IMF launching courses on online university
By Sean Coughlan BBC News education correspondent
21 June 2013 Last updated at 14:04 GMT
The IMF wants to raise public understanding of economic problems facing governments around the world
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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is set to join an online university network and will run finance courses which will be available free to students around the world.
This first step into the world of higher education will include the topical subject of debt.
The global organisation, responsible for promoting financial stability, is going to deliver courses in partnership with the edX online university platform, set up by Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The IMF will run two courses in financial policy, aimed initially at government officials, with plans to make this open to the public next year.
These online university projects, so-called MOOCs (massive open online courses), can attract hundreds of thousands of students for individual courses.
Fund of knowledge
So why does the IMF think it should be teaching the world about finance?
Sharmini Coorey, director of the IMF's Institute for Capacity Development, says the financial crisis has awakened interest in how public finances are run.
How are people meant to understand the big picture behind problems such as unemployment?
Big screen in the IMF lobby: What does the public believe about the downturn?
"When the public can understand the questions, then the level of debate can increase. Informed debate can only be helpful," she says.
The IMF already runs training programmes for staff such as central bankers and finance ministry officials, and Ms Coorey says that the online university is a way of making this information accessible to anyone with an internet connection.
These are going to be uncompromising in their content - "based on the latest collective wisdom on macro-economics" - but are designed to give the public an insight into the issues facing their governments' finance ministers.
Following the semi-automated format of such courses, there will be online questions accompanied by discussion forums where students can share problems and get advice. Students will get a certificate rather than a degree.
Citizen bankers
The economic downturn has seen a deepening distrust between the public and the financial sector. The skyscraper graphics and trillion dollar budget conversations are a long way from translating into everyday financial dilemmas such as trying to afford to replace the car or organise a family holiday.
And the course has the underlying aim of improving public education on finances, taking the debate beyond the marble corridors of central banks.
Improving understanding of finance could help to tackle public distrust of the financial sector
The IMF's deputy managing director, Nemat Shafik, last week highlighted how education and training needed to be much more effectively harnessed in the pursuit of economic growth.
She has welcomed how the partnership with edX will extend the reach of the IMF's educational role. These online courses will reach many more government staff, she says.
But making these courses public will also "empower citizens everywhere to understand the financial policy issues facing their own countries".
The edX online platform carrying the IMF courses is one of the flagships of the new wave of digital universities.
This not-for-profit partnership is already offering courses from more than 20 leading universities, but the IMF course is the first time that it will have been used to provide courses from an international governmental institution.
Spooked by MOOCs
Anant Agarwal, president of edX and previously a MIT professor of artificial intelligence, says the partnership with the IMF is another example of how online learning is breaking down barriers in learning, bringing in new types of organisation.
He expects other institutions, corporations or NGOs to move into this educational sphere.
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WHO ARE ONLINE STUDENTS?
- Typical age is 27
- More likely to be male than female
- Most commonly educated to graduate level, one in four to postgraduate level, 6% to PhD level, one in five had not passed high school
- 28% are US residents, 13% India, 4% Brazil and the UK, 3% Spain
Source: edX, June 2013
After only one year, the edX platform has gained more than a million students in 192 countries. These range from ambitious but isolated students in Africa through to people already at university in the developed world.
Students in India and China have been helped to get places in MIT by their high achievement in edX online courses.
Much of the original attention surrounding MOOCs revolved around the involvement of some of the world's elite university brands.
This raised questions about whether the traditional degree course would be rendered over-priced and obsolete.
But the impact of online learning has been much less predictable.
It seems as likely to change conventional campus-based courses as much as opening up universities to remote learners.
Prof Agarwal says the idea of mixing online learning with conventional courses will become standard practice.
"This will incorporate the best of online learning with the best of learning in person," he predicts.
Downloading degrees
Coursera, launched last year by academics at Stanford, recently announced a huge expansion in a deal with 10 US state university systems, with 1.25 million students between them.
This will include universities producing online material for students on their own courses. Students now expect to use the internet to find information and they expect to have materials accessible whenever they want to use them.
The IMF is going to offer two courses, using the expertise of the training it already offers central bankers
If they attend a lecture they might want to be able to play it back on their laptop.
Another factor created by this type of online accessibility is the permeability of information.
Coursera has almost 3.9 million students following university courses and each and every one of them can peer over the fence to see how courses are taught in other institutions.
