Index: lams_build/lib/lams/lams.jar
===================================================================
diff -u -r14340cffb8e7ee719460a70a3d0ddf0cebe7930b -r0a0679b24e6381c68c65ae4fd0df911b15e62851
Binary files differ
Index: lams_common/src/java/org/lamsfoundation/lams/util/DateUtil.java
===================================================================
diff -u -r51fb2a37254f24bb2a805d4ffd54482c779f43fa -r0a0679b24e6381c68c65ae4fd0df911b15e62851
--- lams_common/src/java/org/lamsfoundation/lams/util/DateUtil.java	(.../DateUtil.java)	(revision 51fb2a37254f24bb2a805d4ffd54482c779f43fa)
+++ lams_common/src/java/org/lamsfoundation/lams/util/DateUtil.java	(.../DateUtil.java)	(revision 0a0679b24e6381c68c65ae4fd0df911b15e62851)
@@ -53,7 +53,16 @@
     public static final String SCHEDULE_LESSON_FORMAT = "dd/M/yyyy h:mm a";
     public static final String ISO8601_FORMAT = "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mmZ";
     public static final String PRETTY_FORMAT = "d MMMM yyyy h:mm:ss a";
-
+    private static DateFormat dateFormatterTimeAgo; // access via getTimeagoDateFormatter()
+    
+    private static DateFormat getTimeagoDateFormatter() {
+	if (dateFormatterTimeAgo == null) {
+	    dateFormatterTimeAgo = new SimpleDateFormat(DateUtil.ISO8601_FORMAT);
+	    dateFormatterTimeAgo.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("GMT"));
+	}
+	return dateFormatterTimeAgo;
+    }
+    
     /**
      * Convert your local time to Universal Time Coordinator. TODO conversion is not working properly. The returned Date
      * object still contain server local timezone rather than GMT time zone.
@@ -259,4 +268,12 @@
 	return df.format(value);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Convert a date to the ISO08601 format needed for Timeago. Used to return dates through JSON.
+     */
+    public static String convertToStringForTimeagoJSON(Date value) {
+	return getTimeagoDateFormatter().format(value);
+	
+    }
+
 }