This book defines and examines the needs of the marginalized student and presents a theoretically grounded model to guide institutions of higher education toward developing new and more effective programmatic responses. Taking the implementational experience of the University of the Free State (UFS) in Bloemfontein, South Africa, as a case study, it investigates the experience of students who present problems of learning and inadequate preparation for sustained performance, including learning disabilities, lack of study skills, motivational factors, and cultural support systems. Further, it identifies the pressure for institutions to be responsive to social and political pressures to accommodate the needs of students previously excluded from participation in higher educational or vocational training opportunities. In addressing this timely area of development, the authors formulate a unique conceptual foundation for the consideration of a new paradigm, based on cognitive and biosocial theories: those of the theory of structural cognitive modifiability and mediated learning experience and of Feuerstein and Bronfenbrenner’s ecosystem structural orientation. Innovative, applicational, and optimistic in nature, this book will appeal to scholars, researchers, administrators, and postgraduate level students working across the fields of higher education, educational psychology, and student counseling.

"This book defines and examines the needs of the marginalized student and presents a theoretically grounded model to guide institutions of higher education toward developing new and more effective programmatic responses. Taking the implementational experience of the University of the Free State (UFS) in Bloemfontein, South Africa, as a case study, it investigates the experience of students who present problems of learning and inadequate preparation for sustained performance, including learning disabilities, lack of study skills, motivational factors, and cultural support systems. Further, it identifies the pressure for institutions to be responsive to social and political pressures to accommodate to the needs of students previously excluded from participation in higher educational or vocational training opportunities. In addressing this timely area of development, the authors formulate a unique conceptual foundation for the consideration of a new paradigm, based on cognitive and biosocial theories: those of the theory of structural cognitive modifiability and mediated learning experience and of Feuerstein and Bronfenbrenner's ecosystem structural orientation. Innovative, applicational, and optimistic in nature, this book will appeal to scholars, researchers, administrators, and post-graduate level students working across the fields of higher education, education psychology and student counselling"--

In recent years, gaps in college opportunities have contributed to diminished social mobility and are influenced by disparities in collegiate experiences. An integral part of the mission of colleges and universities is to advance student achievement and prepare students for a global society by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access. In order to provide equal educational opportunities, further study on the best practices to create a diverse and welcoming campus community for all faculty and students is required. The Handbook of Research on Opening Pathways for Marginalized Individuals in Higher Education examines specific case studies and stories from the field, analyzes the research breadth for supporting the creation of policies to foster equitable educational access, and studies higher education inclusive policies that promote leadership, social justice, and the health and well-being of faculty and students. The book also helps to alleviate and remedy issues of “historical privilege” with a lens on diversity and support through the creation of inclusive communities of equitable educational access. Covering a range of topics such as social justice, accessibility, and healthy student interactions, this reference work is ideal for academicians, researchers, scholars, practitioners, instructors, and students.

This book analyzes the use of gamification and design thinking in higher education, examining how both techniques can be combined and used together to promote motivation, engagement, and participation among students. Using two in-depth examples, the authors show that the introduction of a gamified design in a design thinking activity can be a powerful tool to enhance the experiences of students in the teaching-learning process of a subject; motivate participants in a design thinking activity in the university environment; and enhance skills such as creativity, critical thinking and problem-solving, and collaboration, widely demanded in the labor market. Further, they examine how gamification and design thinking in the educational field can enable both the motivation and engagement of students and promote behavioral changes that materialize as a boost in learning outcomes and academic performance. Providing valuable recommendations and insights into the analysis, design and development, and implementation and evaluation of gamified design thinking activities to be carried out in higher education, as well as examining relevant ethical issues, the book will appeal to scholars, researchers, academic faculty, and educators working in the field of higher education, and with interests in educational psychology and theories of learning.

There is evidence that the global COVID-19 crisis is exacerbating existing inequalities and marginalization of vulnerable groups, including exceptional learners, stateless, street, migrant, and refugee children and youths, and the limited use of frameworks of emergency planning with and for marginalized and at-risk individuals. These challenges are multi-sectoral and intersecting, and they require multi- and interdisciplinary interventions to inform inclusive responses. These issues include being at a greater risk of excluding vulnerable learners from gaining access to equitable education (online/remote and blended education). Intersecting forms of discrimination such as gender, socioeconomic and legal status further exacerbate the problem. This has alerted us to examine the living conditions of marginalized and vulnerable populations around the globe, and to reveal their experiences, problems, and needs from an educational perspective, thus bringing insights into their vulnerabilities during the pandemic.