Sceptics point to the high dropout rates and the problems with accrediting such online courses, but it creates a level of accessibility that would have been impossible only a few years ago.
The introduction of courses from the IMF shows the unexpected blurring of boundaries around formal education. Who should be able to teach? Where should people go to learn, a library or a search on YouTube?
The sheer scale of the online sharing of knowledge has also been unprecedented. The free academic version of Apple's iTunes - iTunes U - has now had one billion downloads of lectures and course materials, drawing on a catalogue of 600,000 online academic resources.
This isn't just a parade of over-sized numbers, there are unexpected involvements at a grassroots level. A few weeks ago the Texas Association of School Administrators announced that it was going to use material from iTunes U for high school courses across 14 school districts.
If iTunes was first seen as the beginning of the end for CDs and record shops, it would have been harder to predict that it would also be the beginning for a new type of school curriculum.
It's going to mean some different kinds of questions for employers. Where did you get your qualifications? MIT, the IMF or the Apple Store?
Should more organisations enter the higher education system? Will MOOCs widen access to universities or undermine the quality of teaching?
This is a great use of the internet. It will enable anyone anywhere to access higher education of an international standard. Organisations such as the IMF, WB, OECD and the UN are all funded by tax payer funds of their own countries and making the accumulated knowledge of these organisations available in a formal learning program free of charge is one way to bridge the knowledge divide
David, Canberra, Australia
I have completed three MOOCs. The quality of material is astoundingly good. The major flaws all surround the mundane, practical matter of time zones, American Grammar and cultural presumptions rather than quality of content. The marking machine approach is harsh and unforgiving and time bound. It is entirely possible to fail a course for late submission and much more likely. Which has led me to regard the value of the courses being outside of the certification. Excellent for obtaining the skills or body of knowledge but useless for the certification obsessed world of employers - who want over-certified, free labour. While, on paper, that minimises risk it also has a the effect of excluding marginal or low interest courses. MOOCs can (and, in some cases are) bringing back some subjects that were only available to an elite. Which, for me, is making my business more useful. But for the average Supermarket or Retailer will just give them another stick to beat down their costs by insisting on a quite difficult way of learning. Which is sadly leading to MOOCs attempting to be "more relevant to business" instead of being a means to making learning accessible. In comparison to the Open University, the MOOCs are primitive and sometimes counterproductive. They, very much, lack the kind of real world community that has made the OU powerful and worthwhile. But it really is early days. The OU has a lot more experience at distance learning and that shows in the quality of learning. Given the extortionate levels of fees being set by Government the potential for MOOCs is enormous.
Martin, Liverpool
MOOCs are a valuable addition to university education, they do not replace it. The whole problem of assessment, or testing is at issue here. Normally, economic understanding (or any abstract, analytical subject) can only be tested through long answer questions, papers, and other time intensive assessment strategies. Multiple choice questions cannot test high level understanding. There are proponents who say that a properly worded multiple choice exam, with distractors (wrong answers) aimed at making the student select the "best" answer do assess higher level knowledge. As a college instructor, I completely disagree with this. There is always more than one correct way to approach an issue involving analysis and abstract thought. A proper decision is made only after analysis of all solutions, and analysis of the current situation. Selecting the "best" answer means that the tester has narrowed down the situation to one, and assumes that there is only one way to do something. A multiple choice exam cannot see the critical thought processes. Multiple choice exams have their place, for assessing knowledge, but not for assessing the application of, or synthesis of that knowledge. That is what we want people to be able to do, to use their knowledge. So, with MOOCs proper marking is impossible. However, as a way to augment knowledge they are excellent. As interest courses, they are fantastic. But they do not replace classroom education. Many administrators, would love to see that happen. Talk about financial saving for the school.
Judith, Edmonton, Canada
For Africa clearly MOOCs represent an alternative route to quality education that is responsive to the needs of the 21st Century Economy. Truth is much of the curriculum in higher education across the continent lags behinds the developments over the last two decades and indeed is not preparing our grads for the future. With the MOOCs students enrolled in the local universities and polytechnics get the chance to consolidate on what they learn through taking courses from highly qualified professors in renowned universities and getting skilled for the world of world. Organizations like the IMF entering the field can only make it better. As a university teacher here in Ghana, I am excited about the prospects of MOOCs extending their tentacles to the nook and cranny of the world. These are exciting times to be a learner.
Carl, Cape Coast, Ghana