Digital Environments of Education 4.0 and complex thinking: Communicative Literacy to close the digital gender gap

Abstract

The gender digital divide (GDD) is a social phenomenon that denies citizens access to technologies, the internet, and the services associated with Education 4.0. Reducing this gap requires communicative literacy, which allows scaling knowledge, skills, and attitudes to create forms of media expression to interact effectively in virtual environments. Education 4.0 is a modern approach to education that focuses on preparing students to thrive in a digital and technological world. Additionally, Education 4.0 is based on three pedagogical principles, including Cyber pedagogy, Heutagogy, and Peeragogy, which emphasize the use of technology, self-determined learning, and collaboration, respectively. A mixed study was conducted with the participation of 124 Mexican students of technical-professional education. The study's objective was to analyze how they scaled their communicative literacy and complex thinking through a formative experience based on the pedagogical framework of Education 4.0 in digital environments called metaverses to bridge the GDD in Mexico. Quantitative results show only significant differences in systemic thinking (z = -2.113, p = 0.035 < 0.05), where women had a slightly higher mean (M = 25.36) than men (M = 25.11). Qualitative results support the finding of women excelling in systemic thinking, as participants expressed comments related to systemic thinking (90%). This suggests that immersive digital environments can effectively enhance communicative literacy and complex thinking. Additionally, they can be spaces where both women and men achieve similar levels of digital literacy.