Cosmopolitan Identity Construction via Blended Learning Environments in Global Citizenship Education (GCE)

Abstract

Since culturally diverse people need to collaborate in the 21st century, Higher Education adopted global citizenship education (GCE) to promote a cosmopolitan mindset. Learners in the digital era can use various modes of communication, exerting individual agency so that learners can construct global minds through their communication experiences. Blended learning based on learner-centered knowledge construction may provide extended spaces where learners can shape a personally trusted and collectively consensual vision of the global mind. A qualitative evaluation case study explored learners' perception shifts regarding autonomous identity formations and confidence-trust-building in a blended course under GCE. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, semi-structured in-depth online interviews and document analyses on the archive data were adopted to triangulate learners' perceptions and instructors' observations. Findings showed that individuals could shape their global citizen identities through a performative loop of reflection and interaction provided via a blended format. The participants' comfort zone levels influenced different identity formation paths. However, their goals, in the end, were aligned under the idea of engaging in local community activities through lifelong commitment. Intrapersonal and interactional forms of communication solidified self-confidence and collective trust through synergically linked blended learning activities. Overall, global citizen identities have gradually evolved while self-confidence and trust in others have gradually increased through different communication steps. The significance of the study lies in reinforcing the results of prior research about performativity-oriented GCE through a community of people practicing in blended learning environments. Members' hands-on activities while building self-confidence and collective trust through communication helped them shape their collective identity. In these processes, individuals' intrapersonal communication seemed to play an insightful role in effectively connecting reflective and interactive activities. Enhanced credibility by replicating this GCE model in future studies will ensure various organizations and institutions adopt it to shape their members' global visions and build group cohesion.