Who Owns ‘Truth’ in the Age of Educational GenAI?

As generative AI becomes more deeply embedded in digital education, it no longer simply delivers knowledge; it shapes it. What counts as truth, and whose truth is represented, becomes increasingly complex. Rather than offering fixed answers, this piece challenges educational technologists to confront the ethical tensions and contextual sensitivities that now define digital learning.

Who Owns ‘Truth’ in the Age of Educational GenAI?

Author: Prof. John Traxler, UNESCO Chair, Commonwealth of Learning Chair and Academic Director of the Avallain Lab

St. Galen, May 23, 2025 – Idealistically, perhaps, teaching and learning are about sharing truths, and sharing facts, values, ideas and opinions. Over the past three decades, digital technology has been increasingly involved or implicated in teaching and learning, and increasingly involved or implicated in shaping the truths, the facts, values, ideas and opinions that are shared. Truth seems increasingly less absolute, stable and reliable and digital technology seems increasingly less neutral and passive.

The emergence of powerful and easily available AI, both inside education and in the societies outside it, only amplifies and accelerates the instabilities and uncertainties around truth, making it far less convincing for educational digital technologists to stand aside, hoping that research or legislation or public opinion will understand the difficulties and make the rules. This piece unpacks these sometimes controversial and uncomfortable propositions, providing no easy answers but perhaps clarifying the questions.

Truth and The Digital

Truth is always tricky. It is getting trickier and trickier, and faster and faster. We trade in truth, we all trade in truth; it is the foundation of our communities and our companies, our relationships and our transactions. It is the basis on which we teach and learn, we understand and we act. And we need to trust it.

The last two decades have, however, seen the phrases ‘fake news’ and ‘post truth’ used to make assertions and counter assertions in public spheres, physical and digital, insidiously reinforcing the notion that truth is subjective, that everyone has their own truth. It just needs to be shouted loudest. These two decades also saw the emergence and visibility of communities, big and small, in social media, able to coalesce around their own specific beliefs, their own truths, some benign, many malign, but all claiming their adherents to be truths. 

The digital was conceived ideally as separate and neutral. It was just the plumbing, the pipes and the reservoirs that stored and transferred truths, from custodian or creator to consumers, from teacher to learner. Social media, intrusive, pervasive and universal, changed that, hosting all those different communities.

The following selection of assertions comprises some widely accepted truths, though this will always depend on the community; others are generally recognised as false and some, the most problematic, generate profound disagreement and discomfort.

  • The moon is blue cheese, the Earth is flat
  • God exists
  • Smoking is harmless
  • The holocaust never happened 
  • Prostate cancer testing is unreliable
  • Gay marriage is normal 
  • Climate change isn’t real 
  • Evolution is fake
  • Santa Claus exists 
  • Assisted dying is a valid option
  • Women and men are equal
  • The sun will rise
  • Dangerous adventure sports are character-building
  • Colonialism was a force for progress

These can all be found on the internet somewhere and all represent the data upon which GenAI is trained as it harvests the world’s digital resources. Whether or not each is conceived as true depends on the community or culture.

Saying, ‘It all depends on what you mean by …’ ignores the fundamental issue, and yes, some may be merely circular while others may allow some prevarication and hair-splitting, but they all exist. 

Educational GenAI

In terms of the ethics of educational AI, extreme assertions like the ‘sun will rise’ or ‘the moon is blue cheese’ are not a challenge. If a teacher wants to use educational GenAI tools to produce teaching materials that make such assertions, the response is unequivocal; it is either ‘here are your teaching materials’ or ‘sorry, we can’t support you making that assertion to your pupils’.   

Where educational AI needs much more development is in dealing with assertions which, for us, may describe non-controversial truths, such as ‘women and men are equal’ and ‘gay marriage is normal’, but which may be met by different cultures and communities with violently different opinions.

GenAI harvests the world’s digital resources, regurgitating them as plausible, and in doing so, captures all the prejudice, biases, half-truths and fake news already out there in those digital resources. The role of educational GenAI tools is to mediate and moderate these resources in the interests of truth and safety, but we argue that this is not straightforward. If we know more about learners’ culture and contexts and their countries, we are more likely to provide resources with which they are comfortable, even if we are not. 

