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Artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-based chatbots, such as ChatGPT, are transforming the approach to education. In particular, ChatGPT’s potential to process large amounts of data and learn from user interactions makes it a beneficial resource for students, albeit with some reluctance from some teachers. This study aimed to explore the acceptance of ChatGPT by university students. The researchers administered an online survey to 400 Spanish university students aged 18–64 ( M = 21.80; SD = 6.40). The results of the methodological approach based on the UTAUT2 model for technology adoption showed that: 1) gender was not a determining variable in any construct while the experience of use was a factor conditioning a higher score on all constructs; 2) experience, performance expectancy, hedonic motivation, price value, and habit were influential in behavioral intention to use ChatGPT; 3) facilitating conditions, habit, and behavioral intention were conditioning factors in user behavior. Finally, this report discusses the findings and practical implications of the work and recommends some good uses for ChatGPT.

Today’s complex, dynamic, interconnected world presents the field of education (“Education 4.0”) with significant challenges in developing competencies for reasoning for complexity. This article analyzes complex thinking as a macro-competency with sub-competencies of critical, systemic, scientific, and innovative thinking in educational environments. We worked with the systematic literature review method, selecting 35 articles in the Scopus and Web of Science databases using keywords words of interest and applying inclusion and exclusion criteria. Seven research questions guided the data analysis. The results highlighted that: (a) there are common characteristics of studies linking complex thinking, critical thinking, and creative thinking; (b) there is predominance of the qualitative method in the studies; (c) the critical thinking competency has been the most addressed in the research; (d) the predominant components of Education 4.0 are teaching methods and techniques; and (e) the three challenges that stand out for educational research are project feasibility, research opportunities, and required skills. This article is intended to be of value to academic and social communities and decision-makers interested in developing reasoning for complexity within the framework of Education 4.0.

In the 21st -century, it is vital to prepare university students with the required skills to pursue them for future career success. The research presents a framework of project-based learning (PBL) enriched by the industry to increase students’ future readiness. The framework comprises collaboration with industry partners, solving real-world problems as projects, and interdisciplinary approaches intended to build specific critical skills like teamwork, problem-solving, and adaptability. The study investigates the impact of I-PBL methodologies and framework on higher education curricula to enhance the readiness of students for the future. The study focuses on two key parameters— (1) the percentage of the curriculum devoted to PBL and (2) the rate of industry engagement activities. The study examines how these educational methods prepare students for today’s workforce challenges. The study bridges quantitative outcomes, revealing how I-PBL enriched with industry engagement significantly enhance STEM students’ skills and readiness for the workforce. The quasi-experimental study quantitatively assessed the curriculum to determine the proportion of PBL at 40%, and the frequency of industry engagement activities averaged at five distinct interactions per academic session. The pre-and post- surveys assessed students’ employability skills, while feedback and participation metrics measured their engagement and satisfaction. The findings reveal a significant improvement in student employability skills, with an average increase of 25% in self-reported competencies in job-related skills. Implementing the I-PBL significantly increased student engagement by 30% and satisfaction by 35%, demonstrating the approach’s effectiveness. It is the first to bring industry-enriched PBL systematically into higher education. Based on these results, the endorsed new insights and enhancement strategies for student employability skills, as discussed in this book, will help bridge the gap between academic preparation and workforce demands. The study addresses the gap in current educational practices by presenting a detailed, empirically validated framework that educators and policymakers can implement to prepare students for the evolving demands of the workforce.

As higher education institutions look to educate and graduate degree earners that have the skills and knowledge necessary to design, communicate, and collaborate in ways that allow for innovative solutions to complex socio-technical challenges, new approaches to educational efforts are being considered and implemented. Institutional responses have included new courses that have a transdisciplinary focus and embedded course experiences that use problem-based approaches coupled with cross-disciplinary team exposure. Often these initiatives have a singular thematic focus (i.e., sustainability). Little is known about the efficacy of transdisciplinary learning initiatives, especially those that encompass a breadth of thematic areas, as it relates to development of complex thinking skills and whether these learning environments provide for similar benefits across student majors. This study, conducted at a Research I university, was designed to address this gap in the literature by examining whether a university level learning initiative using transdisciplinary approaches was achieving desired goals to advance undergraduate students’ complex thinking skills. Findings among the respondents (n = 592) indicate that the initiative is advancing fundamental complex thinking skills in that specific courses allow students to learn about other disciplines and provide exposure to different disciplinary perspectives. However, results reveal that across all majors courses would benefit from increased real-world problem-based exposure and opportunities to interact with community stakeholders. Additionally, results suggest that undergraduates may need opportunities to develop a deeper understanding of the complexities that exist in cross-disciplinary collaboration, including how to develop integrated solutions that leverage the strengths of technical and non-technical approaches.

