Financial Learning through Web 2.0

Okay this weeks blog entry was found by my wife while doing her marketing research for work. The site is exploringetfs.com. Created by Barclays Global Investors. I can see why the site has won awards for their innovative use of technology and reaching the general public about complex financial information. The topic is on Exchange Traded Funds(ETFs).

That aside, why I thought it was interesting to place on our blog was because of it's use of Web and Learning 2.0 technologies. To begin with, the site has the narrator step in and say hello. Then you are offered choices of what they call Tracks to pick from depending on your interest and perhaps knowledge. If you don't have enough time and want a quick two mintue tour you can also do this with the options to save the 2 minute video tour to your iPod, IMac, or PC. What I think the site also does well is as follows in no particular order.

• Good use of visuals to go with the narration.
• Each subtopic is short and moves quickly.
• Good interactivity to keep the learner engaged.
• Good use of tone and inflection by the narrator.
• Good use of music (relaxing and does not take you away from the topic focus).
• Excellent use of additional information material.
• Excellent use of site mapping (visually appealing for each topic/subtopic).

So go take a tour and learn something new today and let me know your thougts. I would be interested to here those who disagree with my evaluation of the site.

NOTE:The image above is a SnagIt of the homepage from http://exploringetfs.com/ retrieved on 9/22/08 at 22:15 EST. The blog posting on this topic is strictly for educational purposes and is the opinon of the author. Any comments posted to this topic are the written opinons of the posters and not necessarily the view of the author of this said topic titled Financial Learning through Web 2.0.