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Mental health issues can make you feel helpless, but alongside any medication or talking therapy you may be undergoing, making some small changes to your lifestyle can really help.

And in celebration of World Mental Health Day - which is today, 10 October - one mental health app is helping you to embrace the practice of meditation to ease your psychological struggles.

The Beeja Meditation app offers users a hybrid method of meditation to help prevent escalating thoughts and promote feelings of calmness. Not only does the app help you to monitor your meditation, but it also offers useful resources including an intuitive mood tracker, a journal, and a wisdom section to help you learn about your body and improve the symptoms of depression and anxiety.

The Beeja app usually costs 108 for a lifetime membership, but for one day only it's offering everyone the chance to sign up for free. No catches; just lifetime membership for zero Great British pounds. You can snap up the deal by downloading Beeja in the App Store or in Google Play, and follow the steps for membership registration from there.

"Meditation is a 21st century must have," the app's founder, meditation and mindfulness expert Will Williams tells Cosmopolitan. "It essentially helps supercharge you through your day, bringing clarity and calm - enabling you to be the person you've always wanted to be.

"Practised daily, meditation enables us to access a state that is so physiologically and neurologically profound, that the mind, body and nervous system can begin healing themselves from the straining effects of modern living," he adds.

As a lifetime user, you would be granted complete access to the entire app, including the customisable meditation timer, the 12 step Learn to Meditate programme, guided meditations and all the other resources.

Will claims the app's unique hybrid approach helps to "alleviate deep afflictions and trauma, along with everyday needs such as anxiety, stress, sleep, energy, focus, creativity and relationships."

So if you're suffering at the moment, what have you got to lose?

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This 100 mental health app is offering FREE lifetime membership - cosmopolitan.com

Grief transforms you. It rearranges molecules, builds them anew. Its power is such that it occupies the core of our being and extends through our fingers to the limits of the universe, as Nick Cave wrote in a 2018 edition of his email newsletter. Within that whirling gyre all manner of madnesses exist: ghosts and spirits and dream visitations, and everything else that we, in our anguish, will into existence.

It has undoubtedly transformed Cave. In 2014, the musicians legacy seemed fairly settled: A godfather-of-goth lifetime badge, his mid-career pivot into romantic balladry, the late-career rebirth as mustachioed preacher of Grinderman sleaze, his legendary prickliness around critics and fans. Caves best songsoften seemed to occupy distinct characters or guisesthe death-row inmate (The Mercy Seat), the sinister raconteur (Red Right Hand), the blues-slinging incel buffoon (No Pussy Blues)yet since the devastating loss of his 15-year-old son, Arthur, in 2015, Cave himself has been stripped bare. He has, to quote a phrase from Jubilee Street, been transformed. In his musicand his increasing desire to communicate directly with fans, both through the newsletter and his unmoderated Q&A eventsthe artist conveys the enormity of his grief with surrealist wisdom and brutal candor. Ghosteen, Caves devastating new double album, is the culmination of that transformation.

Across two discs and several marathon-length pieces, Ghosteen is a wrenching dispatch from that grief-borne state where all manner of madnesses exist, set to analog synthesizers and heavenly choirs of voices. At times, Cave seems driven mad with longing: During the ambient hymn of The Spinning Song, he repeats the words Peace will come / Peace will come while slipping into a near-unrecognizable falsetto. Elsewhere, he regales us with visions of ships, galloping creatures (Bright Horses) and a spiral of children ascending upward towards the sun (the central imagery of the unbearably lovely Sun Forest)all images that evoke a sense of freedom and release. (In introducing the album, Cave described it as a migrating spirit).

Often, listening to Ghosteen feels like attending a surreal, freewheeling wake. The singer alludes to the specifics of his loss more plainly (and with more room for hope) than on 2016s Skeleton Tree, which was released in the confounding aftermath of the trauma but had been largely written beforehand. On the astonishing Night Raid, he eulogizes his departed child with wry and gravelly humor (You were a runaway flake of snow / You were skinny and white as a wafer, yeah I know) over Gamelan synths that ring out like funeral bells.

Such material might turn mawkish in the hands of a lesser writer, or a more traditional arrangement. Fortunately, not a note of Ghosteen can be described as traditional. Caves 1997 masterpiece, The Boatmans Call, set a template for the singers spare, confessional mode. On both Ghosteen and Skeleton Tree, Cave rips up that piano-ballad template in favor of drifting, ambient blankets of sound created in close collaboration with Bad Seed colleague Warren Ellis. Ghosteen draws on Cave and Elliss extensive film-scoring work more clearly than any other album in the Bad Seeds canon. (Though credited to Cave & The Bad Seeds, it feels like a full-band effort in name only.)

Many passages sound like incidental music for a science-fiction film, which is appropriate, given that so much of the album feels like it inhabits what Joan Didion has described as the grief-inspired mindset of magical thinking. Little details, such as the rising and falling vocal swells of Ghosteen Speaks and the brief, hymn-like coda of Sun Forest, have an immense effect within this heightened emotional state.

Ghosteen is packaged as a double LP, though at 68 minutes, its not much longer than No More Shall We Part. The second disc contains just three tracks, two of them surging well past the 10-minute mark. Ghosteen is a delirious, dream-state epic encompassing vast, cinematic synths and a fable about bears before arriving at its sad, learned wisdom: Theres nothing wrong with loving things / That cannot even stand. The 14-minute finale, Hollywood, is longer and a bit dodgier, as Cave conjoins a brooding series of verses about his familys post-trauma escape to Los Angeles with a retelling of a Buddhist legend involving a woman who went mad with sorrow following the loss of her child. These two parts may have been better served as two distinct songs.

In the legendand songthe woman finds some measure of comfort in the revelation that every house in her village has also experienced loss. Caves decision to deliver this story in a falsetto-laced voice far above his register is somewhat bewildering, but his ultimate conclusionthat everybodys losing somebodyis deeply sound. It echoes an interview he gave to MOJO in 2017, in which he exclaimed that there are a lot of grievers out there. Caves radical openness has brought him into conversation and solidarity with this global community of people who have lost and who continue to live. For such people, Ghosteen is a sweeping and remarkable gift.

