Courtnay Boateng
When Courtnay Boateng entered the Master of Education program, her initial research question was broad: how can AI make equitable education more accessible? Course by course, her question began to narrow first into accessibility generally, then into how AI might support neurodivergent students, including those with autism and ADHD — a focus inspired in part by her own ADHD diagnosis as an adult.
“After the diagnosis, it started making sense when I had struggles in school,” says Courtnay. “When I thought about a future career path, I started thinking more about how can we help teachers reach more students without adding to their workload. I knew AI was a vehicle for it, but I didn’t quite know how.”
In one of her courses as part of a student engagement assignment, Courtnay designed a concept for an online RPG-style education platform. In the platform, school subjects became maps and assignments became quests, alongside a collaborative library where teachers could build and share AI-assisted lesson plans. The response from her teacher peers was overwhelmingly positive — they wanted something like that library to actually exist.
“There is no province-wide repository for lesson plans that is interactive, or that includes AI supports,” says Courtnay. “That, to me, seemed like a massive gap.”
Courtnay originally decided to build a guide to help teachers prompt AI tools effectively. It grew to more than 60 pages.
“I was looking at this guide that I was putting together, and I thought this is really not helpful,” says Courtnay. “It looked quite overwhelming.”
In order to make her research project a reality, Courtnay had to rethink her approach. Fortunately, that guide became the foundation for what Courtnay and her husband, a software developer, started building together, a platform called CARL (hicarl.ai). Rather than relying on pre-loaded prompts, CARL’s backend draws on hundreds of lines of instructions developed from Courtnay’s research — covering frameworks like the 5E instructional model, guardrails against assuming students’ family structures or socioeconomic backgrounds, and guidance for representing diverse cultures and worldviews accurately in AI-generated content and images.
“With my own children in schools, I want them to see themselves in their lessons. I want all students to see themselves represented in the content,” says Courtnay.
Artwork by Courtnay Boateng
CARL has grown well beyond its original scope as a capstone concept. Courtnay estimates that she and her husband each spend 60 to 70 hours a week building the platform
“We don’t know how to do anything half-baked,” she says with a laugh.
CARL also incorporates research into social-emotional learning, including guidance for teachers on introducing trauma-informed practices sensitively and encouraging productive failure as part of the learning process.
“We really want teacher wellness and sustainable education practices to be more accessible,” says Courtnay, adding that many teachers are working significant overtime just to keep up.
Building a Canadian-based option mattered too. Most comparable AI tools for educators are American, Courtnay noted, raising questions around privacy law and data hosting that a Canadian platform.
More than a degree, Courtnay notes that the program gave her direct access to the practical realities of teachers’ classrooms and helped to influence her new career path.
“The program gave me the opportunity to really dig in to make sure that every single tool that we are offering, or that we have built in, is based on research and what is going to be practically helpful to teachers,” she says. “Getting to take all this theory and apply it to something that is so practical and so useful — it was exciting to actually see a direct connection between the education I did and the job I’m currently building for myself.”
For those considering pursuing a master’s degree, Courtnay recommends following genuine interest, staying flexible when plans shift, and not being afraid of any detours.
“You cannot learn from success the way you can from failure,” she said. “Even the failures along the way are beneficial in the long run.”
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In recognition of her research and extensive work, Courtnay received the 2026 Outstanding Project Award. Having built CARL alongside her husband late into so many nights, Courtnay says the award isn’t just personal recognition.
“Receiving the award is affirmation that what we have created has value. We made something here that is worthy of recognition,” she says.
The award will be formally celebrated at the School’s Welcome and Awards Night in November.