Education Journal

Special Issue

Effective Teaching Practices for Addressing Diverse Students’ Needs for Academic Success in Universities

  • Submission Deadline: Oct. 25, 2020
  • Status: Submission Closed
  • Lead Guest Editor: Leslie Ramos Salazar
About This Special Issue
Students from diverse racial, ethnic, language, socioeconomic, and cultural backgrounds face multiple challenges upon matriculation at institutions of higher education. One challenge is a lack of limited economic resources, forcing students to balance school with work obligations and time-management. Additionally, because of systematic inequalities in public education, diverse students are likely to attend underperforming schools and may be relatively unprepared academically for the rigors of college/university coursework. As a result, students who struggle in their educational experience may lack the confidence to seek help or guidance in this new culture of academia. Apart from having reduced academic skills, diverse students often deal with the cultural struggles of underrepresentation on college/university campuses or as a first generation student unfamiliar with the culture of higher education. These students may also struggle with essential academic skills such as problem-solving, self-advocacy and critical thinking skills across courses within the curriculum. Due to these aforementioned factors, students may suffer from lower grade point averages, lower levels of academic motivation, and a lack of self-confidence, resulting in lower retention rates. Increasingly, faculty are not prepared to meet the new challenges of teaching and retaining diverse students’ to ensure their academic success. According to Yuan (2017) there is a current “teaching gap” between diverse students’ learning needs and how educators respond to those needs, and this gap can be addressed through effective teaching and mentorship practices. Given the prevalent barriers faced by diverse students or first generation students, this special issue will enable educators to contribute effective teaching practices, teaching experiences, or interventions that address diverse student issues in education. We invite papers that contribute to building diverse students’ problem solving, self-advocacy, self-efficacy, critical thinking, and academic abilities to support students as they navigate institutions of higher education.

Aims and Scope:

  1. Interventions of inclusionary practices that promote cultural diversity
  2. Teaching practices to support students’ academic success
  3. Cross-cultural teaching practices and experiences and how they affect education
  4. Ongoing mentorship strategies for diverse students
  5. Approaches to enhancing students’ academic, problem-solving, self-advocacy, self-efficacy, and critical thinking skills
  6. Programs that offer leadership, mentorship, and/or a sense of how to navigate the culture of higher education
Lead Guest Editor
  • Leslie Ramos Salazar

    Department of Computer Information and Decision Management, West Texas A&M University, Canyon, United States

Guest Editors
  • Elsa Diego-Medrano

    Department of Education, West Texas A&M University, Canyon, United States

  • Adam Weiss

    Department of Education, West Texas A&M University, Canyon, United States

  • Priyanka Khandelwal

    Engler College of Business, West Texas A&M University, Canyon, United States

  • Nancy García

    Communication Department, College of Fine Arts and Humanities, West Texas A&M University, Canyon, United States

  • Yvette Castillo

    Department of Education, Counselor Education Program, West Texas A&M University, Canyon, United States

  • Mary E. Brooks

    Department of Communication, West Texas A&M University, Canyon, United States

  • Paul Hayes

    School of COmputing, National College of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland

  • Snejana Dineva

    Trakia University, Yambol, Bulgaria

  • Jorge Martínez Cortés

    School of Languages, University of Veracruz, Xalapa, Mexico

  • Aracelys Piñate

    Coordinadora Doctorado de Ciencias Gerenciales, Universidad Latinoamericana y del Caribe, Caracas, Venezuela

  • Abel Mayaka

    Department of Mechnaical and Mechatronics Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Multimedia University of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya

  • Rufus Olanrewaju Adebisi

    Department of Communication and Behavior Disorders, Federal College of Education, Oyo, Nigeria

  • Nayyer Chandella

    LCWU, Lahore, Pakistan

  • Gladys Muasya

    St. Paul’s University, Kenya/Arizona State University, Nairobi, Kenya

Published Articles
  • Universal Design for Learning as a Tool for Inclusion in the Higher Education Classroom: Tips for the Next Decade of Implementation

    Frederic Fovet

    Issue: Volume 9, Issue 6, November 2020
    Pages: 163-172
    Received: Aug. 08, 2020
    Accepted: Oct. 15, 2020
    Published: Dec. 08, 2020
    DOI: 10.11648/j.edu.20200906.13
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    Abstract: Universal Design for Learning (UDL) has gained significant momentum in Higher Education (HE) over the last decade in North America. It offers considerable potential to achieve the inclusion of diverse students in the HE classroom. It is a unique approach, first because it shifts the instructor mindset away from medical model practices, and second b... Show More