Open knowledge, endless skills

It all started with a Facebook post. In fact, it began much earlier, in the classrooms of a school in Veracruz, Mexico, where Lorena Lopez already loved numbers so much that led her to study Statistics—even though in vocational guidance some folks insisted on telling her that she should pursue a career in Spanish.
 
But thanks to that post, Lorena stumbled upon the IDB’s data analysis and visualization online course. But what she did not know, is that the course would impulse her professional career like never before, especially after seeing how professors and colleagues constantly rejected her projects for being too ambitious or unrealistic. After taking the course, Lorena was certain she made the correct decision: the course proved her right, even more so the section that explains the Numbers for Development platform:
 
"I've never seen anything like this in my life, but when I saw it, I knew it: this is what I've been imagining for years," says Lopez.
 
The Massive Open Online Courses—better known as MOOCs—have become very popular in recent years thanks to a very effective approach: bringing knowledge from the world's greatest universities and institutions to anyone with a computer, Internet connection and a desire to learn, regardless of age, place of residence or educational level.
 
In 2014, the IDB joined the MOOCs edX platform from MIT and Harvard University. Since then, almost one million students from all of Latin America and the Caribbean have registered in this virtual classroom, which offers more than 90 courses in four different languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese and French. These free courses are based on the knowledge accumulated by the IDB through thousands of development operations implemented over the years, collected and distilled through project evaluations, research, publications, lessons learned, and case studies.
 
The MOOCs, and especially those related to social and economic issues, offer valuable learning opportunities, inspire students and allow them to apply their knowledge to improve their lives—particularly in places where access to formal education is a bit more limited, and where skills in information technology and communication are scarcer.
 

 
For Lorena, MOOCs are also a way to bridge a busy working life with her own professional development. "Time is my biggest challenge. But I've always taken courses, and I've noticed that few researchers keep updating their own knowledge as technology evolves," she says.
 
According to data from a survey conducted among the participants of the IDB MOOCs, the courses have had a great impact both among those who are wondering about their academic future—75% of them said the courses helped them decide what to study or investigate—but also among those who are already in the labor market. Almost 93% of them said the MOOCs improved the knowledge and skills needed at work.
 
In Lorena’s case, the course had a direct impact on her work. "Thanks to the course, the proposal I made for the Government Program Office of Veracruz—the creation of the Novusdata.gob.net data platform—became a reality”, she says. This open portal, already available but still in development phases, integrates public information from different agencies of the state government that wouldn’t be available elsewhere if it wasn’t for this platform.
 
But Lorena's vision does not end there. "Right now I'm in an empty offices starting a new project. I am creating a digital open platform called the Anti-Corruption System of the State of Veracruz, thanks to the knowledge of this course."
 
And her case is not the only one: in Venezuela, a MOOC on child development led Marielsa Ortiz to design and develop a research project with students and teachers of elementary education of the three universities; in Peru, Leonardo Sánchez used the course on sub-regional government management, one of the most popular at the IDB, as a basis for developing a pedagogical project for the province of Ocros, under a results-based approach. And in Honduras, Claudia Izaguirre took the course on project management to implement a program called "Municipal youth entrepreneurship policy" in the city of Santa Lucía.
 
Marielsa, Leonardo, Claudia, Lorena and hundred of thousands of other Latin American and Caribbean platform users dared to learn more, improve their knowledge and contribute to the development of their countries. Do you want to be part of one of our online courses? Check our catalog and join the largest online course platform in Latin America and the Caribbean here.