Originally posted here:

Nick Cave's Ghosteen Is a Devastating Meditation on Loss and Survival - Paste Magazine

Meditation can benefit your overall health. It is a mental exercise aimed at improvingyour attention &concentration. There are a number of meditation techniques &hence it is necessary to know some essential truths before you meditate. It is an individual practice, although it is often done in groups as well. Anotherresult of meditation is relaxation for releasingtensionfrom the body. Hence, here is a simple guide to practice meditatingat home.

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Meditation is essentially relaxation time, so it should be done entirely at your convenience. Choose a time when you know you are not likely to be disturbed and are free to relax and enjoy. The hours of sunrise and sunset, while nature transitions between day and night, are also ideal forpracticing it. You will also find these times quietat home, which will help you in your meditation.

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Just like a convenient hour, choose a place where you are not likely to be disturbed. Quiet and peaceful surroundings can make the meditation experience best. For a beginner, it is more enjoyable and relaxing if the place is perfectly chosen. If you fail to choose the right place for meditation, you may not get the proper peace or mindfulness you need.

Your posture makes a difference too. Make sure you are relaxed, comfortable and steady. Sit straight with your spine erect; keep your shoulders and neck relaxed, and eyes closed throughout the process. You can sit in either the Sukhasana or the Padmasana postures for meditating.

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A good time to meditate at home is before having a meal. After eating food, you might doze off while meditating. However, do not force yourself to meditate when you are very hungry. In that case, you can meditate two hours after having food.

A few warm-ups before sitting to meditate helps improve blood circulation. Warming upbefore meditation removes inertia and restlessness. It makes your body feel lighter. This is a very important step in your list of how to meditate since you will be able to sit steadily for a longer time.

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Taking deep, proper breathsin and out before meditating is always a good idea. This helps to steady the rhythm of yourbreath and leads the mind into a peaceful, meditative state.

You will see the difference! A gentle smile throughout keeps you relaxed, peaceful & enhances your meditation experience. As you come close to the end of the meditation, dont be in a hurry to open your eyes and start moving about. Open your eyes slowly and gradually.Take time to become aware of yourself and your surroundings.

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Meditation tips: A simple guide to practice meditation at home - Republic World

BURGERZ

Smock Alley Theatre, DublinIn Pantis celebrated noble call speech from the stage of the Abbey Theatre, in 2014, the drag queen and accidental activist described having a milk carton flung at her, together with a homophobic slur. The incident, as she saw it, was somewhere between hateful and trivial, but it opened up a conversation about an entire culture. It doesnt hurt, she said, but it feels oppressive.

In Burgerz, the theatremaker Travis Alabanza describes something similar: a daylight assault in London, in which a man threw a burger at them, together with a transphobic slur. I think over 100 people saw, Alabanza recalls, and I know no one did anything.

So begins an alternately wry, witty and wounded meditation on the weapon of choice. As Alabanza sets out to make a hamburger, with some pointed audience assistance, they skilfully outline the ingredients within the oppression facing trans and gender-nonconforming bodies.

An engaging performer, Alabanza has a crisp, contemporary writing style: picture the burger, they ask us: The emoji. The archetype... But lets not pretend we didnt all have ideas for how this burger should look.

On a pleasingly retro set, which its designer, Soutra Gilmour, gives neon-pink adornments, this opens up considerations of containment. Do you feel boxed in? asks Alabanza, who is black and trans, of their volunteer. On opening night this role was fulfilled by an uncommonly precise and sympathetic young American named Oscar, who is nonetheless cast as a representative of structural privilege.

The burger, prepared and cooked over wickedly funny quips and drinks, may be a kind of plot McGuffin (if that didnt sound like a Hitchcockian Happy Meal), but when Alabanza vividly relates a whole biography of oppression quotidian public indignities, deep private anxieties, even national outrages the show become more rawly confrontational.

As the joking repartee dissipates, Alabanza remonstrates against historys erasing of transgendered deities, the repressive legacies of colonisation and alarming surges in hate crime. But their focus becomes a single figure: the passive bystander, a totem of a wider culture, which is to say, finally: us. You have your hands wrapped around my neck.

The effect, whatever your politics, is less to harangue than to challenge and sober. Like Anus Faultline, which evokes the harassments behind the early days of Irelands gay-rights movement, and asks its audience What would you have done?, Alabanza lifts the lid on our potential for empathy, alliance and complicity. Nor do they simply leave you with food for thought. After seeing Burgerz, and the sharp shock of its conclusion, its hard to imagine anyone being able to stand idly by.

Runs until Saturday, October 12th, as part of Dublin Theatre Festival

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Burgerz review: A mordant meditation on a hurled insult - The Irish Times

Thank you: Every Friday evening at sunset, Old Ed walked to the end of his favourite pier, with a bucket of prawns clutched in his bony hand. Within moments he was surrounded by screeching and squawking seagulls. Ed would toss prawns to the hungry birds, all the while saying with a smile, Thank you. Thank you.

Jesus said, Were not all ten made clean? Where are the other nine? Luke 17:17

WE all have those moments when things often go unnoticed or unappreciated because we think theyre either insignificant or we take them for granted.

We forget to express gratitude, or we simply allow the opportunity for thanks to pass by.

That is especially true for the daily countless blessings we receive from God.

Our daily lives move so fast.

We rush around, often attempting to fit 32 hours of activities into a 24-hour day.

This hectic schedule can cause us to overlook all the little joys life has to offer.

Dont be afraid to make time to stop and smell the roses.

Listen to the sound of your kids laughing, enjoy the cool, crisp air of the first autumn day, or take a walk around the block to clear your mind and give yourself a mental break.

Practise gratitude.

Gratitude helps us value the small things we often take for granted because we start paying attention to the good things in life.

There is a story told by author Max Lucado in his book, In the Eye of the Storm.

Every Friday evening at sunset, Old Ed walked to the end of his favourite pier, with a bucket of prawns clutched in his bony hand.

