Participants in the Ed Tech Panel Discussion on Aug. 18 included: Angel Rich, left; Joseph Leitmann-Santa Cruz, Zachary Goldman, Sybongile Cook, Blake Allison and Kendrick Jackson. (Photo by LaTrina Antoine)
As the new school year starts, educators and parents are looking for new ways to educate students on fundamental life lessons that have not always been incorporated in traditional studies. A local Washington, D.C. entrepreneur may have stumbled on an innovative program to teach students, both young and old, about financial literacy.
Angel Rich, founder of The Wealth Factory, has developed interactive games to teach students about how to make sound financial decisions.
“We are considered as the most comprehensive and intuitive financial literacy ed-tech game,” Rich told the AFRO via e-mail on Aug. 25. “We specialize in teaching financial principles to underserved populations in a highly engaging manner to rapidly help modify participants’ financial behavior and perspectives with high success.”
For the 2015-2016 school year, Rich said her company is currently in talks with schools to provide the games as part of the curriculum. “We are currently in conversations with five schools that have already expressed interest for the fall . In particular, we will begin at WMST (Washington Math/Science/Technology Public Charter School) on Sept. 1. Last year, WMST won our startup competition and the teacher we worked with has now been promoted to Dean of Students. In other schools we are discussing how best to create student-run bank programs in Ward 7 and 8 schools. We hope to enter 10-20 more schools by the end of the year,” she said. Rich said that the organization is also currently working with Phelps Architecture, Construction and Engineering High School in Northeast D.C.
The organization is a tech partner with Bank on DC and has provided more than 15,000 students with access to financial education and safe financial accounts. It has also encouraged 1,300 students to open new bank accounts with local credit unions.
A recent EdTech Pathways panel discussion on Aug. 18 featured experts from the education, technology and financial services sectors, including Sybongile Cook, program manager at DISB Bank on DC; Blake Allison, founder, Financial Education and Literary Advisors; Joseph Leitmann-Santa Cruz, director, Capital Area Asset Builders; Zachary Goldman, doctoral candidate at The George Washington University and Kendrick Jackson, program manager for General Assembly.
The experts emphasized the importance of not only equipping students with financial literacy, but also with an array of technology to improve their educations. The event was hosted by WealthyLife, a gaming program produced by The Wealth Factory; General Assembly, an educational institution that transforms thinkers into creators through education in technology and business and design and the D.C. Association of Chartered Public Schools.
According to Jackson, of General Assembly, using technology more readily in education helps the student. He credited access to technology as a way for local students to stay in their own neighborhoods because as gentrification causes housing rates to increase, entry-level technology jobs could provide those students with the means to live in D.C.
However, though technology can expand the reach of educational opportunities for students – such as helping the student become a better critical thinker – the panel also reflected on the controversial side of enabling students to have access to a limitless virtual stratosphere. The relative immaturity and naiveté of teenagers may affect their ability to make proper decisions and engage in proper etiquette on social media. “Technology can be a blessing and a curse,” Cook said.
Besides the personal ramifications, there is also the ordeal of getting traditional learning institutions to entertain the possibility of expanding their fixed curriculums, especially when additional funds are needed. However, according to Cruz, there are “always monies available that should be tapped, but are not being utilized,” referencing public-private partnerships as one way to secure money and additional resources.