Overview
I joined the IMF in the fall of 2014 as the inaugural Instructional Designer for a new digital learning initiative creating Massive Open Online Courses. The targeted audience for these were government officials and economics students. The unit was only 1 year old with 3 permanent staff and 2 research assistants, and at the time had only launched 1 course — Financial Programming and Policies, Part 1. But the ambition was there for something much greater. Everyone was mission driven with a strong sense of service, and wanted to create learning that helped decision-makers and young professionals. Also, with our products being open to the public, we wanted to help others see what the IMF really did.
Within the first year of my role I was deep in instructional design and cultivating an attitude of us creating learning experiences. Early course projects were tough as I was learning the culture and building a network. But by the second year, I knew how to show and prototype what we could do both in terms of instructional and media design. While formalizing a learning architecture, I worked with team members to transform educational video design, and laid the ground work for a project management system that eventually enabled our small team to produce up to 3 courses per year.
Artifacts
Courses designed for the Online Learning program were delivered via edX and while primarily designed in English, were delivered in multiple languages. Over 4 years, I designed 9 different courses at different levels of development. Some involved a full course design, and some were limited as partnering departments wanted to maintain strong control of their content. Nonetheless, we found a way to ensure collaboration and quality control. The courses I engaged in as an Instructional Designer were the following.
- Foundations of Central Bank Law
- Financial Programming and Policies, Part 2
- Macroeconomic Diagnostics
- Financial Market Analysis
- Macroeconometric Forecasting
- Compilation Basics for Macroeconomic Statistics — sunsetted
- Public Financial Management
- Debt Sustainability and Debt Management
- Tax Administration Diagnotic Tool (TADAT) — now off edX
Impact
Over the course of my 4 year contract, I grew tremendously as a learning professional beyond my training in human learning. I learned how to build programs from scratch, build a strong internal network, create operational systems, design and produce multimedia with creative professionals, and synthesize large amount of information outside of my field of expertise. I usually worked 12 hours a day and worked with some of the smartest people I've ever known.
My colleagues and I established a learning program that has become fundamental to Capacity Development at the IMF. The team has produced multiple new courses, created an amazing YouTube channel and has a real presence during the IMF/WBG Annual Spring Meetings with staff members presenting and taking part in panels. This work, our work, had a long-lasting and truely global impact.