Who Do We Believe?

Unfortunately, some existing authorities that might have helped, guided and adjudicated these questions are less useful than previously. The speed and power of GenAI have overwhelmed and overtaken them. 

Regulation and guidance have often mixed pre-existing concerns about data security with assorted general principles and haphazard examples of their application, all focused on education in the education system rather than learning outside it. The education system has, in any case, been distracted by concerns about plagiarism and has not yet addressed the long-term issues of ensuring school-leavers and graduates flourish and prosper in societies and economies where AI is already ubiquitous, pervasive, intrusive and often unnoticed. In any case, the treatment of minority communities or cultures within education systems may itself already be problematic.

Education systems exist within political systems. We have to acknowledge that digital technologies, including educational digital technologies, have become more overtly politicised as global digital corporations and powerful presidents have become more closely aligned.

Meanwhile, the conventional cycle of research funding, delivery, reflection and publication is sluggish compared to developments in GenAI. Opinions and anecdotes in blogs and media have instead filled the appetite for findings, evaluations, judgments and positions. Likewise, the conventional cycle of guidance, training, and regulation is slow, and many of the outputs have been muddled and generalised. Abstract theoretical critiques have not always had a chance to engage with practical experiences and technical developments, often leading to evangelical enthusiasm or apocalyptic predictions. 

So, educational technologists working with GenAI may have little adequate guidance or regulation for the foreseeable future.

Why is This Important?

Educational technologists are no longer bystanders, merely supplying and servicing the pipes and reservoirs of education. Educational technologists have become essential intermediaries, bridging the gap between the raw capabilities of GenAI, which are often indiscriminate, and the diverse needs, cultures and communities of learners. Ensuring learners’ safe access to truth is, however, not straightforward since both truth and safety are relative and changeable, and so educational technologists strive to add progressively more sensitivity and safety to truths for learners. 

At the Avallain Lab, aligned with Avallain Intelligence, our broader AI strategy, we began a thorough and ongoing programme of building ethics controls that identify what are almost universally agreed to be harmful and unacceptable assertions. We aim to enhance our use of educational GenAI in Avallain systems to represent our core values, while recognising that although principles for trustworthy AI may be universal, the ways they manifest can vary from context to context, posing a challenge for GenAI tools. This issue can be mitigated through human intervention, reinforcing the importance of teachers and educators. Furthermore, GenAI tools must be more responsive to local contexts, a responsibility that lies with AI systems deployers and suppliers. While no solution can fully resolve society’s evolving controversies, we are committed to staying ahead in anticipating and responding to them.

About Avallain

At Avallain, we are on a mission to reshape the future of education through technology. We create customisable digital education solutions that empower educators and engage learners around the world. With a focus on accessibility and user-centred design, powered by AI and cutting-edge technology, we strive to make education engaging, effective and inclusive.

Find out more at avallain.com

About TeacherMatic

TeacherMatic, a part of the Avallain Group since 2024, is a ready-to-go AI toolkit for teachers that saves hours of lesson preparation by using scores of AI generators to create flexible lesson plans, worksheets, quizzes and more.

Find out more at teachermatic.com

Contact:

Daniel Seuling

VP Client Relations & Marketing

dseuling@avallain.com

From Rubrics to Results: Making Feedback More Impactful with AI in Language Teaching

Delivering impactful feedback can be one of the most time-consuming parts of language teaching. In this chapter of the Language Teaching Takeoff Webinar Series, we explored how to streamline the feedback process without compromising the quality that learners deserve.

From Rubrics to Results: Making Feedback More Impactful with AI in Language Teaching

London, May 2025 – On May 15th, the Avallain Group hosted the second session in its Language Teaching Takeoff Webinar Series, ‘From Rubrics to Results: How to Provide Impactful Feedback’. The session was moderated by Giada Brisotto, Senior Marketing and Sales Operations Manager at Avallain, and led by Nik Peachey, educator, author and edtech consultant. 

