Category: Projects

Professorship Defense: my references

Posted on by lindacq@um.es

As I mentioned in the previous post, on the 10th, I defended my university professorship. I didn’t want to include a section for acknowledgements in the document because I didn’t want to introduce “such sentimentality” into a document that is so “formal and academic.” I fear it might undermine the importance, the imprint of effort, and the rigour (yes, I know I sometimes get carried away with formality and take myself too seriously), but instead, I included a final section, like an epilogue, to honour what I wanted to call “My Sources,” and I reproduce it here for you:

“Reaching this professional milestone results from constant and conscious work following a dynamic vision of what is essential in and for the university. This vision has gifted me with the best I have: my sources of inspiration.

First and foremost, I want to highlight my students as a source of inspiration. Each course, each subject, is a challenge. Trying to make the subject and our work in class memorable and worthwhile is an obsession. I sincerely hope to be quickly forgotten as a person, but I need the experience my students have at university, including in my class, to be professionally transformative. This goal drives me.

The curriculum that evidences my professional trajectory is the story of all the stories that have brought me to this moment. For me, it is much more than a sum of things—although it may be so for current academic evaluation models, I refuse to let my career be summarized as a sum of things. My professional journey is the residue of many classes—both received and given—tons of conversations, many discussions, thousands of defences, hours of chat, and the patience and wisdom of many people whose contributions form the layers that have built the vantage point from which I now view the world.

This project and my curriculum are a story of growth in a field of knowledge, of an epistemological, ideological, methodological, and academic proposal, of a way of doing, sharing, resisting, and attempting to influence.

I have the privilege of having worked—and continue to work—with dozens of people around the world (far beyond what a research group or usual network includes). All the people listed in my CV as co-authors—and many who are not listed—have gifted me moments that have helped me grow, reflections that have illuminated new perspectives, corrections that make me more readable, readings that have opened my eyes, doubts that have made me think more, questions that have made me ponder deeply, habits and quirks that have changed me. The projects included in this proposal—like most of the ones I undertake—have been discussed with many people, and I am inspired by the long and short moments these people have gifted me.

I’ve shared as much as I could these years and will continue to do so in the most orthodox formats and all those I consider relevant or interesting at any given moment. Beyond what “counts,” beyond what is “fundable,” I will continue doing so. Disseminating these years in varied formats, in diverse contexts, has taught me many things that I’ve put into practice in my way of researching my way of teaching, and it has made what we do reach places and people where research published in articles doesn’t usually go.

Having the opportunity to apply for a University Professorship represents an immense privilege and responsibility for me. I’ve reached this point in a concrete manner, which has implications that I accept and a price that I will continue to pay; it is my mission to be worthy of that privilege and that responsibility. Thanks to all the people and institutions that support me every single day to make this possible.”

And here in this post, taking advantage of this happy moment, and since it is no longer a formal context, I want to thank, besides my sources of inspiration—all of you who gift me with your conversation and time—my friends, those from Valencia, the Old Glories, the gang members, those from a thousand places who have been more than my co-authors and share my days and joys, those who wrapped me up when it was cold, those who made me feel surrounded even when I was alone, those who always believe in me and have the patience to love me despite being just me.

Thank you to everyone who has shared your joy over this achievement with me and feels it as their own. Thank you for the wonderful things you have said to me these days.

To my original family, my parents –my mom– for the privileges that allowed me to get here, and our family’s history that partly made me who I am. To my in-laws—brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, and nieces and nephews (who make me an aunt even though I have no siblings)—to my in-laws—Arturo and Alicia—who are always with me in these “final” moments but live with me through all the intermediates, thanks for making me feel how proud you are of me.

To my family. To Alejandro, who makes me a better version of myself, who only cares that I’m happy, who is always on my team. To Raquel, who accompanies me to infinity and beyond, has gifted me some of the most exciting and fun conversations, the boldest plans I can think of, and has “rearranged” the world, our world, happily in many ways.

Gracias Totales.

The images in this gallery are a series of postcards I created amid my concern of giving meaning to the CV beyond the idea of “farther, longer, more, higher.” I will publish the details of how I made them AND the slideshow in case you are interested in knowing. Yes, they are only in Spanish 😉

Professorship Defense ” Statement and Disclaimer”

Posted on by lindacq@um.es

Today, I successfully applied for a professorship in my area of expertise—Didactics and School Organization—at the Faculty of Education at the University of Murcia.