This volume explores the application of human rights to higher education through a critical lens. Combining theoretical and applied perspectives, it asks what a human rights framework grounded in liberation and justice can offer to ways of working and teaching practices in higher education. Human rights, in this edited compilation, call for continuous critical engagements around the higher education transformation project. The book recognizes human rights simultaneously as law, values, and emancipatory vision. It showcases global north and global south perspectives and encourages a dialogue between the human rights approach and other approaches to higher education transformation, such as decolonialization, anti-racism, diversity and inclusion, and intersectionality. Individual chapters featuring a range of case studies written from global south and north perspectives critically examine higher education practices linked with human rights, ranging from curricular practices to student activism and community partnerships. The critical space of the university and its role in the transformation of society is therefore viewed in multi-dimensional ways. Underlining the value of applying human rights as a framework in understanding and designing higher education transformation, the book will be of great interest to scholars, researchers, and post-graduate students in the fields of the sociology of education, human rights education, higher education, and social justice education

This book examines the role and future of universities in times of chronic disruption and crisis – presented via an original conceptual framework which the authors term ‘Dislocated Complexity’ – and discusses how to move forward in the face of severely disrupted social, political, economic and environment contexts. Demonstrating how global crises, especially the COVID-19 pandemic, have dramatically dislocated and disrupted all contexts of society, the authors use this framework of Dislocated Complexity to propose a set of characteristics and values that underpin roles for universities, considering the future of universities with regards to teaching and learning, research, management and leadership, workforce change, policymaking and engagement. Novel, innovative concepts and theoretical perspectives are brought to the analysis of futures, roles and activities of universities by the authors, such as ‘Unscripted Agency’, ‘Clashing -ologies’, ‘Emanant Trust’ and ‘Dislocated Complexity Leadership Theory’. Ultimately calling for a rethink of university futures, this timely book will be of great interest to academics, researchers and post-graduate students in the fields of higher education research and teaching and learning. It will also be of interest to university managers, educational policy makers, and those who are ‘hidden’ or informal educators in the community.

Using analysis and review of international case studies and emerging models, Lamie and Hill’s edited book explores the very nature of a university and discusses growth, sustainability, and risk as universities navigate their role, value and purpose. As universities continue to emerge from the pandemic, there is new room to critically reflect on the role of higher education, both locally and abroad, and how it impacts a sense of place, identity, and engagement within their communities. The authors contribute their unique perspectives to explore these themes and advise on how a university can best benefit the well-being and development of its students, staff and the local community. To what extent are universities shaped by their environment? How does this provide them a fixed sense of identity or a launching pad to expand beyond their immediate location? Such questions are examined along with the constraints and opportunities open to HEIs as they navigate the waters of international higher education and their impact on communities around the world. This deeply reflective text will appeal to researchers and students in higher education, as well as policymakers interested in the future of international higher education.

A deep-seated issue persists in postgraduate education—one that threatens the relevance of academia in our diverse and evolving world. The problem at hand is the Western-centric nature of postgraduate education, where research paradigms, methodologies, and theoretical frameworks overwhelmingly reflect a Western worldview. This rigid adherence to Western ideologies has left indigenous communities on the periphery of academic discourse, denying them the opportunity to engage with their knowledge systems and practices. Despite the richness and prevalence of indigenous knowledge, the existing educational structure remains a barrier to their inclusion. This disconnect is not only an academic concern but also a societal one, as it hinders sustainable development and stifles the voices of indigenous scholars and students. Global Perspectives on Decolonizing Postgraduate Education serves as a compelling solution to the problem at hand. It offers a comprehensive roadmap to decolonize postgraduate education, infusing it with indigenous approaches, paradigms, theories, and methods. Through critical examination and practical strategies, this book empowers academics, curriculum designers, and postgraduate students to embark on a transformative journey.

This book provides a new, empirically informed framework designed to equip higher education faculty with the tools to help students engage in humanizing, mutually beneficial, and anti-colonial experiential education alongside other students and communities around the world. The author maps the conceptual development of culturally responsive experiential education (CREE) as a novel framework, situated at the nexus of culturally responsive research methodologies, the Indigenous research paradigm, critical service learning, and critical pedagogy in experiential education. The chapters detail qualitative research findings from an undergraduate CREE program in rural Fiji to illustrate the implementation of the novel CREE framework and discuss post-program possibilities based on the research study findings. Situated in narrative inquiry, the book also includes interspersed participant vignettes in order to center student voices and illuminate the research study findings. With attention to themes including emergent critical consciousness, critical allyship, and personal journeys of decolonization as experienced through the CREE framework, it will be of benefit to both education scholars and higher education faculty interested in experiential education and culturally responsive pedagogies.