Within moments he was surrounded by screeching and squawking seagulls.

Ed would toss prawns to the hungry birds, all the while saying with a smile, Thank you. Thank you.

In a few minutes the bucket was empty, but Ed would remain staring out at the ocean, lost in thought.

Eddie Rickenbacker was the founder of Eastern Airlines in the United States.

In the First World War he was a pilot and became Americas first ace.

In the Second World War he was an instructor and military advisor and flew missions with combat pilots.

On one of his flying missions across the Pacific, he and his seven-member crew crashed into the ocean.

Miraculously, all the men survived, and climbed into a life raft.

Captain Rickenbacker and his crew floated for days on the rough shark-infested waters of the Pacific, in the blazing sun.

By the eighth day their rations ran out no food, no water.

They were hundreds of kilometres from land and no one knew where they were or even if they were alive.

They needed a miracle and so they prayed together.

They tried to sleep, but all they could hear was the slap of the waves against the raft.

Suddenly Eddie felt something land on the top of his cap. It was a seagull.

Eddie sat perfectly still, and then, with a flash of his hand and a squawk from the gull, he grabbed it and wrung its neck.

He tore the feathers off, and he and his starving crew made a meal of it a slight meal for eight men.

Then they used the intestines for bait.

With it, they caught fish, which gave them food and more bait and the cycle continued.

With that simple survival technique, they were able to endure the rigours of the sea until they were found and rescued after 24 days at sea.

Eddie Rickenbacker was a true American hero, who felt he owed his life to the seagulls.

Eddie lived many years beyond that ordeal of being lost at sea, but never forgot the sacrifice of that first life-saving seagull.

And he never stopped saying, Thank you.

Thats why almost every Friday night he would walk to the end of the pier with a bucket full of prawns and a heart full of gratitude.

I used to live for the big moments, but life has a way of teaching us.

Now I value the small moments, making a point of counting my blessings every day, always giving thanks to God.

St Paul teaches us to pray always and in all circumstances of your life with gratitude in your heart.

To have an attitude of gratitude means to express thankfulness and appreciation in all areas of your life, for the big as well as the small.

Gratitude is the most powerful meditation of a lifetime.

Gratitude comes so easily if we allow it.

As you focus on gratitude, you will quickly find your way home to God for in giving gratitude, we are in turn blessed for giving it.

It is a gift for both the giver and the receiver.

When we give gratitude, the value of our life increases, and joy fills our beings.

Be thankful for everything that happens in your life.

The greatest blessings of humanity are within.

Be like Old Ed smile and say, thank you; thank you to the One.

Have a golden day and treasure life.

Written by: Guest Contributor

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Gratitude is the most powerful meditation of a lifetime - Catholic Leader

File photo: India's Mayank Agarwal acknowledges the crowd as he walks back to pavilion after losing his wicket on the 2nd day of the 1st cricket test match against South Africa at Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, in Visakhapatnam, on October 3, 2019. Agarwal made 215 runs. Image Credit: PTI

Pune: Centurion Mayank Agarwal underlined his mental discipline after his 108 helped India reach 273/3 at stumps on Day 1 of the second Test against South Africa here on Thursday.

It was Mayank's second ton in as many Tests after he notched up his maiden Test century (215) in the first innings of the previous Test in Visakhapatnam.

Mayank thus became only the second Indian opener after Virender Sehwag (2009-10) to score centuries against South Africa in back-to-back Tests. Rohit Sharma remains the only Indian opener to slam centuries in both innings of a Test against South Africa, a feat he achieved in the first Test in Visakhapatnam.

"I'm very happy that I could get back-to-back hundreds, that's a good feeling," Mayank said after the match.

In Visakhapatnam, Mayank became the fourth Indian batsman after Dilip Sardesai, Vinod Kambli and Karun Nair to convert his maiden Test hundred into a double century. The 28-year-old had slammed a brilliant 215 in the first Test, sharing a record 317-run openeing stand with Rohit Sharma.

"The team is in a good position... Winning the toss, batting first and with one batsman short, it's a good thing to make runs. There were periods when runs weren't coming easily, they bowled some tight spells and didn't let us score," the opener said.

On his approach towards batting and the work that went behind it, Mayank said: "Plenty of long-distance running, meditation and working on my game... It was always about mental discipline."

Mayank and Rohit played cautiously in the first hour on Thursday as there was some moisture in the wicket which assisted pacers Kagiso Rabada, who took all the three wickets of the day, and Vernon Philander.

"There was some moisture in the wicket and Philander and Rabada bowled tight lines. We knew we would get beaten, so we needed to play tight, play the straight lines and wait for the bad balls.

"450-500 should be a good score to put pressure on South Africa... Don't know if we need to bat a second time," Agarwal said.

Mayank hit 16 fours and two sixes enroute his 108 before Rabada induced an outside edge off the opener that was caught by Proteas skipper Faf du Plessis in the slip cordon.

India were 273/3 at stumps with skipper Virat Kohli (63 not out) and his deputy Ajinkya Rahane (18 not out) at the crease.

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Long-distance running, meditation helped me improve: Mayank Agarwal - Gulf News

(TNS)-- More than 5,400 public school students in Alabama today get their education entirely through a computer connection. Parents of students enrolled in virtual schools say its working better for their children: no more worrying about keeping up with the Joneses and no more bullying because their children dont fit in with the in crowd.

"My children are not nearly as consumed with what others are doing or meeting the demands of peer pressure," said Brooke Veazey, mother of two who are attending a public high school online. "Both of my children are more confident in what they are learning, both are getting better rest since their start time is my choice, and both children are learning to appreciate themselves as individuals."

But, the growing practice raises new questions. While many parents seem happy with the home setup and flexible schedule, there are questions about how well students are learning.

In Alabama, both statewide virtual schools on the books in 2017-18---Limestone Countys Virtual School and Conecuh Countys Genesis Innovative School---earned Fs on the state report card.

And there are questions about money. There is no tuition or fee. So why would a small handful of school boards in rural Alabama suddenly hire private contractors to help take on the education of children from other counties?

