Topic: US Healthcare debate
Format: 1 hr., 15 min. video lecture by investigative journalists (also available as audio download)
Reviewer/email: Mike G – greers_pm@yahoo.com
Thanks to LearnOutLoud for alerting us to this great free video resource!
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Topic: Financial literacy, financial planning, debt management, investment, retirement funding, college funding
Format: Website with articles, audios, links to other resources, and worksheets
Reviewer/email: Mike G – greers_pm@yahoo.com
In these tough financial times, it might be a good idea to stop, go back to basics, and apply some fundamental financial management tools and techniques to your family’s finances. This great free resource from Bankrate.com will guide your through this potentially confusing process with articles on the basics, worksheets to apply to your unique situation, audios, and links to related web resources.
From the website: “Bankrate’s Guide to Financial Literacy will shine a spotlight on 18 personal finance topics essential for financial success.”
Topic: Comprehensive introduction to microfinance
Format: Web-based, narrated andinteractive animated slide shows, online workbook, and/or CD [free registration required]
Reviewer/email: Mike G – greers_pm@yahoo.com
According to Wikepedia “Microfinance refers to the provision of financial services to poor or low-income clients, including consumers and the self-employed. The term also refers to the practice of sustainably delivering those services.”
Developed by United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), the Microfinance Distance Learning Course is “… an essential primer for those who want a quality taste of microfinance, and is guaranteed to whet the appetite of those who intend to further develop their expertise in this fascinating field” – Normand Lauzon, Executive Secretary, UNCDF. And I agree! Having sampled the lessons, I found this to be a well-designed, flexible, and easy-to-use introduction to microfinance.
Topic: Game theory and strategic thinking in the context of economics, politics, and more.
Format: 24 75-minute class sessions; Video, audio, and printed lecture transcripts; PDF versions of assignments, blackboard notes, and more.
Reviewer/email: Mike G – greers_pm@yahoo.com
From the website: “This course is an introduction to game theory and strategic thinking. Ideas such as dominance, backward induction, Nash equilibrium, evolutionary stability, commitment, credibility, asymmetric information, adverse selection, and signaling are discussed and applied to games played in class and to examples drawn from economics, politics, the movies, and elsewhere.” … HUH?? But not to worry! Your instructor, Ben Polak, Professor of Economics and Management at Yale University, says this course is “reasonably hard, but reasonably fun!”
Topic: Introduction to global capital markets (financial intermediaries, security markets, organized trading exchanges, capitalization structure, etc.)
Format: Text lessons, graphics, animations, online forum discussions
Reviewer/email: Mike G – greers_pm@yahoo.com
Are you frightened by recent news stories on the potential for world-wide financial melt-down? This free course from UC Irvine and National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) focuses on “… global capital markets… financial intermediaries…security markets, organized exchanges for stock and bond securities trading… capitalization structure… mechanics of the buy-side/sell-side, the role of investment bankers” and many more related — and timely topics! So take this course and teach yourself what you need to know to make better financial decisions in these difficult times.
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