Introduction:
The rapid incorporation of generative AI into teacher education has outpaced the development of inclusive pedagogical frameworks. This study aims to validate the Integrated Inclusive Model with AI for Challenges (MIIA-R), which combines Universal Design for Learning, challenge-based learning focused on authentic professional problems, and Participatory Action Research to guide accessible instructional design in a virtual postgraduate context.

Methods:
A mixed-methods Participatory Action Research design was implemented across three iterative cycles with 83 master’s students, analysing 80 challenge proposals. Data were collected through an analytic rubric, a creativity scale, reflective group journals, and a satisfaction survey to examine proposal quality, pedagogical uses of AI, and patterns of creativity.

Results:
Overall proposal quality exceeded the functional threshold (M = 3.29/5), confirming the model’s applicability. However, a gap emerged between feasibility (M = 4.18) and pedagogical use of AI (M = 2.39), suggesting that technical adoption does not guarantee inclusive integration. Creativity followed an inverted U-shaped trajectory: it increased during guided design but declined at the public challenge fair, where evaluative pressure acted as a pedagogical selection mechanism between instrumental uses of AI and more reflective applications. In the final cycle, diversity of AI tools correlated significantly with creativity (ρ = 0.527; p < 0.001), supporting the view that natural-language tools function as conditional catalysts rather than automatic drivers of innovation.

Conclusions:
The MIIA-R model offers a reproducible framework that extends previous approaches by integrating AI, UDL, and challenge-based learning into a reflective and ethically grounded design process. Its main contribution is to demonstrate that inclusive pedagogical creativity depends less on the number of tools used than on prior pedagogical scaffolding and critical reflection, reinforcing its relevance for teacher education in virtual environments.