. Once you have selected the classes, click the Share button > PDF > Cancelled classes count.
This report will show you the enrolments that were in the class prior to the cancellation and the income that had been collected.
If you wish to transfer a student, first you need to cancel their existing enrolment, then enrol them into a new class.
Student transfers need to be done one student at a time. Using the transfer wizard option outlined above will make this process fairly quick, ensuring the previous payer and class are pre-selected for you in checkout,
As onCourse tracks the amount owing for the student, no money is lost by the system by cancelling and refunding. If the student has been given credit from their previous enrolment for $100, but the class you are transferring them into costs $120 you can either:
Do nothing and checkout will request payment for the additional $20, which you can collect via all the usual payment methods available including credit card
Choose to manually discount the enrolment in checkout by $20, allowing their credit of $100 to cover to apply leaving the account with a balance of $0.
If their new enrolment is less expensive than their previous class, you can choose to keep their credit on file indefinitely to apply to a future enrolment, or provide them with a refund for the credit remaining once you have processed the new enrolment.
onCourse tracks enrolments and financial data in a way which leaves a complete audit trail. So at any time you will be able to see all the enrolment history for every student, including enrolments they have withdrawn from. This is very important for financial auditing and system security reasons which especially when several staff might be making changes or looking at the history in the system.
Furthermore the refund/checkout process makes the work flow clearer when the new class has a different cost to the old. The operator is explicitly prompted to collect an additional payment or retain part of the credit note. By then applying an additional charge or discount, general ledger adjustments are kept accurate and clear.
Remember that the opposite of an invoice is a credit note. If the student owes you more than you originally charged them, create a manual invoice for the difference. If you charged them too much in error, create a manual credit note for the difference. If you want to check the balance of a student's account, go to the contact window and look at their finance tab. This will show all invoices, credit notes, payments in and payments out at the current balance of their account e.g. do they owe you money, do you owe them money, or is everything square?
You can also use the contra pay feature to use the balance of a credit note to 'pay off' an outstanding balance on an invoice. Select the credit note in the invoice window, and using the cog wheel option 'Contra Invoice..' locate the invoice you want to pay. This only works for credit notes/invoices for the same contact.


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Mohammad Sadeq Barati, and official with the Pilgrims Affairs Department at the Khorasan Razavi Governor's Office, told IQNA that since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 2019), more than 37 million pilgrims visited the holy city.
He added that the number of pilgrims expected to visit in Noruz (new Iranian year) holidays is about 15 million.
Accordig to Barati, all necessary preparations have been made by the related organizations and government bodies in the city and the province of Razavi Khorasan to best host the visitors during the holidays.
Mashhad is home to the shrine of Imam Reza (AS), the 8th Shia Imam. It is one of the most extensively visited pilgrimage centers in the world.
Tens of millions of pilgrims from all over Iran as well as other countries visit the holy city every year.

subset: commoncrawl


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Loyola University Chicago
Maywood, IL
The annual NCIN conference for funded schools proved to be an enriching, stimulating experience that strengthened scholars' leadership and other skills.
Grant Years:
Degrees Conferred:BSN
Scholarships Awarded:20
Round 2: 2009 – 2010
Charles Akanbi
Jennifer Badal
Stephanie Benedict
Sarah Blatchford
Allison Clark
Ariella Friedman
Jill Heikkila
Mary Jannson
Alex Jung
Ashley Moore
Ifeoma Nkuku
Monica Perez
Caroline Regan
Janette Shaver
Shera Thompson
Round 4: 2011 – 2012
Adam Parker
Paola Rios
Mark Romond
Andrew Soltys
Theresa Zumba
Through the NCIN program, Loyola University of Chicago's School of Nursing developed an integrated team-based orientation for all accelerated nursing students and encouraged all students to get a "study buddy" and participate in study groups. The NCIN Leadership Toolkit helped NCIN scholars identify their unique leadership qualities. In conjunction with the Nursing Alumni Association, the school of nursing coordinated mock interviews for each graduating student. NCIN scholars found this experience valuable in instilling confidence and professional- ism. Scholars benefited from mentoring, opportunities to meet with leaders of health care systems throughout Chicago, and the chance to participate in the annual meeting of schools of nursing that NCIN hosts.