This 30-minute session focused on how the Feedback Generator in the TeacherMatic Language Teaching Edition can assist educators in providing better, faster and more personalised feedback.

The Challenge: High-Quality Feedback Takes Time

Feedback is essential for student progress, but for teachers, it often comes at the cost of time and energy. Nik opened the session by acknowledging this widespread issue and proposing a practical, AI-supported solution: the Feedback Generator.

Unlike general-purpose tools, the TeacherMatic Feedback Generator, designed specifically for language teaching, allows educators to produce constructive feedback that aligns with assignment briefs, CEFR levels and specific pedagogical approaches.

Personalised Feedback at Scale

Nik demonstrated how the Feedback Generator makes it possible to maintain personalisation, even with large groups of students. By inputting a student’s response and the original task prompt, teachers can instantly generate comments that are:

  • Aligned with CEFR levels and subscales. (e.g., B1 writing > coherence and cohesion)
  • Tailored to the assessment criteria or rubric used by the teacher or institution.
  • Balanced between strengths and areas of improvement.

​​The result: fast, personalised and pedagogically relevant feedback.

Designed for Language Teachers, Not Just Generic Use

As it is purpose-built for language educators, the Feedback Generator supports core pedagogical models including:

  • Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)
  • Task-Based Learning (TBL)
  • Presentation Practice Production (PPP)
  • Lexical Approach
  • Test – Teach – Test

This flexibility allows teachers to generate feedback that fits their existing lesson models and institutional standards.

From Feedback to Feedforward

Nik emphasised that effective feedback not only reflects on the past but also guides learners as they progress. The Feedback Generator enables this by including next steps and actionable guidance in the comments, which can be adjusted for tone, focus and complexity.

This ‘forward approach’ aligns with current thinking in language assessment, that feedback should help students take ownership of their progress and better understand learning objectives.

Why It Matters: Lighter Workload, Deeper Impact

The session closed with a powerful reminder: when tools are designed around the real needs of teachers, not just general AI capabilities, they can genuinely reduce pressure without lowering standards.

By using the Feedback Generator, teachers can:

  • Save time without sacrificing quality
  • Ensure consistency in grading
  • Focus more on student support and less on repetitive admin
  • Promote deeper engagement with learning goals

What’s Next in the Series?

The Language Teaching Takeoff Webinar Series continues in June with ‘Adapting Content for Effective CEFR-Aligned Language Teaching’. You can reserve your seat now. This is a free webinar, but spaces are limited.

Save the Date:

  • Thursday, 12th June
  • 12:00 – 12:30 BST | 13:00 – 13:30 CEST

Register now for the webinar


Discover the TeacherMatic Language Teaching Edition

The Language Teaching Edition of TeacherMatic has been purpose-built to elevate language teaching and learning through sector-specific features designed for real classroom needs. With CEFR-aligned AI generators and support for key pedagogical models such as CLT, Task-Based Learning, PPP and more, it empowers language educators to create high-quality, personalised content efficiently and confidently.

Visit the dedicated landing page to explore all features in depth


About Avallain

At Avallain, we are on a mission to reshape the future of education through technology. We create customisable digital education solutions that empower educators and engage learners around the world. With a focus on accessibility and user-centred design, powered by AI and cutting-edge technology, we strive to make education engaging, effective and inclusive.

Find out more at avallain.com

About TeacherMatic

TeacherMatic, a part of the Avallain Group since 2024, is a ready-to-go AI toolkit for teachers that saves hours of lesson preparation by using scores of AI generators to create flexible lesson plans, worksheets, quizzes and more.

Find out more at teachermatic.com

Contact:

Daniel Seuling

VP Client Relations & Marketing

dseuling@avallain.com

International House World Organisation to Roll Out TeacherMatic Across Global Network

After a successful pilot across International House schools, TeacherMatic has been officially adopted as IHWO’s preferred AI toolkit for teachers. Built for real-world classroom needs and developed with a strong ethical foundation through Avallain Intelligence, the platform will now be made available to the entire IH network.