Thinking skills are essential to achieve sustainable social development. Nonetheless, there is no specific instrument that assesses all of these skills as a whole. The present study aimed to design and validate a scale to assess complex thinking skills in adult people. A scale of 22 items assessing the following aspects: analysis and problem solving, critical analysis, metacognition, systemic analysis, and creativity, in five levels, was created. This scale was validated in 626 university students from Peru. In total, 16 experts in the field helped to determine the content validity of the scale (Aiken’s V value higher than 0.8). The confirmatory factor analysis allowed the evaluation of the structure of the five factors theoretically proposed and the goodness of fit indexes was satisfactory. An item was eliminated during the process and the scale resulted in 21 items. The composite reliability for the different factors was ranged between 0.794 and 0.867. The invariance between genders was also checked and the concurrent validity was proved. The study concludes that the content validity, construct validity, concurrent validity, and composite reliability levels of the COMPLEX-21 scale are appropriate.

This article focuses on empirically analyzing the final products designed by 147 academics from 11 countries who participated in an international open education movement workshop by answering the research questions “What are the techno-pedagogical components of the products designed by the participants to encourage the open educational movement? and what practice of the open educational movement is being executed?” The article starts with a conceptual basis that describes the concepts of Active learning, Education 4.0, Complex Thinking and Open Education. It presents (1) the case study methodology on which this research is based, (2) two case studies on open education, (3) a game-based intervention proposal to support instructors in training university students in complex thinking skills based on Education 4.0 technologies and game-based learning principles, (4) and a discussion of the findings and opportunities for further work in the area. The findings of this study reveal that (A) the use of emerging and 4.0 technologies in initiatives of the open education movement continue to increase; (B) most of the open education initiatives designed by academics participating in the workshops were focused on the production of OER; and (C) inclusive access to education and continuing professional development of teachers is a constant concern addressed in open education initiatives. The results of this research suggest that training and development interventions implying the creation or design of open education initiatives should focus on encouraging all kinds of open education practices (i.e. use, production, dissemination and mobilization).

The purpose of this research is to contextualize the behavior of publications on complex thinking in education. A total of 428 documents compiled in Scopus from 1937 to 2022 were analyzed with a bibliometric study considering criteria such as “complex thinking”, “complex thought”, and “reasoning for complexity”, all combined with education. The results show 153, 47, and 5 publications for each criterion with their related disciplines, citations, types of documents, universities, prominent authors, researching countries, and the general diachronic evolution of the subject, this allows to establish an idea about the implications of the present study according to one of the most important databases in the world. It is concluded that complex thinking and its relationship with education awakens a greater interest in the academy, not only because of its incidence in diverse fields that are nourished by it for the generation of new multidisciplinary knowledge but also because of the published research that demonstrates its transcendence.

This paper aims to identify whether there are statistically significant differences in the level of perceived achievement of complex thinking competence in a population of Latin American students from different disciplines. The intention is to corroborate or question the academic literature that categorizes certain types of thinking (systemic, scientific, and critical) as characteristic elements of some disciplines. Methodologically, the validated eComplexity instrument was applied to a sample of 370 undergraduate students from a Mexican university. The results showed that the highest means for systems thinking can be found in the disciplines of Engineering, Business, and Humanities, while the highest means for critical thinking can be found among architecture students. However, statistically, the results showed no significant differences upon an overall comparison of all disciplines. In conclusion, the findings of this study prove to be valuable for educational institutions seeking to develop complex thinking in their students, demonstrating that the disciplinary area is not a limiting factor in developing a perception of achievement in a particular competence and its sub-competences.

Emerging technologies and community empowerment have driven citizen science (CS) projects. However, their impact remains vague, partly because of the difficulties in monitoring and standardizing these projects. Notably, the development of citizens' complex thinking is not among the primary goals, despite the connection with the tenets of Education 4.0 and the training of socially committed citizens. Therefore, we propose a framework and typology to foster CS projects while scaling up complex thinking. We used the evidence-based educational innovation (EBEI) methodology and the Theory of Change (ToC) perspective, reviewing some of the most relevant frameworks under UNESCO's Open Science Recommendation. Findings from the CS projects analysis revealed that: (a) there is inattention to developing the sub-components of the complex thinking macro-competency; (b) a growing trend to develop frameworks for CS projects is taking place; (c) there is a prevalence of CS project frameworks focused on prevention and control, project evaluation and design, and education and research; (d) a framework with three dimensions based on ToC (Outbound, Threshold and Full-cycle) can guide the development of CS projects; and (e) an eight-component typology can measure the progress and impact of CS projects from the perspectives of Context-awareness, Citizen engagement, Infrastructure leverage, Technological innovation, Educational innovation, Outreach and Scale, Network building, and Complex Thinking. We envision that the integrated framework and typology proposed, scaffolded by complex thinking, can comprehensively broaden the impact of CS initiatives.