When I completed my work for the position of Associate Professor, I shared with you part of the process—it’s available in my post from September 12, 2018–. Today, that approach doesn’t make much sense to me (I can’t contribute much more, mainly due to the variety of processes and approaches in Spanish universities). However, I would like to share some reflections on how I prepared for the exam and what the document I’ve presented as my “Proyecto de Cátedra” means to me  (my university’s regulations require this document). To do this, I will share with you a section of this document (which you will find here in a piecemeal fashion) that I’ve titled:

Professorship Statement and Disclaimer

“This work (referring to the project I presented to the panel who examined me)  aims to be an academic reflection of what it means for me to aspire to a university professorship in Educational Technology. Perhaps because of this, I do not intend to make a definitive theoretical or epistemic stance. This work is not meant to be ‘my legacy’ or a declaration of what I intend my research to be from now on, precisely because the mission of an academic, at least from my point of view, should be reviewed, rethought, and redirected continuously.

It is an integrated proposal with short—or medium-term research projects that will likely evolve soon, and I hope it will continue to help me evolve in my understanding of the problems around me and the educational reality in a broad sense.

In this case, I intend to take a practical approach (without implying that all research should be “useful”) and an exploratory and critical approach. Although what I present is, in fact, a short-term bet, I believe it should reflect not only my current thematic and reflective stance but also my understanding of how research in Educational Technology should be conducted and the guiding questions I ask myself daily to pursue this field.

Hence, I understand that this proposal must respond to a series of fundamental characteristics:

  • Address a substantive issue that affects or pertains to fundamental questions about the impact of technology on education, where the effect on education should be the priority.
  • Be coherent, meaning to seek, develop, and give space to the paths opened by the research history.
  • Dare to be innovative means looking in diverse places for different things. This implies advanced technology and an awareness of the most advanced problems. It also means exploring, sometimes even without knowing if there is something on the other side.
  • Be epistemically committed, generating theoretical, methodological, and educational structures that give substance to new paths we must blaze in education. The goal is to light up areas others can walk through and, if possible, turn those paths into “roads.” This means keeping an eye on all new developments, but without rushing to any trend, and ensuring that someone follows the paths we trace…
  • Be socially committed to the development of the context, in this case, to the development of my institution, my classroom, but also to other institutions like mine, and of course, to public education and what it entails.
  • It should be bold, meaning rigorous, but also willing to find, test, learn, and even fail or find paths that cannot be travelled.
    Interdisciplinary, understanding that education is not done solely by educators, giving place in the research to professionals who educate and those who shape the technological present, but keeping clearly in mind that the education of people (subjects in the community) is the priority in that multiple perspectives.
  • It must be communicated, transferred, and made usable by all those who may be addressed by it, not only by other researchers. For this, it must be open and frank, and I must make an effort to disseminate it.

I know many topics are not addressed in this text, but they are always there as a backdrop and a horizon to which to aspire. To name a few, I would start by saying that the redefinition of my field of knowledge—Educational Technology—that I tackled in my Associate Professor project and later worked on thoroughly with Professors Salinas and Adell (Castañeda et al., 2020) remains a crucial factor that must be kept fresh in any analysis of this nature. The training of teachers, which will be mentioned in the more distant futures of the last part of this document, is an irreplaceable horizon of extraordinary importance but one that we cannot address in this proposal. There is also a vast area of work related to the generation of knowledge by students—yes, referring to the DCCU—which we do not address in this work but should be addressed.

Additionally, many organizational, social, political, and economic constraints condition and limit—or try to limit—my research, but they do not depend on me. However, I have been aware of these constraints for many years and have been fortunate to conduct research that influences my immediate and not-so-immediate context, so I hope to continue dealing with them as I have so far and continue to influence them for the better.”

As you can see, it is a statement of intentions that I hoped would represent me. Because if there’s one thing I believe was necessary on a day like today—when the ANECA accreditation already says you’ve jumped farther, higher, better—it was a declaration of who I am and what I believe has brought me to this point and what I will do from here on. It is not very different from what I have been, but part of the charm, I suppose, lies in what I am willing to continue to be.

Última página del proyecto de Cátedra de Linda Castañeda

University Digital Teaching Competence Framework

Posted on by lindacq@um.es

In December, we announced with great enthusiasm the availability of the first of the developments of the DIGCOMPEDU Training and Accreditation (DigCompEdu FyA) project, the Framework for Digital Competence in University Teaching (MCDDU). Creation and validation (only in Spanish).

Yesterday, 24th April, we had the opportunity to “present it in society” in the Salón de Grados of the Faculty of Medicine of the Complutense University of Madrid.

Marco de Competencia Digital Docente Universitario. Creación y validación
www.bit.ly/MCDDU2023

This document represents the culmination of one of the fundamental milestones in the construction of the project materials, with the active collaboration of various universities (35 Spanish universities) committed to digital transformation in higher education.

