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DIY CPD: Taking it online

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15th Jan 2016
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In the past five years, massive open online courses (or, MOOCs [pronounced ‘mook’]) have blossomed into an attractive route for accountants looking to diversify their skills.

One of the Practice Excellence Conference 2015’s central messages was positively adapting to change, and “not being tied to the prescribed way of doing something for the sake of process”. The different speakers all spoke of striving towards progressive thinking and being a constantly learning practice.

E-learning is one way an accountant can constantly keep learning. It’s not a new phenomenon in accountancy, of course. Tolley, for example, has been providing comprehensive specialist advice and education for years, their offering running the gamut from personal tax to audit.

MOOCs are a continuation of what companies like Tolley do. Essentially, a massive open online course is an online course offered by an educational institution (including prestigious universities like Harvard, Princeton and Stanford). The aim is unlimited participation and open access through the internet.

Across all the platforms, there are 4,600 courses available. With the proliferation of MOOCs more vertical, specialist content has started to surface. For an accountant, ‘vertical content’ may be a course in a relevant skill not strictly accountancy related, like marketing or statistical computing. Of the courses currently online, 16.8% of them relate to business and management. There are further fields in mathematics and computer sciences.

MOOC providers

The biggest provider, with the most comprehensive course offering by far, is Coursera. Then there’s Future Learn which was founded by the Open University in 2012. It offers courses from universities and institutions including UCL, the British Council and the European Space Agency. The ICAEW has also got involved.

Other options are EdX, MIT open courseware and countless others. If you don’t fancy flipping between the different providers, there are also directories like Class Central.

MOOC providers have zoned in on what is called a ‘Freemium’ model. The courses are free - but having them formally accredited costs money, usually around £60. This model allows zero cost for those interested in merely developing their skills, but also caters for those who desire to have their work rewarded through credentials.

Issues

There are still some nagging issues, however. As enthusiastic as many of MOOCs’ supporters are, the jury is still out on their effectivity as a comprehensive, end-to-end educational tool. Critics argue that online learning lacks the diversity and vitality of intellectual creativity inherent to in-person education. A counter-argument is that this misrepresents the purpose of MOOC courses: Their potential, explained Simon Nelson, chief executive of Future Learn, is as “career enhancing tools”, offering training which is complementary to already existing skills.

The biggest hurdle, however, is getting the qualifications formally recognised. Many businesses are old fashioned and prefer the (increasingly expensive) luxury of formal education. But the indication is, as Josh Bersin noted in Forbes, that people are beginning to look “at these courses as predictors of skills and success”.

“[People] still rely far too heavily on pedigree diplomas, but as the online learning market becomes more validated and mature you will be able to put real money on your accredited MOOC education.”

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