Eufaula, a small city in south Alabama, has drawn so many online students it doubled its enrollment and substantially grew its state tax support. It grew so much that the system jumped up in athletic class. Yet all that without having to add more desks and all that without seeing any new faces in the hall.

Growing Nationwide

Veazeys children attend Alabama Connections Academy, a K-12 online school powered by Pearson, one of two for-profit education giants leading the growing virtual school industry nationwide.

Across the country, there are 501 full-time virtual schools in 35 states. They enrolled just under 300,000 students during the 2017-18 school year, according to research by the National Education Policy Center in Colorado, shown in the chart below.

For Veazey's family, this is the second year attending school virtually.

Veazey, an education technology specialist working in public schools in the central Alabama area, said it took a little getting used to, but once a schedule was in place, things ran smoothly. She serves as her children's "learning coach," a must for parents overseeing their children's education in the virtual school world.

The learning coach is also supposed to make sure students dont cheat on tests or other coursework.

"The biggest hurdle, in the beginning," she said, "was getting used to the learning environment, how to access lessons, how to communicate with teachers, and how to guide my children when they were in need of assistance."

The coursework is rigorous, she said, and the experience her children are gaining by being in charge of their learning is invaluable. The expectations are higher due to the nature of the learning environment.

I feel my children will be better prepared for the responsibilities that come with college courses and workforce environments more so than I was when I was their age.

Alabama's Big Three Plus Two

Alabama now has five virtual schools, where all schoolwork is done online. Unlike brick-and-mortar schools, these virtual schools have no zone lines. They can and do accept students from other school districts around the state.

The main three are: Eufaulas Alabama Virtual Academy---the first of its kind in the state; Limestone Countys Virtual School also known as Alabama Connections Academy; and Conecuh Countys Genesis Innovative School.

A fourth program, Athens Citys Renaissance School, has scaled back on virtual schooling. It previously accepted a large number of virtual students statewide. But school officials found that the blended online experience, where students take some of their classes online, but also at times show up at a traditional school, is more productive, according to Superintendent Trey Holladay.

Renaissance now has about 125 virtual students statewide, Holladay said, with about 600 blended online students in the Tennessee Valley area.

A fifth statewide virtual school, Alabama Destination Career Academy, just opened in August for kindergarten through ninth-graders with plans to expand to 12th grade, and is being offered through Chickasaw City Schools in Mobile County.

Incentive for School Districts

It stands to reason that virtual school costs less than operating a brick-and-mortar building. In virtual school, building-related, transportation and school meal costs---which can add up to more than 30% of the total cost to educate a student in a school building---are avoided.

But the differences are sizeable, if recent spending numbers are to be believed.

According to recent numbers, Limestone County spent just $969 per virtual student and Conecuh County spent just $726 during the 2017-18 school year. That compares to an annual average of $9,425 per student for all schools in Alabama during the same time period. That suggests Conecuh could educate about 13 virtual students for the average cost of sending a single student to a neighborhood school.

State officials weren't sure whether the virtual school spending numbers were tallied correctly, though, and are working to ensure the 2018-19 spending data, due out Oct. 18, will reflect the total cost associated with the cost of virtual schooling.

The NEPC, in their 2019 annual report, found that virtual schooling costs less than what states are actually paying.

"Social Anxiety"

Mary Ann Danford spent more than 20 years in traditional brick-and-mortar public schools before becoming the full-time principal of Genesis Innovative School last year.

"I did not think I would fall in love and embrace it the way that I have," she said.

Don't let Conecuh County's 'F' on the 2017-18 report card lead you to believe students aren't doing well, Danford said. The 600 students in Kindergarten through 12th grade at Genesis are bright and dedicated, she said, and the 2018-19 report card will show improvement.

"We're going to show huge growth this year," Danford said, referring to the academic growth measure on the state's report card, due out Oct. 18.

Virtual school isn't for everyone, she said. Students need to be organized, independent, and self-motivated, she said. Families must provide the laptop or desktop, she said, and the internet connection must be high-speed and reliable.

"A large majority of our children are affected by social anxiety," she said, and many have been victims of cyber-bullying.

Danford said distance isn't a barrier to forming relationships with students and their families. "I feel like I know my virtual kids a lot better than my brick-and-mortar kids," she said. "Parents are so good to work with," she added.

Offsetting Declining Enrollment

For Brandy Dumas-Harris, Alabama Virtual Academy was just what her family needed. Dumas-Harris, a Huntsville resident, enrolled her oldest daughter in her kindergarten year, the first year the school opened. "She was being picked on by other students," she said. "She didn't want to go to school. She would not pay attention in class and fell behind."

"I saw the commercial for K12 and enrolled her," Dumas-Harris said. "We have been at Alabama Virtual Academy ever since."

In August, her oldest daughter started fifth grade and her youngest daughter started first grade. Both live in North Alabama. Both count toward the enrollment 250 miles away in Eufaula City Schools in the Black Belt.

With student enrollment declining in most districts across the state, enrolling online students from other districts presents an opportunity for a rural system to bolster the budget. That's because each student, whether online or in person, brings the local school board the same state tax dollars.

Some systems have expanded the program rapidly. In 2016-17, Eufaulathe first to open enrollment statewidehad 15 virtual students. By 2017-18, that number grew to 1,004, according to internal audit documents. By 2018-19, when the virtual school established itself as separate from other schools in the district, official enrollment numbers show 2,698 virtual students were enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade. That's more than half of the total student body in the district as a whole.

The Eufaula City School district as a whole jumped from 2,691 students in 2015-16, to 5,293 students last school year.

That sudden increase pushed Eufaula High School up from being one of the largest schools in the Alabama High School Athletic Association's 5A classification, to one of the smaller schools in class 6A.

Our (enrollment) numbers are inflated because of virtual kids, Eufaula's then-football coach Bryan Moore said when the AHSAA moved the team to 6A. Because the virtual school is now separate from Eufaula High School, the school could be reclassified as a 5A school when those changes are made in January 2020.

Adding virtual students means adding state money to a district budget.

