Magister Curationis - MCur / Service-learning (SL) is regarded as a teaching and learning method combining community participation with content-based class discussion and reflection. It involves a teaching and learning assessment process with community members. It therefore combines theory-based knowledge learnt at a Higher Education Institution (HEI) and the learning experiences produced through community engagement. National guidelines developed by the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) are available for higher education to institutionalise service-learning (SL) in South African HEIs, but widespread inconsistencies with the implementation of these guidelines have been reported. This thesis is informed by a previous study conducted at an HEI in Western Cape that identified constraining factors required to institutionalisation SL within an academic programme. The aim of this study was to determine the institutional support needed for embedding service-learning in nursing at a Higher Education Institution in the Western Cape. A quantitative, descriptive, cross sectional survey design was used. The study population consisted of 60 nurse educators (lecturers and clinical supervisors). All-inclusive sampling was used because of the small number in the population. All questions were statistically analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS 24) to provide descriptive statistics. The data was summarized, and the descriptive statistics were presented as frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviation.

Au cours des dernières années, le domaine du documentaire interactif s’est progressivement développé en raison des changements survenus dans le monde de l’Internet et d’études académiques croissantes sur le sujet. Pourtant, on sait relativement peu de choses sur la relation entre l’usager et le documentaire interactif. L’objet de cette étude est précisément de mesurer les attitudes et les interactions de l’usager exposé à un documentaire interactif décliné en différentes versions, disposant chacune d’un degré d’interactivité plus ou moins développé. L’étude de l’attitude des usagers nous a conduit à approfondir les notions d’engagement narratif, d’interactivité perçue, d’engagement perçu et d’attitude à l’égard du site Web documentaire interactif. Un autre objectif de cette étude est d’examiner la relation entre interactions réelles et perceptions des usagers. L’étude a cherché à comparer l’interactivité et la linéarité en terme d’engagement narratif et d’engagement perçu. Un travail de terrain a été conduit auprès de 360 étudiants jordaniens. L’échantillon a été divisé en trois groupes, chaque groupe visualisant un des 3 documentaires interactif et répondant au questionnaire relatif. L’étude a également utilisé deux logiciels pour tracer le comportement réel de l’usager. Les résultats de cette étude mettent à jour une relation significative entre d’une part le haut niveau d’interactivité réelle et d’autre part l’interactivité perçue et l’attitude à l’égard du site Web documentaire interactif. D’autre part, les résultats ont révélé une corrélation positive entre d’une part l’interactivité perçue et de l’autre l’engagement perçu et l’attitude à l’égard du site Web documentaire interactif. Cependant, l’étude n’a pas trouvé de corrélation entre l’interactivité perçue et l’engagement narratif. De plus, les résultats ont montré que l’interaction réelle des participants est positivement corrélée à leurs perceptions. Enfin, les participants qui ont regardé le documentaire linéaire sont significativement plus engagés dans la narration documentaire que les autres groupes. Cette étude présente enfin les résultats, les discute et envisage des perspectives futures. / In recent years, interactive documentary field has been gradually growing because of great changes in the world of Internet, promising interactive documentary projects, and the increase in academic studies within the field. Nevertheless, relatively little is known about the relationship between user and interactive documentary. The aim of this study was to measure users’ attitudes and actual interaction toward different levels of interactivity manipulated in two designed interactive documentaries. The users’ attitudes were categorized in this study as: narrative engagement, perceived interactivity, perceived involvement, and attitude toward the interactive documentary website. Another purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between users’ actual interaction and their perceptions. To fully understand interactive documentary, the study, therefore, sought to compare interactivity with linearity in terms of narrative engagement and perceived involvement. A sample of 360 participants was randomly divided into three groups and assigned to view three designed documentaries, and to answer the related questionnaire. The study also used software packages to measure and monitor users’ actual behaviors. The findings of this study indicated that there was a significant relationship between the high level of actual interactivity and both perceived interactivity, and attitude toward the interactive documentary website. On the other hand, the findings revealed that there was a positive correlation between perceived interactivity and both perceived involvement and attitude toward the interactive documentary website. However, the study did not find a correlation between perceived interactivity and narrative engagement. Moreover, the findings showed that the participants’ actual interaction was positively correlated with their perceptions, and the participants who viewed the linear documentary were significantly involved with the documentary narrative more than other groups. Discussion, limitation, and future studies were presented in this study.

Student Number : 9111753K - M M research report - School of Management - Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management / Employee engagement is a critical business issue for South Africa if we are to take this country to the next competitive landscape. South African business has been mired by negative perception of underperformance and uncompetitiveness from the international community for years in the past, with an over-reliance on the mining sector. From 1994, this perception has progressively improved and going forward more urgency from business is required in order to progress even further. Whilst employee engagement represents only one factor amongst a number of macro and micro issues, it is central to this country’s economy, business productivity and sustainability. In attempting to assist business in this regard, a study of factors that promote employee engagement has been investigated. The research was qualitative and quantitative in nature. A number of respondents from across the length and breath of South Africa participated in the study. Analysis was done on the results and correlation done to the propositions and the literature. The findings identified employee engagement strategy, the culture of engagement, leadership and management, talent mindset, communication and knowledge sharing, and organisations’ reputation and branding as prominent factors in business in South Africa. Resulting from the research, an employee engagement model is proposed which attempts to integrate key lessons for business.