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Increasing the efficiency of organic solar cells
FAU researchers develop new material for highly efficient organic solar cells as an alternative to standard silicon cells
A team of FAU researchers led by Nicola Gasparini, a doctoral candidate at FAU's Chair of Materials for Electronics and Energy Technology, has made an important step towards creating more efficient solar cells. The researchers were able to increase the fill factor – which describes the efficiency of a solar cell – to 77 percent, thereby increasing the amount of light that the cell makes use of. The researchers' findings have recently been published in the journal Nature Energy*.
'As the efficiency of a solar cell is proportional to its fill factor, our goal was to increase the fill factor to make them more efficient than they are currently,' Nicola Gasparini explains. The overall aim is to develop organic solar cells as a replacement for standard silicon cells and in doing so make photovoltaics a competitive alternative to fossil fuels.
However, so far little research has been carried out on the fill factor, which describes the efficiency of a solar cell. The closer the fill factor is to 100 percent, the higher the cell's efficiency. 'We have reached 77 percent. That's a very high value. Before now similar efficiencies had only been achieved with silicon cells.'
Like silicon cells, solar cells convert light into electricity. However, in contrast to the silicon cells that can often be found in photovoltaic systems on the roofs of buildings, organic solar cells are made of special semiconductor-based polymers called fullerenes – minute carbon molecules that look like footballs.
In order to increase light absorption in organic solar cells, Nicola Gasparini and his colleagues at the Chair of Materials for Electronics and Energy Technology, headed by Prof. Dr. Christoph Brabec, developed a new combination of several polymers which absorbs sun light completely. Thanks to the combination of materials the researchers succeeded for the first time not only in achieving full absorption but also in reducing losses.
Highly efficient organic cells based on this technology could open up new markets, particularly in the automotive and aviation industries in which increasing efficiency and reducing weight are very important.
Further information:
Nicola Gasparini, MSc
Phone: +4 9131 8527730


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OMT WebOrganization and Management Theory Division of the Academy of Management
Announcing a Call for Papers for a Special Issue of the Journal of Business EthicsSustaining Sustainability in OrganizationsGuest Editors:Timo Busch, ETH ZurichDeborah E. de Lange, Suffolk UniversityJavier Delgado-Ceballos, University of GranadaAlfred Marcus, University of MinnesotaJonatan Pinkse, University of Amsterdam Business SchoolWith this call for papers, we invite research that advances a discussion that relates to how sustainability is developed and maintained (sustained) in organizations with a particular emphasis on international organizations, whether they are multinational corporations (MNCs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), or international governmental organizations (IGOs). Please see the cfp for full details.To be considered for the special issue, "Sustaining Sustainability in Organizations," full papers must be submitted by May 1, 2011. All submissions will go through a double-blind peer review process. Full papers should be submitted to Deborah E. de Lange at
. Please send the paper as a Word or pdf document without identifying information and a separate cover page having identifying information in the same email to Debbie.
Tags: Alfred Marcus | call for papers | Deborah E. de Lange | Javier Delgado-Ceballos | Jonatan Pinkse | Journal of Business Ethics | sustainability | Timo Busch
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For our previous member meeting in October and our upcoming meeting in December, we've been using Marshall Ganz's "Story of Self" framework for developing a public narrative. So what exactly is a public narrative and why are we focusing on them at Thread?
The Story of Self framework fits into a Ganz's larger theory about community organizing and collective impact movements. In a speech to the Collective Impact Forum's spring convening in May 2017, Ganz outlined his theory behind why community organizing (read: community empowerment) is so crucial to the work of collective impact.
In short, Ganz argues there are five elements of community organizing needed for collective impact efforts to achieve the change they seek: (1) relationships, (2) public narrative, (3) strategy, (4) structure, and (5) action. Absent any of these elements, Ganz claims, collective impact movements will struggle to achieve they systematic changes they advocate for. So, how do these elements work together to drive change?
We build relationships with shared values, trust, and a commitment to working together to solve wicked problems. We do this with an acknowledgment that we can't achieve systems change in isolation from one another and that, from time to time, we must call one another into service in support of our various missions and goals.
We call one another into service using our individual public narratives. Sharing our public narratives harnesses our emotional resources to activate courage in others and to inspire them to identify shared values and purpose. Sharing our personal stories of tragedy and triumph helps others relate with our own lived experiences and motivates them to join you in your work.
When we've brought our peers and supporters on board, we then develop our strategy. Strategy implicitly (sometimes explicitly) requires a discussion of power and the imbalance of power in the world. We strategize with our supporters and peers to understand our community's inherent strengths and power in order to understand how to best enhance that power to the community's benefit. Ganz cites the example of the Montgomery bus boycott. African Americans used the collective power of their feet/walking as a power over the bus company to force them to change their policies. Identifying this shared power, and harnessing that power collectively is integral to systems change.
When we've created a strategy to enhance community power we then have to create structure within which that power is harnessed. Histories of lived experience prove that collective impact and systems change efforts cannot be accomplished through the leadership of one person alone – rather, a distributed leadership model that calls on the strengths and talents of many people empowers collective impact to soldier on in the face of intense resistance that every change process inevitably faces.
Finally, the change process requires action. Ganz cautions that while strategizing and building structure are necessary we must act sooner than later. Years of strategizing and coalition building might be necessary, but they should not impede action; therefore, we must act as soon as we are able, and learn as we go. We must learn from our successes, but just as importantly we must learn from our failures. All actions provide opportunities for learning, whether successful or not. Assessing and learning from our actions necessarily leads to better outcomes and ultimately to systems change.
These elements, when combined to serve our collective impact movements, empower our communities to harness their inherent talents to overcome systematic oppression and build equity. Thread has chosen to utilize Ganz's framework as a way to: (1) build stronger relationships between community partnerships, (2) to write our individual and collective public narratives, (3) and (4) to identify strategies and structures that empower our communities, and (5) to decide on collective action that creates a stronger, more equitable, and just St Louis.


