In recent years, Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) has increasingly permeated everyday life and has gained a significant presence in higher education institutions (Sánchez-Caballé & Santos, 2025). Alongside developments such as data analytics and digital rights, GenAI raises important ethical considerations that go beyond instrumental digital competence. Therefore, it is necessary to foster Critical Digital Competence (CDC) that enables individuals to exercise their human agency in the context of growing digitalization (Aagaard & Lund, 2020), particularly in initial teacher education.

This research is framed within a broader R&D project aimed at designing and validating a pedagogical framework to support the development of Open Educational Practices (OEP) in Higher Education. This communication presents the design and evaluation of an OEP focused on integrating AI in education to enhance the CDC of pre-service teachers. The intervention involved the generation of didactic activities using AI tools, which were later adapted and openly shared.

The OEP was designed based on the CDC conceptual framework (Marín et al., 2024) and implemented with a sample of 89 pre-service teachers. The evaluation included an interview with the instructor, a focus group with seven students, and a content analysis of selected student-generated artifacts.

Students highlighted that GenAI can support teaching tasks such as planning activities, creating materials, and communicating with families. However, they also stressed the need to critically review AI-generated content, as it may contain biases or inaccuracies. Overall, the experience contributed to strengthening students’ critical digital competence and pedagogical agency as future teachers (Marín et al., 2025)