The core proposition of this pitch, which will be further fleshed out in The Plan, is the strategic enhancement of TALO – a proven product – for a wider audience.

The Offering:

TALO represents a faculty professional development offering, combining content (course content in the form of 4 learning modules), and service (the asynchronous guidance and support of a course facilitator).

The Market and Its Status:

The market for TALO and products/services in its category is directly impacted by the larger market for online and blended learning. In 2012, according to the Canadian Virtual University, at least 384,000 student enrolments, 5,945 courses, and 500 degrees were fully online in Canada (CVU, 2012, p. 15).

Tony Bates argues that “Moving to blended, hybrid and online learning requires a much higher standard of training for faculty and instructors.” (2015, p.420). However, Bates (2015) also describes the current model of professional development for Canadian faculty as “broken” (p.418).

In a draft report for the Council of Ontario Universities, Carey (2014) makes two critical observations regarding the current state of support for teaching with online learning in Ontario:

• There is broad expertise and a range of offerings within the province’s post-secondary institutions, but it is “unevenly distributed” (p.10), and no single institution fully covers the scope of requirements for faculty development in this area.
• For quality and productivity outcomes to be assured at all institutions, a professional development offering with “A critical mass of faculty users beyond those within a single university is required”(p.9).

Competition and Differentiation:

Current approaches to support for teaching with online learning in individual institutions across Ontario include workshops, courses, and isolated certification programs, offered both in-person and online. Robust resources and programs that stand out in a review of current offerings include OntarioLearn Online Teachers Resource site and CUOpen Certificate in Blended and Online Teaching .

The key differentiators between TALO (both in its current and proposed format) and other current offerings are as follows:

• TALO is a recurring, multi-week, offering, unlike “one-shot” professional development events which do not allow faculty adequate time to understand and integrate their learning (Herman, 2012)
• TALO is fully facilitated, rather than self-directed, as many online professional development programs are, and requires participants to complete formal assignments, which studies have found to foster greater success following training (Hixon, Buckenmeyer, Barczyk, Feldman & Zamojski, 2011)
• TALO is available free of charge to participants, unlike many for-fee accreditation programs in online and/or blended learning such as: Thompson Rivers Graduate Certificate in Online Teaching and Learning, Red Deer College’s Certificate in Online Teaching, The Online Learning Consortium’s Online Teaching Certificate Program, (and more) or offerings from commercial ventures such as the Global Online Academy. While these programs, in many cases provide formal accreditation, they require significant financial outlay either by faculty themselves, or their institutions.

Why Timing is Key:

With Ontario set to formally launch its new eCampus Ontario portal in January 2016, the timing could not be better to fund an inter-institutional offering in support of teaching with online learning. This initiative will help to ensure that students accessing and making use of the portal encounter a consistent caliber of online instruction across institutions.

In the words of the Ontario Online Learning Consortium (2014), the agency behind eCampus Ontario – “It is the intent of our member institutions to foster innovation, collaboration, and excellence on behalf of Ontario students. As a consortium of member institutions, OOLC will build partnerships with complementary organizations to enhance the online and technology enabled learning environment in Ontario. We will explore new and emerging technologies which enhance value for learning, and leverage existing strengths within our institutions and beyond [emphasis added}.”

For more information on the connection between our proposed TALO venture and the eCampus Ontario portal, check out The Plan.