IMF Launches Online Economics Learning for Global Classroom

New IMF initiative to offer core economics training online

edX e-learning platform to reach new audiences

Positive reactions to interactive online learning pilots

And courses that have thus far been restricted to IMF member country officials will be available to students, bankers—anyone who’s interested and has an internet connection.

Thanks to a new partnership with edX, the nonprofit online learning initiative founded by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the IMF will soon start offering economics courses online to officials from around the world to complement its traditional training delivery. Free public access, through so-called massive open online courses (MOOCs), will follow in 2014.

“Taking our training online opens up a whole world of possibilities,” said Sharmini Coorey, Director of the IMF’s Institute for Capacity Development, which runs training courses in economics and finance for officials from the IMF’s 188 member countries—mostly those working at central banks and finance ministries. Topics range widely, from economic policy and forecasting to financial stability, legal frameworks, and compiling official statistics. “Online learning not only means we can train our member countries officials better—it also means everyone can join in.”

Better understanding of key economic policy issues raises the level of public debate and can help positive policy reforms gain traction and support. Last year the IMF trained 7,800 officials from around the world to help them make better policies. But the same analytical skills are in demand in a host of other walks of life: academics, journalists, financial sector workers, legislators, civil society and labor organizations, to name but a few.

“In terms of the number of people we can reach, this is a game-changer,” Coorey said.

Learning by doing

The IMF has successfully experimented with e-learning on partial segments of courses in recent months. The modules developed thus far have been used to ensure participants are fully prepared before traveling for a face-to-face course at the institution’s Washington headquarters or one of its seven regional training centers around the world.

“It brings participants up to the same level, and saves precious time in the classroom,” said Ales Bulir, a Czech economist who lectures full-time for the IMF. “Time saved explaining the basic facts can be used for policy dialogue.”

Courses containing segments on designing fiscal...