Due to the volcano eruption in Iceland, there are presently no flights leaving England. As a result the critical appraisal classroom course on 23 April 2010 in Sydney, Australia, has been resheduled to 29 May 2010. Course delegates have been sent an email with details of how they can transfer their course place or receive a refund.

We are pleased to announce today that classroom course delegates will now get access to the online critical appraisal course as soon as they reserve a place and this subscription will last until 3 months after the classroom course date, instead of 1 month. This change has been made in anticipation of the changes coming to the online course over the next few weeks. The longer subscription duration will allow delegates to make full use of the new and updated online materials which will be available shortly.

Delegates who have already booked places on forthcoming courses in London, Hong Kong, Sydney and Manchester will have their online subscription automatically extended.

Today we're launching a limited time offer - subscribe to the online critical appraisal course and get a free copy of "The Doctor's Guide to Critical Appraisal". Published by PasTest in 2006, the book has been reprinted twice, in 2008 and 2009. The book was written by two members of the Superego Cafe team who also authored the online critical appraisal course. The aim of this book is to highlight the fundamental principles of critical appraisal and statistics using a clear, concise and simplified approach. Assuming no prior knowledge, the book guides the reader from basic ideas to advanced concepts using diagrams, case scenarios and questions and answers sections. A perfect companion to the online course! Grab your copy today whilst stocks last!

Today we've added a brand new discussion forum to the Critical Appraisal website, accessible from the link on the main menu. Initially categories have been set up for the online and classroom courses, with boards for pre-sales questions, troubleshooting and feedback comments. If you have any questions or comments, we would like to encourage you to post a message in the forum. We're hoping that over the next few months the forum becomes a useful source of information. You can still contact us using the 'contact' link at the top of every page but over time the forum will provide the answers to the most commonly asked questions.

Today sees the launch of the brand new criticalappraisal.com website. This is the first major facelift for the website since its launch in 2007. Our old website served us well but was showing its age. We wanted to update the design and reduce the number of mouse clicks required to navigate to information. We've gone for a more contemporary look and employed techniques to show more information on pages. In the most extreme case one page has replaced fourteen pages on the older website. Hopefully you'll find browsing the website a more pleasurable experience. As always, feedback is welcome.