Accurately detailing the meticulous process of adapting the European DigCompEdu framework to the Spanish context, materialised in the Reference Framework for Digital Competence in Teaching (MRCDD), the MCDDU emerges as a fundamental milestone in the confluence of theory and practice for promoting digital competence in teaching at the—university level.

This report not only breaks down the methodology, actions implemented and changes made during the creation of the MCDDU, but also comprehensively presents the framework itself, outlining its formative and accrediting elements. It is an indispensable resource for those involved in the planning and implementation of digital educational strategies in the university context.

By exploring the pages of this report, readers will gain a detailed overview of ongoing actions, planned future initiatives and strategic recommendations for continued development in the field of digital educational transformation. We hope that this joint effort and the effort to share not only the results, but also our working methodology can lead to a better definition of the path towards the digital transformation of Higher Education that we all seek.

Coordination of the DIGCOMPEDU FyA project
Juan Ramon Velasco
Pedro M. Ruiz
María Isabel Hartilo Hermoso

Emiliano Pereira González
Antonio Ruiz Martínez

Report and Technical Coordination
Linda Castañeda y Núria Vanaclocha.
Universidad de Murcia

Proyecto Competencias Digitales del Profesorado- Formación y Acreditación. DigCompEdu-FyA.
Real Decreto 641/2021, de 27 de julio, por el que se regula la concesión directa de subvenciones a universidades públicas españolas para la
modernización y digitalización del sistema universitario español en el marco del Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia
Ministerio de Universidades. BOE-A-2021-12614

Permanent link to the Report at the UM  DIGITUM Repository  https://lnkd.in/dUMwUc6d

 

 

The DALI Project is finished!

Posted on by lindacq@um.es

On 30 December 2023, the DALI project -Data Literacy for Citizenship- (https://dalicitizens.eu/ ) officially ended a project that we have been working on at UM for the last three years and in which our challenge was to develop practical educational materials and resources for the development of Data Literacy in adults of all age ranges, i.e. to promote how people use and engage with the data they encounter in their daily lives as citizens.

In these three years, we have developed in the four official languages of the project (and therefore also in Spanish)

And much more…

And EVERYTHING is now available for free and open use on our website.

I have been the project’s contact person for the UM team and had the immense good fortune to work on it. I have had the opportunity to learn, meet, laugh, work hard and generate, with my project partners, a lot of material that I firmly believe is useful to face one of the most critical challenges posed by the current and imminent future technological reality, how people should relate healthily with the data that is generated around them?

Since the first time, we were asked for a workshop “for the healthy use of social networks” back in the first decade of the 21st century, I have always been convinced that the only way to become more human in a world with technology is to emancipate ourselves to be better humans, to make better decisions, to be able to make human decisions –being empowered– in this world and WITH technology. … and I believe that DALI does all of this. Furthermore, I think that it does it with deep pedagogical roots that give more substance to this emancipatory and empowering perspective… it is an educational project… of educational technology.

It has been a precious experience; I feel very proud of the work we have done from Murcia (thanks to Inma Haba-Ortuño especially). It is also a project in which many people have been able to work, collaborate and feel involved… Even my students have been able to work with the games! So, all the better…

As I said above, all the materials are open and licensed to be modified for further use.

I hope you can browse and use any of the materials we have produced and that you find them useful.

SOME ACADEMIC PAPERS FROM DALI PROJECT

  • Castañeda, Linda, Inmaculada Haba-Ortuño, Daniel Villar-Onrubia, Victoria I. Marín, Gemma Tur, José A. Ruipérez-Valiente, and Barbara Wasson. 2024. ‘Developing the DALI Data Literacy Framework for Critical Citizenry’. RIED-Revista Iberoamericana de Educación a Distancia 27 (1). doi:10.5944/ried.27.1.37773. (Online First) https://doi.org/10.5944/ried.27.1.37773
  • Castañeda, L., Villar-Onrubia, D., Haba-Ortuño, I., Postigo-Fuentes, A. Y., & Arnab, S. (2022). Game-based Networked Learning. Proceedings For The Thirteenth International Conference On Networked Learning, 273–277 https://dalicitizens.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Game-based-Networked-Learning.pdf
  • Castañeda, L.; Arnab, S.; Tur, G.; Klykken, F.; Wasson, B.; Haba-Ortuño, I.; Maloszek, R.; De Benito-Crossetti, B. (in press) Co-creating pedagogically informed games for data literacy. Revista de Educación. (IN PRESS)

The DALI project is an Erasmus+ Strategic Action for Adult Education project (KA204-076492) coordinated by the University of Bergen and involving four other European universities: Coventry University (UK), Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (Germany), Universitat de les Illes Balears (Spain) and Universidad de Murcia (Spain).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ACAD Toolkit Print&play in Spanish for starters

Posted on by lindacq@um.es

Over the last few years, we have been immersed in the fascinating world of ACAD (Activity Centered Analysis and Design Framework), exploring its possibilities and above all looking for ways to invite more people to use these kinds of tools that we believe are interesting for thinking together about teaching and learning situations.

