Global citizenship education via experiential blended learning
Abstract
Higher education adopted global citizenship education (GCE) at the beginning of the 21st century since collaboration among culturally diverse people has become crucial. As learners can exert individual agency through digital media, learning that provides them with online and offline spaces can help them construct knowledge, build culture and shape identity collaboratively. A qualitative case study evaluating a blended course under GCE explored learners’ perception shifts regarding identity formations in relation to confidence-trust building. The study was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic using in-depth online interviews and analyses of archival data while triangulating learners’ perceptions with instructors’ observations. Findings showed that individuals shaped their global citizen identities through a loop of reflection and interaction in blended environments. The participants’ comfort zone levels affected different identity formation paths, but despite such differences, everyone became involved in various local community activities and engaged in a lifelong commitment. Synergically linked intrapersonal and interactional communication through blended learning activities solidified self-confidence and collective trust. Global citizen identities have evolved, while members’ relationships have deepened through their individualised experiential learning. The study’s significance lies in reinforcing the importance of experience-oriented GCE in blended learning environments and discovering the critical role of confidence-trust building through a synergic cycle between intrapersonal and interactional communication. Various organisations may adopt the model to shape their members’ consensual visions while reinforcing group cohesion.
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Author's Biography
Elodie Song Dr Elodie Sung Eun Song PhD was born in Seoul, South Korea, and lived for a long time in Romania and France before settling down in Canada in 2006. After studying English literature in Korea and fashion marketing in France, she achieved her BA (2014), MA (2016) and PhD (2023) in communication at the University of Ottawa. Her main research interest is collaborative learning in multicultural contexts, which empowers individual learners to discover their potential, realise their goals and become lifelong learners. As an online instructor at Varsity Tutors, she teaches statistics, conversational French and Korean. Her students include university students, professionals and retirees who mainly reside in the US, Canada and England.
Peruvemba S. Jaya Dr Peruvemba S. Jaya PhD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication, Faculty of Arts, at the University of Ottawa. Prior to that, she taught in faculties of business in the US (Lyon College, Batesville, Arkansas) and Canada (Memorial University, St John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador). She has a PhD in business administration (organisational behaviour and organisational studies) from the University of Rhode Island, USA, MA in sociology from the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, India and BA (Hons) in sociology from the University of Delhi, India. Prior to her academic life Peruvemba served in the Oriental Insurance Company as a junior/middle level management executive and was posted to various cities in India, including Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai. Her research interests include the areas of gender diversity and multiculturalism in the workplace, immigrant women, South Asian immigrant women’s experience, pedagogical issues, interpersonal communication, identity formation and construction processes, postcolonial theory, intercultural communication, ethnic media and qualitative research methodologies. Peruvemba is affiliated with the Institute of Feminist and Gender Studies, University of Ottawa as well as Affiliate Faculty in the interdisciplinary Digital Technology and Innovation PhD programme.
Citation
Song, Elodie and Jaya, Peruvemba S. (2025, March 1). Global citizenship education via experiential blended learning. In the Advances in Online Education: A Peer-Reviewed Journal, Volume 3, Issue 3. https://doi.org/10.69554/ENGD1508.
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