International House World Organisation to Roll Out TeacherMatic Across Global Network

London, 7 May 2025 – After months of hands-on piloting with teachers in its network, International House World Organisation (IHWO) has chosen the TeacherMatic Language Teaching Edition as its preferred AI toolset for language educators. IHWO is facilitating access to the platform for their affiliate schools through an exclusive offer, providing their teaching teams with AI support that is safe, ethical, intuitive and designed specifically for language education.

Successful Pilot Confirms Teacher Confidence and Classroom Value

The decision follows a carefully structured pilot involving multiple IH schools, during which teachers used TeacherMatic to generate lesson plans, grammar tasks, vocabulary activities, discussion prompts and more. 

‘We are thrilled to partner with TeacherMatic to bring their cutting-edge AI generators to the schools in our organisation. This collaboration is about giving our schools access to the latest AI technology, enabling educators to innovate, save time, focus on what matters most and support students’ growth and success.’ – Shaun Wilden, Digital Innovation Advisor, IHWO.

Building on a Foundation of Innovation in Teacher Development

This latest development builds on a wider collaboration between IHWO and Avallain that began when IHWO selected Avallain Magnet alongside Avallain Author to create and deliver high-quality digital teacher training programmes.

With this foundation in place, the adoption of the TeacherMatic Language Teaching Edition extends the collaboration into the day-to-day reality of the language classroom, offering teachers practical, time-saving AI tools designed to meet the specific needs of language educators.

This expansion reflects a shared commitment to equipping teachers and teacher educators with tools that are not only powerful and efficient but also designed with care, pedagogy and ethics in mind.

A Toolset Tailored for Language Teaching

The TeacherMatic’s Language Teaching Edition was developed specifically for language educators, offering powerful, CEFR-aligned AI generators designed for practical, everyday use. Whether planning a lesson or enhancing a sequence with differentiated tasks, TeacherMatic provides a reliable AI partner built with pedagogical depth and classroom flexibility in mind.

‘TeacherMatic is a great example of what happens when AI is developed with teachers in mind, not to replace their expertise, but to amplify it. We’re proud to see IH World lead the way in showing how responsible, curriculum-aligned AI can benefit teaching practice at scale.’ – Ian Johnstone, VP Partnerships, Avallain.

‘We built the Language Teaching Edition of TeacherMatic to solve real problems language teachers face every day, finding time to plan, adapting for different levels and contexts and meeting high standards with limited resources. IH World’s decision to adopt the platform across its global network is a strong endorsement of that mission. We’re excited to support more teachers through this collaboration.’ –  Peter Kilcoyne, Managing Director, TeacherMatic.

Grounded in Ethics: Avallain Intelligence and Responsible AI

Setting the foundation of TeacherMatic is Avallain Intelligence, the responsible AI strategy that guides all development across Avallain products to ensure that AI enhances productivity while upholding the principles of ethics and safety. AI should serve as a tool to support educators, not replace them, preserving the human element at the heart of learning.

As AI becomes more embedded in education, institutions face critical questions about pedagogy, assessment and data use. Thoughtfully-designed, context-specific AI tools such as TeacherMatic, shaped through real teacher feedback, offer a path to confident, ethical innovation in the classroom.

Looking Ahead: Live Demonstrations at the IH Directors Conference 2025

With the IH Directors Conference (8th 10th May 2025) taking place, this announcement comes at a key moment for school leaders across the IH network. Avallain will be on-site throughout the event, offering live demonstrations of the TeacherMatic Language Teaching Edition and engaging directly with IH directors on how AI can support their strategic goals for teaching quality and staff development.

Attendees will be able to explore the full suite of over 20 AI-powered generators included in the Language Teaching Edition, each designed to address real classroom needs. These include:

  • Lesson Plan Generator: Create structured lesson plans based on your inputs, such as CEFR level, target skills and pedagogical approach.
  • Adapt Your Content: Transform your existing content to align with your desired CEFR level, target audience and desired length.
  • Feedback Generator: Provide constructive feedback on student submissions, based on an assignment brief and various grading options.
  • Dialogue Creator: Generate natural-sounding dialogues on a given topic or situation. This can be used as role-play in class or as an example of authentic communication.
  • Create a text: Quickly and easily generate text tailored to your chosen vocabulary or grammar, at your desired CEFR level.