Around Alabama, school boards saw state funding increases ranging from 9% to more than 50% after they started enrolling virtual students. That amounts to millions and millions of dollars in state funding.

In 2015-16, Eufaula received $15.8 million in state funding. By 2017-18, state funding jumped to $24.3 million, a 53% increase. State funding for local schools increased by only 7% during the same time period.

Questions Over Outcomes

Nationally student outcomes at virtual schools are not up to par, according to NEPC. But, NEPC noted, virtual schools operated by school districtsas opposed to virtual charter schools, which are prohibited by law in Alabamahad better outcomes.

The graduation rate for virtual schools nationwide is just 50%, while the average rate for all schools was 84%, according to NEPC. (Graduation rates for Alabama's virtual schools have not yet been calculated because the schools are still new.)

Given that the two Alabama virtual schools that were graded on the 2017-18 report card earned F's, Alabama's virtual students don't appear to have much better results than virtual schools nationwide.

However, test scores so far appear mixed.

In Limestone County, 43% of the virtual school students reached proficiency in reading, 31% in math, and 35% in science. That's similar to the outcomes in brick-and-mortar schools in the Limestone district for reading (45%). Math and science proficiency are lower in the virtual schools.

In Conecuh County's Genesis Innovative School, test scores for 2017-18 show 54% of Genesis students are proficient in reading. That is higher than in other Conecuh County schools. Math and science proficiency levels are lower, at 22% and 21%, but that's roughly in line with other schools in the district.

However, fewer than half of Conecuh virtual students were tested. Participation rates in Limestone's virtual school were better but did not meet the 95% requirement in federal law.

For her part, Dumas-Harris is pleased with the rigor and test results her older daughter has received. On (the state) math (test), she made above benchmark and on English she made well above benchmark, she said. Her younger daughter will take the state tests in the spring for the first time.

Private Contractors Benefit

Alabama's virtual schools are still public schools. Students don't pay any tuition. The curriculum meets Alabama's standards. Online classes are taught by Alabama-certified teachers.

But unlike neighborhood schools, Alabama's statewide virtual schools rely on a private company.

And what the local school board pays to their virtual provider differs greatly. AL.com obtained contracts for three of Alabamas statewide virtual schools. Each is being supported by one of two giants of virtual school---K12 and Pearsons Connections Academy. They provide the curriculum and the learning platform.

Limestone Countythe only district contracting with Pearson's Connections Academy--did not respond to repeated requests for a copy of the contract. The Limestone County Virtual School, also known as Alabama Connections Academy, enrolled more than 2,000 studentsthe second-largest virtual school in Alabama--during the 2018-19 school year.

Eufaula City Schools, holds a contract with K12 for the Alabama Virtual Academy, known also as ALVA. Their contract, first approved in 2015, requires all state funding, except for a 3% "Administrative Oversight Fee" to be forwarded to K12 for all virtual students.

That means K12 received around $5,300 of the $5,500 that Eufaula received from the state for each student for the 2017-18 school year.

Conecuh County in south Alabama operated a virtual school for a couple of years before establishing Genesis Innovative School as a statewide virtual school during the 2017-18 school year.

According to contracts the district provided, they pay K12 on a monthly basis and the cost of providing the curriculumwhich includes the cost for Alabama-certified teachers---is between $340 and $399 per month, differing by the student's grade level. In a regular nine-month school year, that means K12 was paid around $3,600 of the $5,500 per student in state funds provided during the 2017-18 school year.

That means K12 received about $1,700 less per student for Genesis' students than ALVA's. Some of that variance could be due to the cost of the administrator of each school: at ALVA, K12 covers the cost of the principal, but at Genesis, cost for school administrators are covered by the district.

Attracting More White Students

Danford, the principal of Genesis Innovative School, said the curriculum, purchased from and administered by K12's Fuel Education, is rigorous. The school was one of seven nationwide to win Fuel Education's Transformation Award, which recognizes schools that create innovative programs and individualize student learning.

Student enrollment is growing at Genesis, Danford said, and the majority of students they serve actually live in other school districts. She said about 60% to 70% of their students left a brick-and-mortar school.

With students spreading across the state from Huntsville to Baldwin County, she said, she spends a good bit of time traveling to meet students and also to give them the required state tests. Danford said she wants families to know she and her team are here supporting the students.

Genesis has attracted a large number of white students, which is the opposite of statewide trends in brick-and-mortar schools.

Virtual school tripled the Conecuh County districts white student enrollment, from 218 in 2015-16 to 594 in 2018-19. That means the proportion of white students rose from 15% to 32%. Meanwhile, the number of African American students stayed constant, rising from 1,163 to 1,190 during the same time frame.

Statewide, white students are becoming a smaller proportion of the student population. The Alabama data is consistent with national enrollment trends showing a higher proportion of white students are enrolled in virtual schools than in all schools nationwide.

Danford said the student population at the school is growing more diverse. This year's enrollment looks to be 60% white and 40% African American, she said, which is much different than last year's 80/20 split.

The percentage of students in poverty at Genesis was 96% during the 2017-18 school year, much higher than the state average of 53% during the same time period.

Statewide, students in poverty are enrolled in Alabamas virtual schools in higher proportions than their wealthy peerswhile nationwide, the proportion of students in poverty is about the same among the two types of schools, according to NEPC.

Virtual students have to show up at a centralized location for the same standardized tests students in brick-and-mortar schools take.

Over the next few weeks, Danford said, she'll start her "road show," traveling to Huntsville, Jacksonville, Birmingham, and south Alabama to test students on the 9th-grade pre-ACT and the 12th-grade WorkKeys. "I feel like I need to be there," she said, "because I am the face of this school."

No Virtual Charters

Many states allow virtual charter schools, but Alabama law prohibits them.

Instead, Alabama law requires virtual school providers, like giants K12 and Pearsons Connections Academy, to go through existing public schools.

Alabama lawmakers passed a law in 2015 requiring all school districts to offer students in 9th through 12th grade a way to earn a diploma online by the start of the 2016-17 school year. Schools can use the state's online distance-learning program, called ACCESS, or they can contract with other districts.