This journey led us to translate the ACAD toolkit into Spanish, a collaborative work led by Goodyear, Peter; Carvalho, Lucila; Yeoman, Pipa; Castañeda, Linda, & Adell, Jordi (2021), which provided us with a solid basis for our work.

In addition, we recently shared the fruits of our labour in a detailed study, reflected in the publication by Carvalho, Lucila, Linda Castañeda, & Pippa Yeoman (2023) entitled ‘The “Birth of Doubt” and “The Existence of Other Possibilities”: Exploring How the ACAD Toolkit Supports Design for Learning’ in the Journal of New Approaches in Educational Research. This study delves into how the ACAD toolkit supports design for learning, providing valuable insight into its applicability and benefits.

However, as we progressed in our research, we realised a significant obstacle: manually creating a toolkit (all those handwritten letters) tailored to the specific needs of an individual or institution required considerable effort. It was then that the idea of developing a “starter” version of the ACAD toolkit was born, at least of its Spanish version, with the aim of making this powerful tool more accessible.

Trying to remain faithful to the spirit of the original toolkit, we created a downloadable document, similar to the print&play that we have designed in the DALI project. This document allows anyone interested to download, print and use the ACAD toolkit in a practical and efficient way. We recognise that, although the printed boxes have their charm (and we have printed a few), the print&play format presents itself as the most useful option for those who are looking for a quick and adaptable solution and who read us from anywhere in the world.

The print&play has instructions on what and how to print it… and we think it is VERY convenient.

imagen del print&play de ACAD toolkit en castellanoimagen del print&play de ACAD toolkit en castellano

We want this starter version of the ACAD toolkit to be a gateway for educators, instructional designers and teaching professionals. We believe that by making these tools available to everyone, we are helping to democratise instructional design and foster innovation in pedagogy.

I am really pleased to share this resource with the community. You can find the downloadable document at https://digitum.um.es/digitum/bitstream/10201/135851/1/ACADToolkit_Espanol_P%26P.pdf (the permanent link to the UM repository is http://hdl.handle.net/10201/135851 ) and we encourage you to explore the possibilities offered by the ACAD toolkit on your journey towards continuous improvement in teaching and learning.

Download, print and discover the potential of the ACAD toolkit today!

Referencess:

  • Goodyear, P., Carvalho, L., Yeoman, P., Castañeda, L., & Adell, J. (2021). Una herramienta tangible para facilitar procesos de diseño y análisis didáctico: Traducción y adaptación transcultural del Toolkit ACAD. *Píxel-Bit. Revista De Medios Y Educación.* [DOI: 10.12795/pixelbit.84457](https://doi.org/10.12795/pixelbit.84457)
  • Carvalho, L., Castañeda, L., & Yeoman, P. (2023). ‘The “Birth of Doubt” and “The Existence of Other Possibilities”: Exploring How the ACAD Toolkit Supports Design for Learning’. *Journal of New Approaches in Educational Research, 12*(2), 340–359. [DOI: 10.7821/naer.2023.7.1494](https://doi.org/10.7821/naer.2023.7.1494)

(I want you to know that ChatGPT gave me a hand writing this post -I never have time to blog- and deepl helped me with the translation…)

ACAD toolkit impreso "bonito"

High Level Group of Education and Training Meeting

Posted on by lindacq@um.es

In May, during my participation in a conference in Barcelona (EDuTech Cluster Conference) I was asked by the Ministry of Education and in particular by Acción Educativa Exterior to participate as a Speaker for the EU High Level Group on education and training in the first event of the Spanish presidency of the European Council.

This meeting (Jerez de la Frontera, 29 June 2023) was the first event prior to the start of the Spanish presidency of the EU and focused on two fundamental issues: European values and digital transformation. For this reason, they asked two people: a German colleague who gave a presentation on artificial intelligence and values, and myself, who gave a presentation on the digital transformation of the classroom, to participate with papers for the discussion.