Historically, institutions of higher education have been perceived to be isolated from the real concerns of the world. They have appeared to be ivory towers and bastions of knowledge to which mere mortals can only aspire. There is currently still a call in the South Africa for education that is relevant and applicable to the development of South Africa. Through emphasizing community engagement and implementing service learning various dynamic approaches are now being considered to link “traditional domains of foundational knowledge and professional knowledge with a new emphasis on socially responsive knowledge” (Altman in Kenny & Gallagher, 2000:1). Altman suggests that service learning links the knowledge, skills and experiences of learners in a way that enables them to act and respond to social problems and engage with communities. The aim of the research was to through an appreciative inquiry framework determine what is being done in respect to and how best to support and encourage the continued implementation of community engagement and service learning in South Africa. The research focuses on how service learning and community engagement can be made sustainable in South Africa. It identifies what service learning practices are being established by higher education institutions in South Africa following the period typified as the era of the Community Higher Education Service Partnership programme. Over a period of nine years, higher education institutions received external support from the Community Higher Education Service Partnership programme. In 2008, the Community Higher Education Service Partnership programme was transferred to the Higher Education Quality Committee and the support and funding, previously supplied by the Community Higher Education Service Partnership programme, was terminated. The research investigates how service learning and community engagement has since continued to be sustained and implemented in higher education institutions. Service learning and community engagement, as an entity, is positioned to “produce powerful transformative effects for learners, teachers, schools, universities, communities and policy-makers” (Le Grange, 2007:8). These developments in higher education serve as a backdrop for the need for transformation and change in South Africa. In response to the fundamental changes occurring in South Africa, there is an imminent need to transform the function, role and purpose of higher education institutions. The findings of the research should generate a greater understanding of the current status of service learning and community engagement in South Africa.

Thesis advisor: Paul Schervish / The rapid increase in the number of religious non-affiliates in the United States makes non-affiliation an important issue to study. Traditional secularization theories have explained the overall increase in the number of people who report not belonging to a specific religion, but have not explored the diversity among them. Studies attempting to explain the rise in non-affiliation have been basically descriptive, focusing on sociodemographic characteristics or social networks of religious non-affiliates, examining the effects of cohort, political orientation, parents' religions, and peer religions. There is no comprehensive social theory on the dynamics of religious non-affiliation. In sum, the previous literature requires us to reconsider the theoretical limits of modernity and the unilateral understanding of secularization and suggests a new framework for multiple secularities in accordance with high modernity. In this study, I conceptualize religious non-affiliation as "multiple secularities," creating a new framework that takes into account the existence of various forms of non-affiliation in the United States. Specifically, I identify three types of worldviews (theism, spiritualism, immanent frame) and two categories of institutional religious affiliation (affiliation and non-affiliation). Thus, six forms of belief are considered--affiliated theism, affiliated spiritualism, affiliated positivism, unaffiliated theism, unaffiliated spiritualism, and unaffiliated positivism. Utilizing the 2005 Baylor Religion Survey and the Religion Module of the 2008 International Social Science Survey, this dissertation explores differences among multiple secularities in the U.S. with respect to three dimensions of holistic implications: head, heart, and hand. Findings indicate that there are distinct differences among unaffiliated individuals based on belief types. Compared to unaffiliated spiritualists and unaffiliated positivists, unaffiliated theists place less importance on the role of human agency as compared to divine agency, have lower levels of moral liberalism, are more likely to favor religion when considering the tension between religion and science, more likely to report experiences of being filled with the Spirit, more likely to participate in political associations, but less likely to attend political rallies and demonstrations. Unaffiliated spiritualists have the highest rates of reporting experiences of oneness with the universe and interest in New Age (astrology and alternative medicine), and they are most likely to participate in political rallies or public protests among the unaffiliated individuals. Unaffiliated positivists are most likely to place importance on human agency, and they have the lowest rates of religious and spiritual experiences among the unaffiliated. These findings make several important contributions to the literature. First, they contribute to the recognition of the limits of the `secularization' thesis in a high (or late) modern society such as the United States and provide a new framework for understanding `multiple secularities' by examining interactions between the institutional level of secularity (non-affiliation) and the individual level of secularity (privatization of belief). Second, they confirm the Weberian insight that `elective affinities' exist between worldviews and ideological, experiential, and social aspects of life in a high modern society. Third, they demonstrate that social research should further explore the subdivisions among "unchurched believers" (unaffiliated theists and spiritualists). Fourth, they contribute to the debate on "spiritual individualism" versus "engaged spirituality" by demonstrating that spirituality promotes various forms of social engagement. Finally, this dissertation suggests that contemporary social scientists should recognize the limits of the traditional secularization thesis and face a new conundrum of post-secularity beyond belief types and affiliation types in order to promote social cohesion. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