Districts are also free to contract with private providers, like K12, Inc. and Pearson's Connections Academy.

There was no mention of statewide virtual schools in that 2015 law. But the idea at the time was for students to enroll in the school district where they live to force the local district to be responsible for the quality of the students education, according to groups working to pass the law at the time.

Alabama Association of School Boards Executive Director Sally Smith said her organization worked hard on that law to ensure local schools remain accountable for student outcomes. Smith said tighter accountability exists if local school officials oversee testing and special education services. So if a student begins to struggle in the online learning environment, the student can go back to attending the local brick-and-mortar school.

More recently, questions have come up about whether school districts can enroll students from other districts.

A 2018 memo from then-interim state Superintendent Ed Richardson stated that virtual students must be enrolled in their local school system and be counted as such. That means virtual students should be counted in the enrollment of the school district where they live.

However, no regulations or penalties for enrolling students living in other districts have been issued by the Department, so districts are free to enroll whomever they wish, no matter where they live.

Still, some districts have decided to keep it local.

Baldwin County's Blended Model

Baldwin County was one of the first school districts to dive into the virtual school world seven years ago. Today, like Athens, they are using a blended model, meaning students take some classes online, but have to take tests in a brick-and-mortar school.

Because students have to travel to one of four satellite campuses, they've limited their enrollment to Baldwin County students. Baldwin County teachers teach online and regularly interact with students, Principal Holly Resmondo said.

"Our teachers love our kids and make sure they get everything they need," she said. Virtual students can participate in extracurricular and sports activities at their zoned school, she said. Many do.

"A lot of other systems want to immediately offer a virtual school with all of these programs by using an outside vendor to do it," Chief Finance Officer John Wilson said. "It took us years to build up this program to the level that it is today. I think that's a big part of success."

Baldwin County Virtual School enrolled just over 300 students in sixth through 12th grade and earned a 'B' on the 2017-18 report card.

Wilson has concerns about the fully virtual model.

"Student enrollment is about dollars," he said, but bringing in students isn't something Baldwin County, the fastest growing school district in Alabama, has to worry about. "We're focusing on the kids, not trying to make a profit."

But for Dumas-Harris, the parent of two ALVA students, virtual school is working well.

"I love getting to watch my children learn new things," she said. "I love getting to watch them do science experiments and watch as their faces light up in amazement to see exactly how things work in the world. Stuff I would not get to see if they were in a brick and mortar school."

I plan to have my kids at ALVA till they graduate from high school.

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Is the Future of Alabama Public Education Online? - Government Technology

There are well over 5,000 colleges and universities in the United States so how does one choose the right fit?

Plexuss, an online platform dubbed The Global Student Network, is making the decision-making process easier for prospective college students.

The company has been around since 2011 but launched the platform in 2015. The Plexuss network won startup investment funding from the Seattle Accelerator run by Microsoft Ventures in 2018, the first company in the higher-education space to do so.

Its connecting students and colleges to each other, said Dave Moniz, vice president of strategic partnerships at Plexuss. The website is open, its public, and its free for anyone to use. You can research colleges in kind of a self-serve way, but we layered in live college admissions advising so that as students and parents have questions whatever time of day, or weekend, when it occurs to them we help give them immediate answers.

That is especially helpful for first-generation college students and students from low-income or underserved areas, Moniz said. Many students in Arizona do not have as much access to counselors as they need, he said.

Even when there is a wonderful crackerjack counseling department, there usually arent enough of them to go around and work as directly with as many students as they would like, Moniz said.

What we do for the six million students who found us on their own because they were researching majors or colleges were there to answer their questions, he said. Were there to guide them through all of the resources that we have.

The mission of Plexuss is to help students make better-informed decisions about higher education by following a pipeline from K-12 schools to higher education to the workforce. That means helping them choose majors, navigate financial aid and figure out what higher-education system or program is the best fit.

There are some great programs run by [community-based organizations] and placed in schools, but theres selection criteria, and students might need to meet a minimum GPA, or they might need to fit a certain profile in order to be eligible for services, Moniz said. We take everybody rich, poor, home school, any background. Were available to everyone Weve built something that kids like.

Moniz said Plexuss is not like walking into a library that has all the possible information one could need. Instead, the platform gives students a guided tour that allows them to ask questions, talk with a counselor about tough issues and compare institutions all for no cost.

Theres a lot of information available from the federal government, so we build college and university profiles that are consistent, that are standardized, he said. Students can always find the information they want about admissions or financial aid in the same place when theyre comparing colleges on our platform.

Plexuss is also available in a mobile app, another reason Moniz attributed for the platforms success. In addition, the website does not sell student data to colleges or other education partners unless the student chooses to be recruited by that institution.

I dont know that theres anyone else operating on the same scale that we do, with millions of students, who holds themselves to that standard and gives the student that much control over their records and profile, Moniz said.

He said he spent most of the summer in Arizona speaking directly with high schools, asking them how Plexuss can improve to better serve students and schools and reduce strain on counseling staff.

When we partner with a school or district, we dont ask them for any money, we dont ask them for any data, but we ask them to tell us what we can do to be a better partner, to understand local opportunities, to be more effective when were advising students, Moniz said.

That way, Plexuss does not pose a threat to existing counseling methods but serves as a supplemental resource for students, he said. Plexuss works with state legislators, counseling associations, business associations and a number of other organizations to get the lay of the land and support schools without duplicating work already being done.

Plexuss wants to know: Where are the gaps?

It might be, in one school, were focused mostly on FAFSA completion, Moniz said, referring to the federal student aid program. At another, its on helping underclassmen in high school figure out what they want to do for a major.

In Arizona specifically, he said he thinks every student could master the skills local employers are looking for, but it takes counseling to connect students with those choices.

Its not so much that [Arizona] schools arent teaching what students need, its that a lot of [students] are tuning out or taking an alternate pathway, because theyre not connecting the dots, and theyre not seeing some of these employment opportunities as realistic for them or relevant to them, Moniz said.

