Linda Castañeda

Linda Castañeda is a Professor of Educational Technology in the Department of Didactics and School Organization at the Faculty of Education, University of Murcia, Spain. Born in Bogotá, Colombia, and based in Murcia, she holds a PhD in Educational Technology from the University of the Balearic Islands. She is a leading figure in digital transformation in higher education, coordinating major European projects such as CUTIE and DALI, and directing strategic research contracts with the European Union's Joint Research Center.

Her research focuses on educational technology, digital leadership, AI in education, and digital literacy. She has conducted international research stays at prestigious institutions including the Open University (UK), University of Oxford, UC Berkeley, and UJI. She is actively involved in editorial roles for top journals such as the European Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, Journal of New Approaches in Educational Research, and Educational Technology Research & Development.

Linda leads the development of open educational resources, such as the course Strategic Leadership for Digital Transformation in Universities, adapted for the Spanish context. Her recent work emphasizes integrating AI into pedagogical practices, rethinking student roles, and fostering critical engagement with technology. She is deeply committed to ethical, people-centered, and pedagogically grounded digital transformation in education.

She has contributed to national and European frameworks, including the University Digital Teaching Competence Framework (MCDDU) and the UNIDIGITAL accreditation project. Her publications reflect a strong focus on institutional change, teacher development, data literacy, and open, collaborative knowledge creation.

• Member, Editorial Board – European Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education
• Member, Editorial Board – Journal of New Approaches in Educational Research
• Member, Development Editorial Committee – Educational Technology Research & Development (ETR&D)
• Member, GITE – Interuniversity Journal of Research in Educational Technology

Linda mentors students through innovative teaching methods involving AI-enhanced reflection, role-based learning, and collaborative blogging. She emphasizes metacognition, feedback integration, and digital fluency. Her projects involve cross-institutional collaboration across 35 Spanish universities and European partners, demonstrating her leadership in shaping the future of digital education.

She maintains an active blog, Educational Mushware, where she reflects on ideas over tools—'MUSHWARE' being the conceptual and creative layer beyond hardware and software. Her vision is for education to be transformed not by technology alone, but by thoughtful, human-centered innovation.