Built on Research.
Shaped by Teachers.
How do you make equitable, inclusive education more accessible? Give teachers tools to reduce their workload while increasing support for their students.
Why We Built CARL
Teaching has never been "just delivering content."
The real work is the planning, the adapting, the rewriting, the differentiation: the constant search for examples that actually fit your students, under time pressure that never quite lets up.
Most AI lesson tools miss this. They generate a lesson and leave teachers to do the hardest part alone: making it equitable, accessible, and actually right for the room.
CARL is built around a different idea. Teacher judgment comes first. The planning supports exist to make inclusive practice more doable, even on the chaotic weeks.
Our Story
CARL grew out of lived experience and research. At its core, it comes from one belief: education should work for more people, not fewer.
I wasn't diagnosed with ADHD until my late twenties. It finally made sense why school often felt like something I was trying to survive rather than fully access. That experience gave me language for something I'd felt for a long time: many students struggle not because they lack ability, but because learning environments often aren't designed with enough flexibility, accessibility, and care.
During my Master's research, I kept coming back to a central question:
“How can AI be used to make education more equitable and accessible, while also supporting teachers and reducing workload?”
What I found was consistent: teachers care deeply about representation and accessibility. They want to differentiate instruction, include diverse perspectives, and create lessons where students with learning differences and varied backgrounds feel seen and supported.
The barrier usually isn't willingness. It's time and tools.
The Reality We're Responding To
of educators considered leaving
the profession in the past year
say working with students
remains a core reason they stay
That combination of deep commitment alongside rising strain is exactly why we're serious about designing tools that reduce workload without lowering the bar.
Source: Canadian Teachers' Federation
What CARL Is, and What It Isn't
CARL is
- A teacher-controlled planning platform that reduces workload while supporting curriculum-aligned, inclusive instruction
- A structured system that supports lessons, unit plans, and classroom-ready materials
- A platform that keeps equity and accessibility visible throughout your planning
- A collaborative library designed for remixing and teacher attribution
CARL is not
- A replacement for teacher expertise, professional judgment, or relational teaching
- A curriculum authority, evaluator, or “one right way” engine
- A source of Indigenous knowledge (it does not generate, interpret, or prescribe Indigenous teachings)
The Research Behind CARL
CARL wasn't built from a single "AI can do everything" idea. It came from a set of connected research questions that shaped the product:
- Lesson and unit planning with AI: reducing workload without flattening instruction
- Student voice and self-advocacy: agency, consent, dignity
- Teacher collaboration: planning is better when it's shared
- Engagement without gimmicks: entry points beyond dominant cultural norms
- EDI and decolonization as practice: equity as structure, not optics
- AI model design and constraints: reliability, guardrails, and limits
We treat research as a foundation, not a finish line. Teacher co-design and iteration matter as much as citations, and this field is evolving fast.
The Team Behind CARL
We're not outsiders trying to "fix" education. We're educators, parents, and builders solving problems we see in Canadian classrooms every day.
Courtnay Boateng, MEd
Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer- BA Sociology (EDI & Decolonization)
- MEd: AI and Equitable Education (UBC Okanagan)
- CARL framework shaped by thesis research
- 10+ years workflow optimization & accessibility design
Samuel Boateng, MBA, PMP
Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer- BSc Mathematics & Computer Science
- MBA Sustainable Innovation
- PMP-certified project management professional
- 15+ years software development and AI/ML experience
- Builds reliable systems at scale
Meet CARL
We were trying to turn our working name, "collaborative resource library," into something more official when my sister said, "Throw 'academic' in there, and you can call it CARL." It stuck.
The robot came next, because CARL isn't meant to be a faceless chatbot. We're building a guide: supportive, a little playful, and genuinely useful, without adding complexity to an already full plate.
