Citizenship education via an online peer discussion blended learning approach: Lessons learned

Abstract

Many countries view citizenship education as one of the main obligations of formal schooling. In this paper, we describe a case study involving a Singapore primary school (two primary five classes) to foster primary school students' affective commitment to their country. We describe a blended learning approach that combined the use of an asynchronous online peer discussion forum, persuasive cases, reflection, face-to-face classroom discussions, and teacher presentations. We discuss the theoretical foundations of the blended learning approach. We share insights of the blended learning approach based on students' data (e.g., online postings, questionnaires, reflections, and interviews), as well as our own reflections. The results of our study suggested that the blended learning approach was able to instill a positive student affective commitment to their country. Finally, we discuss several important lessons learned that could inform the design of future instructional strategies in implementing blended learning for the purpose of citizenship education. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.