MOOCs have become a popular topic in the educational field since 2008. This report reviews the literature from 2008 to March 2014 on the development of MOOCs with a focus on learners’ experience. By looking into the topics researchers have been investigating, this review identifies eight themes on this topic: (1) Platforms and Technology, (2) Instructional Materials and Assessment, (3) Instructors, (4) Participants’ demographics, (5) Motivation and Engagement Patterns, (6) Self-directed Learning and Learner Interaction, (7) Blended Education, and (8) Completion rates. The review also indicates that MOOC course design (pedagogies, technical support, assessment and instructors) and learner characteristics (motivation, engagement levels, self-directed learning and digital literacy) influence learners’ experience. Possible future research questions are also proposed in this report. / text

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In the early nineties Samoa was hit by two major cyclones, Cyclone Ofa (1990) and Cyclone Val (1991), which caused significant damage and devastation. Although it is more than 15 years since these cyclones, they still factor in people's lives and have impacted on the way individuals and organisations conceptualise disasters in Samoa. The incidence of disasters is increasing globally and Pacific Island nations face ongoing and increasing vulnerability to the impacts of such disasters at both community and national levels. Disasters can result in short and long-term social, economic and environmental consequences and, as Ofa and Val illustrate, entire community survival and livelihood systems can be severely disrupted by a single disaster. As a consequence, disasters continue to pose significant threats to sustainable development in the Pacific region. Villagers from the eastern coast of Savai'i, and Government and NGO agencies in Apia were interviewed during six weeks of fieldwork in Samoa. These interviews and insights gained from participant observation, as well as secondary materials such as maps and official reports are used to explore the ways in which people make sense of disaster and hazard risk in their daily lives and the ways in which their belief-systems (cultural, religious etc.) result in very different understandings of disasters and disaster risk. Building on a growing body of critical disaster literature, this thesis explores the ways in which disasters are more than 'natural' events. It examines the ways in which they are socially constructed, resulting from human actions, rather than 'freak natural events'. This approach challenges dominant understandings of disasters which often underpin disaster planning at both national and regional level, and are often characterised by technical 'fixes'. In contrast, this thesis argues for more locally appropriate understandings of 'disasters' and for the importance of placing disaster events within the context of people's everyday lives and broader development priorities.

This study explored secondary school teachers’ experiences of their principals’ use of power and control at schools in the Matlosana area in the Dr Kenneth Kaunda district, North West province. The aims of the study were to (i) explore and describe secondary school teachers' experiences of their principals’ power and control at school, (ii) explore how their principals’ power and control affects secondary school teachers at school, and (iii) provide suggestions for secondary school teachers to help them to deal with their principals’ power and control at school. The theoretical framework was based on a number of theories of power and control. The study was situated in an interpretive paradigm. The researcher chose a qualitative research design and methods that were appropriate for a phenomenological approach. The participating teachers were purposefully selected for the data-generation process that involved photo-elicitation-narratives (written) and photo-elicitation group interviews. Ethical requirements were met by ensuring confidentiality and the anonymity of these participants. The following criteria were applied in order to ensure the trustworthiness of the study: truth value (credibility), applicability (transferability), consistency (dependability) and neutrality (confirmability). The data analysis was done by means of interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA). The main themes that emerged from the data analysis process were: * Theme 1: principals’ expression of power and control evoked a range of feelings in secondary school teachers, and * Theme 2: teachers were oblivious to their own role in managing their experiences of their principals’ power and control at school. The findings of the study were used to provide suggestions for secondary school teachers to help them to deal with their principals’ power and control at school and to sustain their overall well-being. / MEd (Educational Psychology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Bakgrund: Överviktsoperationer ökar i snabb takt runt om i världen i samband med en eskalerande fetmaepidemi. En överviktsoperation innebär stora förändringar i livet och ställer krav på att sjukvårdspersonal är kunniga om dessa förändringar ur patientens perspektiv. Syfte: Syftet med litteraturstudien var att belysa patienters upplevelser före och efter överviktskirurgi. Metod: 13 vetenskapliga artiklar granskades och analyserades. Sammanställningen resulterade i ett tema och fem presenterade underkategorier. Resultat: Överviktskirurgi blev en sista chans till ett bättre liv för patienterna. De hade förväntningar på ett förändrat liv, som i många fall till stor besvikelse inte blev bättre. Patienterna upplevde att den mentala hälsan blev åsidosatt vid överviktskirurgi, varav de önskade att vårdpersonalen la mer fokus på just detta. Slutsats: Då överviktskirurgi är en livsomvälvande process är det viktigt att sjuksköterskan har förståelse för patientens hela upplevelse, även den känslomässiga. / Background: The number of bariatric surgeries performed globally is increasing in relation to an escalating obesity epidemic. Bariatric surgery leads to life-changing processes and put demands on health care staff to have knowledge about these changes from the patients’ perspective. Purpose: The purpose of the literature review was to illuminate patients’ experiences before and after bariatric surgery. Method: Thirteen scientific articles were reviewed and analysed. The combination resulted in a theme and five presented subcategories. Results: Bariatric surgery became the last chance to a better life for the patients. They had expectations of a changed life, which in many cases to great disappointment didn’t became better. The patients experienced that the mental health was disacknowledged while going through bariatric surgery and was something they wished that the health care staff had focused more on. Conclusion: Bariatric surgery is a life-changing process, why it’s important for the nurse to understand the experiences of the patient, even the emotional experience.