The ministry asked me for a vision of what the research says about the integration of technology in the classroom, trying to overcome the more catastrophic or naive views of transformation, but always based on research. It was 25 minutes of presentation and 1 hour of conversation with the members of the High Level Group. Here is my full slide presentation (there are many slides that I skipped due to time constraints)

2023 Higher Level Group of Education and Training from Linda Castañeda

Most of the elements are familiar to those of you who have read my work, basically because I don’t pretend to invent the wheel and because I think it is worth trying to be coherent in my discourse. Moreover, much of it is precisely the result of the research I have carried out over the years (here is the list of bibliography that I also referred to https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gOiEZvqRQmKbe6hsdPAMv6qOp1H3nETpYDtnkBUS0UY/edit?usp=sharing) .

The truth is that it is probably the most intimidating experience I have had in terms of responsibility and protocol, but it was also a fantastic moment to be able to contribute in some way to a debate that goes beyond my immediate context and before an audience that has a lot of work to do and that expects your speech to be of some use to them… I have learned a lot doing it, preparing it, eating nerves, and being there.

As I said in the chronicle I made of this moment on Instagram (Instagram video only in Spanish https://www.instagram.com/reel/CucdHG2uuVK/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== ), I think it went well, I feel honoured and proud, I sincerely hope at least I have not given ideas to make the European policy of digital transformation in education worse and I have contributed in some way to this debate. So far, I have learned a lot.

 

ESSENCE Project – Multiplier Event

Posted on by lindacq@um.es

The ESSENCE project is coming to an end and after these 3 years of work and pandemic, we want to share with you what we have done and present you the results of this work.

The ESSENCE project (www.um.es/essenceeu) has tried during these years to find ways to help schools by trying to generate and structure learning assessment tools and strategies for students, which can be useful specifically for entrepreneurship-related competences. We wanted to help teachers to better face the difficult task of assessing these competences, which are increasingly included explicitly in our curriculum.

To do so, we have worked with organisations from 7 European countries, schools, teachers, experts in the development of competences related to entrepreneurship, experts in education and educational technology, to try to achieve all the objectives we have set ourselves.

And what have we done that can be useful to you? Well, that is precisely what we want to talk to you about and present the materials and experiences we have made. We are sure that some of them may be useful to you. We will also take the opportunity to present you a tool, respectful with the use of data, to assess with rubrics that is completely open and that, although it is currently designed with rubrics of sub-competences of the entrepreneurship competence, you can use it with the rubrics that you consider most appropriate.

In the Spanish speaking context, we have planned 2 identical one and a half-hour online events on two different days and at different times so that you can attend the one that suits you best (wherever you are in the world, here you can check the time of the event in your part of the world).

Tuesday, 13 July, from 10:00h to 11:30h (Spanish mainland time)
Thursday, 15 July, from 17:00h to 18:30h (Spanish Mainland Time)

 

ANd… what about an ERC project?

Posted on by lindacq@um.es

Following the line of my last post (and video), this one (recorded the same day, as you can see hehehehe), dedicated to what I think is the most demanding call for Horizon projects, the call for projects of the ERC (European Research Council).

I am an unredeemed optimist, so in that invisible thread of “ALMOST” lies my hope this time… and I think that if I fail I will try again… why? why? because I like to learn… here I leave you my testimony…(just in Spanish, sorry, maybe subtitles could help)

Big kisses to my European projects office at UM (our dear OPERUM) for their help, and don’t despair, when I know the result I’ll tell you ;-D (after the depressing period, off course)

Why to do Erasmus + Projects?

Posted on by lindacq@um.es

Part of my work as an academic, at least from my point of view, is disseminating what I do so that I can contribute to the learning of others through my experience… as part of my learning community (yes, all that peripheral legitimate participation staff…).  That’s why I share openly my reflections from my stays, or I’ve told before how I teach my classes.

However, these days I wanted to make a series of videos to talk about why it is worth trying and participating in European projects… so I am going to tell you about my experience, with no other pretensions than that, to share the experience.

In this video, I share with you my experience and vision about why it is great to participate in Erasmus + Projects. I hope you find it interesting.

(Yes I know is only in Spanish… well, maybe subtitles  could help…)

 

The CUTE Project

Posted on by lindacq@um.es

Since October 2019, I have had the opportunity to be the contact person for the CUTE Project “Competencies for Universities – using Technology in Education” (ERASMUS+: Strategic Partnership KA203-867FE04B) at the University of Murcia and to have as associate partners in Spain none other than INTEF (National Institute of Educational Technology and Teacher Training). We are working hard (and having fun) and I wanted to have the opportunity to present you the project of which you have all the information on the website https://cute.ku.dk (also in Spanish).

Hope you find it interesting!