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/ Photo by bfick /
Tracking is like hunting, except instead of an animal, we are hunting guidance and wisdom. When a hunter tracks a deer, he observes its movements in order to capture and kill the deer. When we track a sign – a deer showing up unexpectedly in our backyard – we move into a deeper relationship with the deer. We recognize that the deer brought us a gift — a message. Tracking asks us to merge with the natural world, and to listen with all of our senses.
Tracking requires a stillness of mind and a willingness to enter dreamtime, a more fluid perceptual state. In dreamtime, we see beyond the material world to experience the energy of a thing; we are aware that material objects exude energy, character, and personality. This task is easier in the natural world. We recognize a happy river by its clear bubbly waters. We feel good in its presence.
In urban settings, our senses are overloaded with stimuli to the extent that our senses are dulled, numbed, and imprecise. We have trouble making energetic distinctions. With practice, we can retrain our senses to feel again. When we are in material-world sensory mode, we will see five different chairs with various colors and shapes in a room as interesting, but we may not be able to discern anything unusual between them. In dreamtime, we are able to discern each chair's history and personality. Is it a happy chair, depressed chair, or agitated chair? Your senses will tell the difference. Read more


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The Scottish Government today announced that ACER have been awarded the contract to deliver standardised national assessments for schools across the country.
Here at the Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring (CEM) at Durham University, we provide assessment tools and data to schools and education authorities in over twenty local authority areas in Scotland. We will continue to work closely with these education authorities and schools, this academic year and beyond.
In response to today's announcement, Professor Rob Coe, Director of CEM at Durham University, said:"We have always found that there is real passion, commitment and wisdom about education in Scotland and a real desire to work together to find collective solutions to problems. Scotland is now moving to the next level and leading the world with the National Improvement Framework for Scottish Education."
Despite Covid-19 and the restrictions currently in place in the UK, we are open!
If you are a current customer and need our full contact list, please click here.
Learn more about our Covid-19 response.
Thank you and stay safe.


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Six Feet Under Free PicturesSix Feet Under Photographs, frames, screenshots and scenes. Six Feet Under is an American television drama series. Six Feet Under revolves around the Fisher family, who run a funeral home.
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Speedplay is revolutionary high-intensity interval training. Run, row, suspend, and lift in LA's most effective workout. Created by chiropractor Dr. Ryan Pendon and expert trainer Xavier Quimbo, Speedplay was borne out of the need for a challenging, effective, and exclusive training class for everyone from beginners to seasoned athletes. Envisioned as a creative workout atmosphere, 60-minute classes are fast-paced and playlist-curated.
HIIT // high-intensity interval training
HIIT is a training technique that alternates short, intense bursts of exercise with brief periods of rest to maximize calorie burn. Our workouts burn up to 900 calories during class, and HIIT training means you'll keep burning calories up to 48 hours after class.
the class //
Workouts are 60-minutes, including a warm-up and light stretch. The workout changes every day to keep your body guessing, fight boredom, and give you the best results. Class is broken up into sections of intervals, with sections ranging between 4 and 12 minutes.
- Speedplay 60 is our signature class :: a perfect balance of running, rowing, and floor
- Speedplay 45 is our signature class…just a little shorter :: you'll still receive a full-body workout including cardio and floorwork
- Speedplay Strength :: full-body workout, but with a strength focus to sculpt and lift heavy
- Speedplay + glutes :: our signature class, but with a legs + glutes focus
- Speedplay + abs :: our signature class, but with a core focus! #sixpack
the run //
Take control of your workout on a treadmill powered by you. We train on the Woodway Curve : a non-motorized treadmill designed for the most effective and safest indoor run on the market. Expect bursts of speed alternating with active recovery or endurance challenges.
the row //
Target your legs, core, back, and cardio endurance all in one smooth movement. The Concept2 rower is designed to provide a low-impact, full-body comprehensive workout that never sacrifices intensity. In our workouts, rowing intervals play with tempo and resistance to improve muscle efficiency, strength, and coordination.
the floor //
Versatility is king on our floor. Our floor sections use equipment to vary levels of dynamic resistance. Lift with dumbbells and barbells, challenge stability with Bosu, build a strong core with TRX suspension training, tone up with resistance bands, and increase agility using only your own body weight.
the program //
Our program is specifically designed to allow you to workout safely and effectively 4+ times a week with us. While every workout is full-body, Mondays & Thursdays are anterior chain focused and Tuesdays & Fridays are posterior chain focused.


