From passive consumption to reflexive engagement in environmental education: Cultivating Generative Environmental Media Literacy (GEN-EML) through connectivist digital pedagogy

As environmental crises increasingly unfold within digitally mediated environments, higher education must prepare communication students to critically interrogate how environmental knowledge is constructed, framed, and contested across media systems. This study conceptualizes Environmental Media Literacy (EML) as a multidimensional competence integrating epistemic evaluation, ideological critique, affective–ethical reflexivity, and civic–communicative agency. Using a convergent mixed-methods quasi-experimental design (n = 60), we examined the short-term impact of a four-week documentary-based digital pedagogy intervention on undergraduate communication students within the connectivist framework. Quantitative findings indicate pre–post gains across three outcome measures, though effect sizes are interpreted cautiously given the short intervention period. Qualitative analyses of focus groups and written critiques reveal increased epistemic vigilance, heightened framing awareness, and more reflexive engagement with environmental narratives. Findings show that integrating documentary-based digital learning media through the connectivist framework facilitates GEN-EML as a theoretically grounded, replicable framework for embedding critical environmental media literacy within communication curricula.