TALO – Faculty Development for Our Digital Age

FEEDBACK: You make a compelling argument and I think TALO has the potential to be highly successful, however I don't think you're asking for enough money. The funding requested is too low to support TALO's ongoing operation. It seems to me that TALO is dependent on Ryerson (& others) paying the salaries of TALO facilitators. In order for TALO to be successful, I would propose a different funding model. Privatize TALO and sell it back to Ryerson and other educational institutions on a subscription basis.

Review - I was intrigued by the TALO venture pitch. I think it is definitely a product that is needed in the future of online education. Your background information was excellent and well presented. I would have like to have seen more demographic information on how many and who are these teachers that need professional development in this area. It is a safe assumption that there are a lot but some numbers would have been great. I wonder if this is a good starting point to a larger suite of professional development topics or if there are better ones to focus on first? The biggest issue I had with the pitch was the fact that you wanted venture capitalists to hand over money for a product that is going to be free. Now, that isn’t the first nor the last venture that goes that route but it makes me wonder what business models need to be in place in order to cater these financial bakers? What will they be getting out of this besides knowing that education is going to get better? I honestly have no idea.

Feedback: The idea of having a more strategic method of digital education for post secondary teaching staff is certainly a market worth exploring. As I am not familiar with the Ontario education system, I am wondering if your market could be expanded outside of the provincial market. Referencing current projects and the fit with your venture gives credibility to the pitch as does your professional standing. I felt the technical nature of the pitch left me a bit confused about the project again primarily due to the geography barrier I believe.

Maureen, you have provided a very thorough presentation for your venture TALO. I agree with the pain point but I also think it's more complicated than what you have suggested in your venture pitch. Skills/knowledge of the instructor is only part of the issue as one must consider also the effective tools/tech within the LMS that is available for instructors to use in online courses. Providing a free of charge and fully facilitated online course has it's benefits but also looses flexibility for time management which is the attractive component to online learning especially for busy professionals. As an investor I agree that there is a problem and a need to improve the interactive element in online learning; and not only regarding instructors but as well among online students. I'm just not convinced that professional development is the solution that will solve the problem. I'm not sure that TALO would "stand" out from the vast amount of competition and so as an investor I would decline.

Feedback: Looks like you have a lot already invested into this TALO program and have received some positive feedback. However like some of my peers below have commented, online courses are now common place and to some extent market saturated. Many of your best practices are now being implemented in various forms across different institutions. My concern is that a stronger case needs to be built around why funding should go to TALO versus many other similar programs, especially versus public institutions if your target audience is the provincial government. Perhaps opening up TALO as a mini workshop / course for all educators would be a better choice, given that you are purporting best practices of a system.

Maureen, this is definitely a venture that needed looking into. I agree that some online courses that I attended before MET, the professor was not skilled in offering a quality course through a new media. You have identified your pain point well, and a solution that is backed by a skilled and knowledgable team. My concern is that many post-secondary instructors may not take the course, because what they are doing is fine (in their opinion). I was also a little confused with the Ask, to me it seems that you are making this pitch to the Ontario Government to support you with seed money and then financial support of $5000 for the following years. Are you asking for other institutions to match the government support under your Other Contributions in Kind area? Overall, I like the pitch and would just need the answers to this question before I decided to invest or not.

REVIEW: As a venture analyst I am impressed with the compelling and thorough manner with which you have presented your TALO for investment. You have clearly articulated your pain point around the imperative to provide an uniform program of online and blended instructor training, and by implication, the lack of foresight of the province of the community of Ontario online education to address this need in the past. Your have presented your solution in an articulate and detailed manner with and effective, tested and existing program and convincing testimonials. Most importantly, you have described the value and your means to creating that value in a clear and balanced way. Your team has considerable education, experience and expertise to achieve your goals upon initial review. The timing of the opening of eCampus Ontario presents an unusual opportunity to proactively deal with issues of instructor training issues with TALO that could go far to avoiding repeated patterns of misaligned delivery of instruction that has characterized past online and blended experiences. Your breakdown of your asking amount is also explicitly detailed. The returns as stated are of undeniable value to the province. I am recommending funding this project with the provision that a timeline for your roll-out is further detailed and that an assessment plan is developed to determine the effectiveness of TALO at predetermined intervals extending into the future.

Wow, what a great initiative, and a well-designed pitch to go along with it. I’ll admit, it was a lot of information to peruse, but my interest in adult learning kept me intrigued! I would certainly invest in TALO for three main reasons: 1) The team- it is clear that you and your team are passionate about what you do, not to mention more than qualified to carry out this particular venture. 2) The fact that you are expanding an already successful program gives me a sense of security and confidence in the potential of this venture to thrive. 3) It is clear that you have done your research, and the inclusion of this research in your pitch- particularly the facts page- added an element of credibility, as well as a deeper awareness of how important (and needed!) faculty training is, in the realm of online teaching and learning.

FEEDBACK: It is apparent that in our roles as EVA, unless you have a familiarity with the specific sector it is hard to make an informed assessment. Hence to create these pitches (myself included) we have to assume the investor knows nothing about the area we are pitching. I have struggled to understand the classroom experience of the primary or middle grades teacher. Like Maureen, I seem to share inside knowledge of the higher education market. Generally and commonly, faculty who teach at Universities in both undergraduate, graduate and professional programs are content experts; however they rarely have graduate training in education and less so in teaching online. Unlike instructors in K - 12, where teachers are trained in Education, faculty in higher education are usually researchers who are expected to teach, and more so lately, to teach online. Often, but certainly not always, universities will have Teaching and Technology Innovative Centers; but not all faculty are required to use their services. The availability of educational software, off the shelf, will not "make" a confident, skilled, effective online instructor. My many years working in graduate programs at universities have shown me that many faculty teach they way they were taught decades ago without regard to current research in the literature that shows advances in the knowledge on how students learn best, specifically adult learners (who are in university as opposed to 9th grade). An experienced highly funded researcher will not take time out to enroll in the MET program to learn how to better teach (possibly online) in their area of specialization. Constructivist, experiential, active and engaged learning is not the norm; it continues to be the lecture-based format, with research papers and multiple-choices exams as assessment. As you quote, "…learning how to teach online has become an obligation among educators as students are being sent into a world filled with technology.” In the US, generally you need a doctorate to teach in a research institution, so I see the MET as allowing me to "teach the teachers." Another of your quotes sums it up nicely, 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). This is a different sort of Technology Venture - not one that "makes a profit" but one that benefits all students (a public good). All the best in continuing your good work at Ryerson and beyond! (Sorry for the length of this posting, but I have a certain passion in this area!)

I appologize I just reread the section that does mention expanding outside of Ryerson. Again my appologies.