The following thesis examines the way “revelatory acts of God” in each of the canonical Gospels engender reverence for Jesus. “Revelatory acts of God” are disclosures of God by vision or audition (also called, “revelatory experiences”). Thus, any event in which characters hear a voice from heaven or see a vision from heaven is a “revelatory experience.” But what role do these accounts have in the four Gospel for engendering reverence for Jesus? That is, how do God’s direct interventions within these narratives inspire characters to respond to Jesus? The answer to this question is the focus of this thesis. Scholars have noted the power of revelatory experience to “drive and shape” the veneration of Jesus in early Christian devotional practices. Hurtado notes the “demonstrable efficacy of such experiences in generating significant innovations in various religious traditions” (Hurtado, Lord Jesus Christ, 65). However, one wonders what “faith-producing” role revelatory experiences actually have in the Gospels. The Synoptic Gospels include revelatory experiences as a distinguishing feature of their accounts, with the baptism and transfiguration being two of the most commented-on passages of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. However, such revelatory acts of God are curiously rare in John prior to Jesus’ resurrection. This thesis will analyze the role of revelatory experiences for producing reverence for Jesus in each Gospel and explore the differences between the Gospels in how these accounts are employed. This research focuses primarily on the responses of characters to the revelatory in the Gospel narratives. The purpose of this thesis is to highlight the way audiences in the four Gospels are or are not “shaped” by such revelatory experiences and what implications these findings may have for the interpretation of each Gospel.

UK Health policy over the past decade has sought to accelerate established trends of moving services for type 2 diabetes into primary care. This has aimed to make services more accessible and to enable patients to benefit from having their diabetes care incorporated into the “generic and holistic” approach of primary care. However, in 2004 the introduction of a new General Medical Services (nGMS) contract signalled a change in primary care by linking clinical targets to financial rewards on a larger scale than ever before. Diabetes is one of nineteen financially incentivised clinical areas under the nGMS contract (2006). This thesis considers how these health policies may have influenced the organisation and experience of providing and receiving care for type 2 diabetes in Scottish primary care settings. It also aims to bridge two usually separate areas of sociological interest: how health professionals interpret and implement policy, and how patients experience and perceive chronic illness and their health care. A multiple case study approach was employed in order to compare and explore the organisation and experience of type 2 diabetes care associated with three general practices of differing size and location. In each case study a period of non participant observation was undertaken and in-depth interviews conducted with health professionals and their type 2 diabetes patients. Analysis of these data shows that multiple factors influence the way diabetes care is organised and experienced in primary care. I argue that the local context of interpersonal relationships of trust, professional identities and role expectations influence both the organisation of care and the way patients interpret that organisation. Moreover, the meanings patients attribute to the local organisation of diabetes care can inform their perceptions of their condition and influence their desire to be involved in diabetes management.