All tools are fully customisable, allowing teachers to control tone, CEFR alignment and task type, as well as pedagogical models such as Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), Lexical approach, Presentation – Practice – Production, Task-based learning and Test – Teach – Test. These features ensure materials are relevant, purposeful and appropriate for a wide range of teaching contexts.

The conference will also be an opportunity for IH leaders to learn how TeacherMatic, developed under the Avallain Intelligence framework, ensures transparency, ethical integration and institutional control, giving schools the confidence to innovate responsibly and with pedagogical integrity. 


About International House World Organisation (IHWO)

International House World Organisation is a global network of over 135+ affiliated private language schools in more than  35+ countries. Since 1953, IHWO has been committed to delivering high-quality language education and teacher training, setting global standards for innovation and professionalism in the  language teaching sector.


About Avallain

At Avallain, we are on a mission to reshape the future of education through technology. We create customisable digital education solutions that empower educators and engage learners around the world. With a focus on accessibility and user-centred design, powered by AI and cutting-edge technology, we strive to make education engaging, effective and inclusive.

Find out more at avallain.com

About TeacherMatic

TeacherMatic, a part of the Avallain Group since 2024, is a ready-to-go AI toolkit for teachers that saves hours of lesson preparation by using scores of AI generators to create flexible lesson plans, worksheets, quizzes and more.

Find out more at teachermatic.com

Contact:

Daniel Seuling

VP Client Relations & Marketing

dseuling@avallain.com

Introducing Richmond Studio: Richmond’s Next-Generation Learning Platform, Powered by Avallain

Richmond and Avallain have a long-standing partnership, collaborating to develop innovative e-learning content and deliver meaningful learning experiences through dynamic and intuitive platforms.

Richmond Expands Its Digital Ecosystem with the Launch of Richmond Studio, Powered by Avallain

St. Gallen, May 7, 2025— Richmond, part of the Santillana Group, provides an even more immersive and personalised experience for language teachers, managing staff and students with the launch of Richmond Studio.

Richmond Studio is the exclusive digital platform for both Richmond Solution and Richmond Pro — two comprehensive educational offerings from Richmond that support English Language Teaching (ELT) across K12 and Higher Education in Latin America. With over 750,000 students learning through Richmond Solution, Richmond has established itself as a regional leader in English language education. Richmond Pro, designed specifically for HigherEd, integrates Learning, Assessment, and Employability to equip students with the skills they need for academic and professional success. Richmond Studio brings both solutions to life through a powerful, customisable platform that centralises content, simplifies user experience, and fosters deeper engagement between teachers and students.

Avallain’s technology enables Richmond to create and deliver these effective online learning experiences. With Avallain Author, Richmond develops and manages multiple forms of ELT content, including interactive courses, eBooks, flipbooks, digital books (iRead), posters and multimedia-rich resources. All of these content types are also compatible with Richmond Studio. Teachers can tailor instruction and engage students more successfully.

Richmond Studio. Teacher Dashboard.

Combined with Avallain’s custom development services, this integrated solution facilitates efficient content distribution and provides a scalable, adaptable foundation for Richmond’s platform. This ensures that Richmond can expand its offerings across Latin America while maintaining a consistent, engaging user experience. The launch of Richmond Studio marks the next step in Richmond’s strategy, building on its established collaboration with Avallain to enhance ELT content creation and delivery. 

“Our longstanding partnership with Avallain is built on shared values of innovation, quality, and educational impact. We fully trust their technology to support the evolution of our digital ecosystem. The launch of Richmond Studio represents a pivotal step in our strategy to deliver more effective and engaging language learning experiences, and we are confident in its potential to transform classrooms throughout Latin America.” – Esdras Taylor, Richmond Global Managing Director.