Across the nation and beyond, students who are perfectly capable of filling certain roles have additional barriers to education, he said. They need constant encouragement, or nudges which Moniz said is becoming a more scientific term to pursue an education and career pathway.

Plexuss exists to help students articulate their goals and understand how to achieve them, Moniz said.

We already have students from almost every high school in Arizona on our platform, he said. Wed like to be at 100 percent, and wed like the schools to feel comfortable telling us what we could do to be a better partner and improve the quality of our work so their kids have better outcomes.

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Plexuss online network connects prospective college students with higher education - Chamber Business News

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Online Education Market Latest Trends, Business Opportunities and Demands 2019 to 2025 - The Ukiah Post

In Brief

The rapid pace of technological change continues to disrupt traditional procedures in all spheres, including the accounting profession. The authors examine the potential effects that disruptive technologies will have on both the profession at large and accounting education specifically. They provide suggestions for educators and universities on how to shape their curricula to meet the needs of the new environment.

* * *

Both the accounting and auditing functions are experiencing a major wave of automation that most likely will result in substantive reduction of staff (see Li Zhang, Duo Pei, and Miklos A. Vasarhelyi, Toward a New Business Reporting Model,Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting,Fall 2017,http://bit.ly/2odcUgD; and Helen Brown-Liburd and Miklos A. Vasarhelyi, Big Data and Audit Evidence,Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting,2015,http://bit.ly/2obeaB0). It is predicted that the traditional mix of jobs in accounting firms will change substantially, and accountants will need to learn new skills when the more traditional tasks become automated and the technical maintenance and analytic needs of the work increase substantively. A major wave of educational change is also emerging with the advent of distance education, various forms of unorthodox training, and a large set of new learning needs.

The CPA exam is a key driver for the content of accounting classes. One of the key determinants of the content of the CPA exam is a survey performed every six or seven years examining what tasks are typically performed by CPA firm employees in the first two years of employment. When discussing with exam preparers the absence of modern audit analytics and the low content of information technology (IT) material in the exam, the typical response is that students are not prepared for these topics and the boards of accountancy will not accept these changes. Although the CPA exam has changed to include simulations that examine analytic skills, it has not turned its content to the forthcoming disruption of the profession through digitization (Marilyn Greenstein and Miklos A. Vasarhelyi, Underlying Principles of the Electronization of Business: A Research Agenda,International Journal of Accounting Information Systems,March 2003,http://bit.ly/2ofrkg4).

This article examines the breadth of the changes that automation and other technologies will bring to the accounting profession. The authors suggest potential solutions that will help graduating students be better prepared for the accounting workplace of the future.

Recently, disruptive technologies such as robotic process automation (RPA), artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, smart contracts, and advanced analytics have reshaped existing business models and facilitated the emergence of new ones wherein repetitive and mundane tasks are becoming less important and the need for high-level skills is increasing. Though it still will be some time before these technologies affect the workplace at a significant scale, the current entry-level jobs that require noor low-level cognitive skills may eventually disappear. It has been estimated that at least 50% of the work that accountants and other professionals are paid for is automatable through currently available technologies, with an additional 15% automatable through forthcoming technologies (James Manyika et al., Jobs Lost, Jobs Gained: What the Future of Work Will Mean for Jobs, Skills, and Wages, McKinsey Global Institute, November 2017,https://mck.co/2LCunZd).

This constant disruption and the static focus of the CPA exam create a mismatch between the supply and demand of the necessary talents. Students graduating from traditional accounting programs usually do not have the knowledge and skills required by employers, and this is especially true of workplaces with high-level adoption of automation and AI (seeExhibit 1). To catch up, students must usually reeducate themselves through online courses or by training programs offered by employers or third parties.

Skill Mismatch and the Adoption of Automation and AI

Source: Skill Shift: Automation and the Future of the Workforce, McKinsey Global Institute,https://mck.co/2BTO3br

Currently, the CPA exam requires mostly practical skills, followed by comprehension and analysis skills (Exhibit 2). Since the rule-based and repetitive tasks that require the above-mentioned skills are prone to automation, however, high-level cognitive skills should be more emphasized (Exhibit 3). The Big Four (Cooper et al., 2018) are trying to hire people who have not only accounting and auditing knowledge, but also analytical skills and computer programming or coding experience (L.A. Cooper, D.K. Holderness, T. Sorenson, and D.A. Wood, Robotic Process Automation in Public Accounting, working paper, 2018). Ernst & Young points out that the audit of the future requires accounting plus skills (expanded inExhibit 4), including a mindset that is innovative, global, and questioning/challenging; leadership skills; the curiosity to ask better questions; the emotional intelligence to better connect and communicate with clients; and knowledge of techniquessuch as data analytics (The Future of Audit: Preparing Students to Succeed,Ernst & Young whitepaper, 2018). Several of the other large and midsize firms have expressed similar opinions.

Skill Levels Assessed on Each Section of the CPA Exam

Skill Levels Required by CPA Exam

Accounting Plus Skills Framework

Accounting plus presents a very high bar for the profession. A much more realistic set of expectations is expressed by Mike Leonardson, from the audit analytics leadership of Ernst & Young:

We will always need auditors with backgrounds in accounting and auditing. However, our auditors will also need to have some level of proficiency in data analytics. We need our staff to be aware of the tools and techniques that are available to them to address audit risks. We need our professionals to be able to identify risks (frame out their questions) and to think about what data would be useful in addressing those risks (answer those questions). Our auditors can leverage the skills of specialists in capturing and transforming that data. Our auditors need to think about how they could analyze that data and to visualize the data in order to provide the information or evidence necessary to reach their conclusion. (Mike Leonardson, personal interview)

Such an approach has significant implications on curricula, recruiting, and research. This framework must, however, be considered within the evolving framework of education and business schools.

Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen predicted in 2017 that 50 percent of the 4,000 colleges and universities in the U.S. will be bankrupt in 10 to 15 years due to the disruption of online education (Abigail Hess, Harvard Business School Professor: Half of U.S. Colleges Will Be Bankrupt in 10 to 15 years, CNBC.com, Nov. 15, 2017,https://cnb.cx/2MyeOXY). The U.S. Department of Education and Moodys Investors Service also project that the closure rates of small colleges and universities will triple, and mergers will double, in coming years (Hess 2017). The disruption caused by online education comes not just from the technology itself, but mainly from the new business model upon which online education is based (Doug Lederman, Clay Christensen Sticks with Predictions of Massive College Closures,Inside Higher Ed,Apr. 28, 2017,http://bit.ly/2wsfTpg). Online education has transformed the knowledge that formerly could only be obtained in the classroom into bytable goods that can be transferred through the Internet without time, structure, and geography constraints (Greenstein and Vasarhelyi 2003).

Accounting plus has significant implications on curricula, recruiting, and research. This framework must, however, be considered within the evolving framework of education and business schools.

Compared to traditional business schools, in which the creation and approval of new courses usually takes a long time and carries the risk that the new course might be canceled if not enough students register, online education platforms can gather large and diverse pools of traditional and emerging courses in a relatively short time and at lower cost and store them online for ad hoc demand. Students who feel the need to acquire new skills not taught by traditional accounting programs often turn to these online education platforms to gain that knowledge. Given the fact that online education platforms can offer not only CPA-oriented courses but also emerging technology courses at a cheaper price, traditional business schools will have to reconsider their competitive strategies. In short, they should focus on cultivating the accounting plus skill set. Professors can even make full use of materials already available online by assigning them as required reading, thereby shortening the time spent on those contents and allowing class time to focus on practical training. They should also draw on their research competencies to create new content that is not already available elsewhere.

In general, curricula and methods of education in most countries have not substantially changed, but pressures are increasing, with innovative universities trying to fill the gap. Universities in Asia have tested integrating IT/advanced analytics courses into their accounting programs. Southwestern University of Finance and Economics (SWUFE) in Chengdu, China, for example, is creating an entire undergraduate program oriented around business analytics in accounting. The program emphasizes training in mathematics, statistics, and IT (e.g., data mining, machine learning, database) in addition to the core accounting knowledge. It also includes two innovative courses regarding the use of data analytics to accomplish accounting, auditing, and risk management tasks. Singapore Management University has established the first masters degree in accounting data and analytics in Asia, which helps students to develop expertise in applying data technology to accounting. Similar efforts have also been made by universities in North America and Europe; for example, the University of Waterloo in Canada integrates a basic curriculum of analytics with its undergraduate and graduate offerings, and Queen Mary University in the United Kingdom teaches undergraduate students how to use mathematics and statistics to discover patterns in finance and accounting domains.

One of the biggest challenges for universities in establishing these interdisciplinary programs is the significant lack of qualified faculty members with a strong background and training in both technology and accounting. Although basic courses, like IT and statistics, can be offered by professors in each discipline, innovative courses that bridge technology and accounting should be taught by faculty with expertise in both domains. The number of doctoral programs that offer such training to their PhD students, however, is limited. Currently, accounting departments (e.g., SWUFEs) try to recruit faculty members with IT or statistics expertise as supplemental instructors; however, more effort still needs to be invested into the development of doctoral programs that equip PhD students with both technology and accounting knowledge.

Digital media made available on the Internet is probably the major equalizer. Rutgers University has placed its entire accounting curriculum for free on Youtube (http://bit.ly/2MXkVnP) and on its website (http://raw.rutgers.edu/RADL.html). The incremental cost of provisioning this is close to zero and the cost for the university to capture the classes is small; on the other hand, the social good can be very large although the learning requires self-discipline and low threshold of frustration as the free education does not provide assistance to resolve questions nor tests to verify learning.

The automation of repetitive tasks will cause substantial reduction of the work-force needed for traditional assurance work, but it will also lead to an increasing need for employees who possess skills such as IT and data analysis. Consequently, the advent of disruptive technologies is forcing members of the accounting profession to learn new skills, especially IT, statistics, and modeling. To satisfy the constantly changing needs of the workplace, the education model should also be up-to-date.

Both the AICPA, which develops the Uniform CPA Exam, and accounting educators should focus more on higher-level skills, especially analytical, critical, and innovative thinking skills, and decrease the emphasis on memorization and the mechanical application of rules. The AICPA should also consider increasing the content of IT, cybersecurity, and data analytics within the exam. Business school accounting programs are encouraged to open new courses related to IT and data analytics to diversify the course pool. Alternatively, accounting educators may also feel it useful to blend big data analytics and IT into existing traditional accounting courses such as financial accounting, managerial accounting, auditing, and taxation. This requires accounting educators to change their mindset and expand their skill sets; while this may take time, PhD students who possess these new skills may help facilitate the change.

Traditional business schools should also explore new teaching models, such as online teaching, course modularization, or a hybrid of online and physical teaching. Business schools can also consider offering special certifications for new course modules, such as cybersecurity and audit data analytics. Classes can be taped and stored online for the purpose of review and reuse. Educators should also encourage a philosophy of lifelong learning and teach students to learn new things and adapt to the changing environment, cultivating accountants who are prepared for the future.

The Economistlisted the elements of what it called a Cambrian moment (named after the Cambrian explosion of life on Earth approximately 541 million years ago) in digital technology (A Cambrian Moment, Jan. 18, 2014,http://bit.ly/2LuA2R9) as

Taking these elements together in the accounting, auditing, and instructional domains suggests that substantive change is in the process of happening, creating an environment very different from what universities and firm training have been providing.

Chanyuan (Abigail) Zhang is a PhD student in the department of accounting and information systems at Rutgers University, Newark, N.J.

Jun Dai, PhD is an assistant professor at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu, China.

Miklos A. Vasarhelyi, PhD is the KPMG Distinguished Professor of Accounting Information Systems and director of the Rutgers Accounting Research Center and Continuous Auditing and Reporting Lab at Rutgers University. He is a member ofThe CPA JournalEditorial Advisory Board.

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ICYMI | The Impact of Disruptive Technologies on Accounting and Auditing Education - The CPA Journal