Thesis advisor: Karen Arnold / Student engagement has been associated with a range of desirable outcomes in the undergraduate experience (Astin, 1993, Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005) and music participation has been shown to facilitate important personal and social development among its participants (Hallam, 2010). Despite this, no study has been conducted to evaluate the potential benefits of participation in one of the largest and most visible student organizations on campus: the college marching band. The purpose of this quantitative evaluation was to determine whether marching band students express distinctive patterns of engagement within their respective communities as compared with their non-band peers. Items and scales from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) were administered to marching band members (n=1,882) at 20 participating universities with National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division-I football programs. Data were compared with a sample of general undergraduate (non-band) responses (n=6,095) from the same institutions provided by the NSSE Institute. Findings suggested that band students are more engaged with diverse peers along racial, ethnic, political, ideological, and religious lines (p<.01; Cohen’s d=0.26) and they are more reflective in their learning as evident in their willingness to imagine another’s perspective and reevaluate their own views (p<.01; Cohen’s d=0.19). Compared with non-band peers, marching band members indicated greater personal social responsibility on an array of vectors (p<.01; Cohen’s d=0.36) including: developing a personal code of values and ethics, understanding people of other racial and ethnic backgrounds, understanding themselves, learning effectively on their own, voting in local or national elections, contributing to the welfare of their community, and solving complex real-world problems. After controlling for a range of pre-college and co-existing variables, marching band membership remained the strongest predictor of these desirable outcomes (β=0.172, p<.01). / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Thesis advisor: Robert J. Starrratt / Academic cheating undermines teachers' ability to assess student learning and disadvantages honest students. Today's students increasingly express both an acceptance of cheating and a conviction that cheating is the only way to succeed. Academic dishonesty reflects a larger educational problem in which students fail to value school work. Research on cheating suggests that cheating is more prevalent in older grades but neither the cheating behaviors of middle school students nor the development of cheating habits is well understood. Using goal orientation and neutralization theories, this study examined the conditions under which typical eighth graders perceive cheating as acceptable though not right. A cross-case study method compared student views with those of their teachers. Data included focus groups, interviews, classroom observations, and artifacts. Findings indicate that characteristics of assignments, student-teacher relationships, classroom orientation, and student accountability are central to reducing cheating. Results suggest implications for teaching practice and administration in fostering academic honesty. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Administration and Higher Education.

The aim of the current study was to determine whether academic burnout/engagement mediated the relationship between academic obstacles/facilitators and academic performance within a South African university context. Participants received a web link to an online survey host in which a questionnaire was presented. The questionnaire included a selfdeveloped demographic questionnaire, an adapted version of the Student Stress Scale (Da Coste Leite & Israel, 2011), an adapted version of the Factors of Academic Facilitators Scale (Salanova, Schaufeli, Martinez, & Breso, 2010), the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Scale (Schaufeli, Salanova, Gonzalez-Roma, & Bakker, 2002) and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-Student (Schaufeli, Salanova, et al., 2002). The final sample (n=351) consisted of both full-time and part-time first year psychology students. The results of the current study demonstrated that academic obstacles were positively related to academic burnout while academic burnout was negatively related to academic performance. Academic facilitators were also negatively related to academic burnout and positively related to academic engagement. Academic burnout was also found to mediate the relationship between academic obstacles/facilitators and academic performance. The results of the study also demonstrated some non-hypothesised, but not unexpected, findings. Academic burnout, for one, was found to be negatively related to academic engagement. In addition, the indirect effect between academic obstacles and engagement was negative while the indirect effect between academic facilitators and engagement was positive. The results of the current study further demonstrated a novel finding whereby academic performance was positively related to burnout. Furthermore, the indirect effect between academic burnout and engagement was positive while the indirect effects between academic burnout and burnout, academic performance and engagement, and academic performance and performance, were negative. These findings were supported by previous research within both the work and student context. The results of the current study demonstrated, however, that academic engagement was not significantly related to academic performance and therefore was not a mediator in the relationship between academic obstacles/facilitators and academic performance. These results were unexpected given the literature available, however, may have been due to the way in which academic performance was operationalised within the current study. The implications of the results and the limitations of the current study were discussed, and suggestions for further research were made.

This study analyzes how civic engagement and collaborative governance can be used to build peace in post-conflict societies. A case study approach is used to examine the presence of civic engagement as a precursor to collaborative governance in the reconstruction of segregated areas in post-conflict Ambon, Indonesia. The study evaluates the effective ways that people were engaged in the multiple processes of reconstruction and assesses the readiness of Ambon to apply collaborative governance in current affairs. It finds that collaborative governance can be applied to public policy processes in segregated societies in post-conflict and can promote inter-society engagement. This study suggests that governments and NGOs in post-conflict areas could use a collaborative governance approach to sustain peace in post-conflict areas. The conclusions recognize that integrating collaborative governance into peace building programs is a crucial element of the peace building process in post-conflict areas, creating a greater likelihood for sustainable peace.

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