OIR is an international project whose originator and leader is the Faculty of Pedagogy and Psychology at the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin (Poland). The consortium also includes the University of Italy (Università degli Studi di Messina) and the University of Oviedo (Universidad de Oviedo, Facultad de Formación del Profesorado y Educación, Spain). The project is a response to the problems of some academic lecturers in the field of remote education which were diagnosed during the period of increased intensity of remote activities caused by the COVID-19. The problems result largely from the lack of appropriate competences in:

• handling digital technologies,

• the ability to work with digital services and resources

• indivudual and teamwork in a remote model

• creating materials and course scenarios in a different methodology.

The project aims to develop innovative digital educational resources and provides an opportunity to meet educational challenges by enabling the inclusion of higher education for people with different and special needs. The assumption of the activities is to counteract the educational exclusion of all those groups of learners who, due to the transition to distance learning and the problems that often result from it (related to the inadequacy of forms and methods of work to their special needs) have limited access to education at the highest quality level.

The aim of the OIR project is to strengthen the ability of universities to provide high-quality digital education favourable to social inclusion, and in particular to improve the forms and methods of educating future teachers (including those with special educational needs or belonging to other educationally disadvantaged groups). It can be done by creating an open online space of specialized digital educational resources such as: online lectures, podcasts, educational materials, didactic videos, lesson plans, worksheets, exercises, tasks) adapter to the needs of learners with various special educational needs (SEN) in accordance with the principles of universal design for education (UDL).

Project participants will be 138 lecturers-academic teachers, 1 200 students and 60 school teachers. The project assumes conducting trainings on: I. the use of digital resources in distance learning, II. developing remote learning skills with the use of innovative educational resources and activating methods, III. universal design in distance learning.

During the project implementation, the following project results will be developed:

1. Open digital educational resources adapted to the needs of learners with various special educational needs in accordance with the principles of universal design for education;

2. Training programs and training materials for lecturers, school teachers and future teachers concerning:

• raising competences related to the use of communication and information technologies in remote education,

• universal design,

• educational resources used in activating working methods;

3. Didactic films tailored to the needs of various groups of students;