Registered nurses entering a Nurse Prescriber programme participated in a mixed methods case study to explore the extent of their bioscience knowledge and the confidence with which that knowledge was held. Forty two Nurse Prescriber students, aged 26 – 55 years, from a range of job roles were recruited. Using questionnaires and interviews, both quantitative and qualitative data were obtained. An examination of the Nurse Prescribers’ views of pre-registration nursing demonstrated that the knowledge gained had been related to practice but had been both superficial and lacking in breadth. The bioscience in pre-registration programmes had not sufficiently prepared the participants for their roles as registered nurses. The importance of experiences gained as a registered nurse in the practice setting in the learning of bioscience was strongly emphasised. Participants reported greater learning of bioscience by informal methods such as work experience, use of books and the Internet and discussion with colleagues than from experiences in the classroom. Interviewees placed particularly strong emphasis on the importance of learning from medical colleagues. The role of post-registration programmes emerged as important in learning bioscience because it related to the job role. Post-registration courses also emerged as significant in giving confidence to the registered nurse. Confidence increased not just in terms of the knowledge held, but also in terms of nurses’ ability to communicate with patients, relatives, and doctors, their ability to understand nursing skills, and their willingness to admit when something was not known.

There are in excess of one million people across the UK people living with atrial fibrillation (AF), a long term condition that can lead to stroke and other complications, costing the NHS over £2,200 million per year. However little is known about the experience of living with AF and what patients' perceptions are of the support they receive from health professionals. In order to ensure that patients have the best possible experience of care, healthcare professionals need to have an understanding of how patients view their condition and the type of support they would like to receive from the professionals involved in their care. Although there has been a significant amount of work investigating social support for people with health conditions, there has been little work exploring support provided by healthcare professionals, defined in this study as professional support. This study aimed to investigate and assess the professional support needs of people with AF to develop knowledge and understanding in this field. A theoretical framework for professional support was developed based on the tri-dimensional model of social support and was used to direct the research. Using an exploratory sequential design, a two phase mixed methods study was undertaken. Initially, qualitative interviews were undertaken with patients recruited from outpatient arrhythmia clinics at one National Health Service (NHS) hospital and identified from the perspective of the patient how, when and where healthcare professionals did/did not provide support. Key components of emotional, informational and tangible professional support were identified from thematic analysis of the interview data and used to inform the development of a quantitative questionnaire. Physical activity, exercise and the impact of AF on activity levels were identified by participants as important and so were also included. The quantitative online questionnaire was completed by patient members of the Atrial Fibrillation Association (AFA). To examine relationships between variables, statistical analyses were performed using Fisher's exact test and indicated that people with AF had a range of emotional, informational and tangible professional support needs. Different subgroups of people with AF had different professional support needs: People with more severe symptoms needed more emotional support as well as more tangible support and people with paroxysmal AF needed more informational support. People undergoing ablation as treatment for their AF had specific informational and emotional needs for support. AF played a significant part in the lives of people with AF by modifying activities of daily living and shaping physical activity behaviour and choice of activities. People with AF therefore needed professional support in maintaining and/or increasing their levels of activity. Considering the specificity of professional support, GPs, cardiologists and arrhythmia nurse specialists were identified as most supportive, with GPs and cardiologists also considered as the least helpful at providing support, indicating a variation in professional support. The findings from this study contribute to the limited body of knowledge describing the experience of living with AF and provide healthcare professionals with a unique understanding of how best to provide professional support. The tri-dimensional model provides detailed knowledge of the components of informational, emotional and tangible support that people with AF would like to receive from the healthcare professionals involved in their care. The findings indicate there are differing support needs for different subsets of people with AF demonstrating a need for individualised professional support. The theoretical framework for professional support used in this study provides a model that could be used in future research studies to identify the types of professional support required by patients and to identify subgroups of patients who may require additional professional support. By accurately identifying the needs of patients, this will ensure that healthcare professionals are able to deliver effective patient centred services, leading to an improved patient experience and the delivery of high quality patient care.