text:
Optimism among consumers at four-year high
Biggest improvement in GfK consumer confidence index over four-month period since 1982
Britain's consumers have become more optimistic than at any time since October 2009, in the latest evidence that the feelgood factor has started to return to the recession-scarred economy.
The monthly GfK consumer confidence barometer for August, produced for the European Commission, showed that while households are no more positive about their own finances, their expectations about the prospects for the economy as a whole have improved. The index, which now stands at -30, has seen the biggest improvement over a four-month period than at any time since 1982.
Nick Moon, GfK's managing director of social research, said the upturn in consumers' mood was hard to reconcile with continued evidence that paltry pay rises are being more than swallowed up by high inflation.
"As more and more official figures show that we are all worse off, with UK living standards at their lowest for a decade, the public's economic confidence continues to grow strongly, a conundrum of Alice in Wonderland proportions," he said.
His comments echoed a warning from the economist Ann Pettifor this month that consumers have become too reliant on borrowing to maintain their lifestyles, in an "Alice in Wongaland" recovery.
Moon said recent more positive news about the economy – including modest falls in employment, signs of an improvement in the housing market and stronger-than-expected GDP growth of 0.7% in the second quarter – had probably boosted consumers' mood.
The chancellor, George Osborne, has repeatedly insisted that the UK is "out of intensive care" and the coalition hopes the improvement in confidence will help to support a sustained recovery in the second half of this year.
The British Chambers of Commerce has become the latest body to upgrade its forecasts for GDP in the UK, for this year and next. In predictions released on Friday it now expects growth of 1.3% in 2013, up from 0.9%, and 2.2% in 2014, up from 1.9%.
John Longworth, BCC director-general, said the government should not use the improving picture as an excuse to neglect the economy: "The recovery is not yet secure. We have had false dawns in recent years and although this upturn appears to be on stronger ground, we must be aware that complacency could lead to setbacks. Many external factors, such as the eurozone, the Middle East, and the Chinese economy, could halt our progress."
The BCC's economists said part of the improvement in its projections resulted from the strong performance of exports, which it said had been reflected in recent surveys of its members. Analysis from the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development on Thursday showed that the UK is the only country among members of the G20 which saw both exports and imports increase in the second quarter of the year.
The BCC expects the UK's stronger growth path to be reflected in a slow and steady improvement in the labour market over the next two years. It believes unemployment will fall to 7.5% in the third quarter of 2014, and breach the Bank of England's 7% target late in 2015, nine months earlier than Threadneedle Street is forecasting.
Mark Carney, the Bank's governor, has pledged that interest rates will remain on hold at their record low of 0.5% at least until unemployment falls below 7% of the workforce, and he reiterated in his first major speech on Wednesday that he expects that to take another three years. Financial markets fear he may be forced to push up borrowing costs earlier than he expects.
Separate evidence of a gradual improvement in the jobs market came on Thursday as recruitment company Hays reported its first UK and Ireland profit for five years. Hays, which places workers in areas such as finance, construction and IT, said that cost cuts and a second-half rebound in fees helped it swing to a £5.6m full-year operating profit in its home market, against a £6.5m loss in the same period last year.
Link to article: feeds.theguardian.com/c/34708/f/663908/s/3090f13f/sc/2/l/0L0Stheguardian0N0Cbusiness0C20A130Caug0C30A0Coptimism0Econsumer0Econfidence/story01.htm