Richmond Studio. Student Activity.

Ethical AI in Education

Richmond has also benefitted from Avallain’s ethically developed AI solutions, in line with Avallain’s broader AI strategy, Avallain Intelligence.

Avallain Author provides both manual and AI-powered content creation. This includes auto-generated alt-text, keywords for images and transcripts and subtitles for video and audio files. 

These and other AI features enhance the content creation process while ensuring the learning material is developed safely and responsibly. Teachers can deliver more impactful lessons without replacing human expertise, while students benefit from personalised yet safe learning experiences within Richmond Studio. 

Looking to the future, Richmond Studio will soon introduce TeacherMatic, Avallain’s ready-to-go AI toolkit designed to reduce teachers’ workloads and enhance teaching by using generative AI to create flexible lesson plans, worksheets and quizzes.

Alexis Walter, Managing Director of Avallain, reinforces this commitment, stating, ‘Our long-standing relationship with Richmond has been built on trust and a shared commitment to delivering high-quality educational experiences. For over 20 years, we at Avallain have worked closely with publishers to deliver best-in-class solutions across the entire edtech value chain. As pioneers in edtech, we embrace AI responsibly through Avallain Intelligence, ensuring that AI enhances productivity while prioritising ethical practices. Crucially, the human element remains central.’

Richmond Studio. Teacher’s iRead Dashboard.

Advancing Digital Learning Together

With a collaboration spanning over a decade, Avallain has partnered with Richmond since the creation and launch of the Richmond Learning Platform (RLP), which has served as the foundation of Richmond Solution. RLP has provided a dynamic digital environment for English language learning across Latin America, delivering personalised learning paths, interactive tools, and real-time feedback — all within structures that are easy for teachers to set up and manage. Richmond Studio now represents the next step in this evolution: a more advanced and specialised platform designed to support Richmond’s strategic vision for both K12 and HigherEd through Richmond Solution and Richmond Pro.

One of the core strengths of Richmond Studio lies in its ability to generate meaningful evidence of student learning and measurable progress over time. Through integrated assessment tools, activity tracking, and advanced reporting features, educators gain actionable insights that support informed decision-making and personalised instruction. This data-driven approach ensures that teaching strategies are responsive and aligned with each student’s learning journey.

Avallain’s industry-leading authoring and platform solutions afford Richmond the flexibility to develop, adapt and distribute content efficiently. As a result, the company maintains the highest pedagogical and technological standards. Furthermore, Richmond Studio can deliver innovative, student-centric learning solutions that align with the latest educational needs. 

This collaboration highlights Avallain’s ongoing commitment to working alongside leading education providers, continuously improving and supporting the creation of impactful online learning solutions that contribute to the future of education.

The launch of Richmond Studio represents a significant step forward in enhancing language learning for both teachers and students, providing a seamless, engaging and personalised experience. By combining Avallain’s technology with Richmond’s expertise in ELT content, this partnership is set to reshape language learning experiences in classrooms across Latin America and beyond.

About Richmond

Richmond, part of the Santillana Group, is a leading provider of English Language Teaching (ELT). With a strong foundation in academic excellence and a clear vision for innovation, Richmond offers a comprehensive suite of resources that support learners of all ages—from early education through to higher education.

At the heart of its offering is Richmond Solution, an advanced and comprehensive educational ecosystem designed to revolutionize English language teaching and learning across Latin America. Tailored to meet the diverse needs of students, educators, and institutions, Richmond Solution integrates high-quality content, innovative technology, and personalized support to foster effective and engaging language education.

Learn more about the platform: https://studio.richmondsolution.com/

Discover Richmond Solution: https://richmondsolution.com/en/

About Avallain

At Avallain, we are on a mission to reshape the future of education through technology. We create customisable digital education solutions that empower educators and engage learners around the world. With a focus on accessibility and user-centred design, powered by AI and cutting-edge technology, we strive to make education engaging, effective and inclusive.

Find out more at avallain.com

Contact:

Daniel Seuling

VP Client Relations & Marketing

dseuling@avallain.com