Head of the ITS Abmas KKN team Rabendra Yudistira Alamin ST MDs when explaining Tata Harta, financial literacy games, guide initiated by his team

ITS Campus, ITS News — Financial literacy among Indonesian people is still quite low, including among high school students in rural areas due to lack of access to information. To help improve financial literacy education, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) held Community Service Real Work Lectures (KKN Abmas) by innovating the visual design of a board game.

The head of the ITS Abmas KKN team, Rabendra Yudistira Alamin ST MDs, revealed that the low level of financial literacy is a problem, because it also causes various social problems. Starting from the high divorce rate, domestic violence (KDRT), suicide, and other social problems.

In order to avoid these various problems, ITS Visual Communication Design (DKV) lecturers are of the opinion that the public needs information and education about finances. For this reason, the ITS Abmas Community Service Team is targeting high school students in rural areas so that they can prepare before they reach the age of financial independence. “We chose rural high school students because they have more limited access to information,” he explained.

Members of the KKN Abmas team when playing the Tata Harta game with the students of SMKN 1 Mojokerto

This team also consists of four lecturers from the ITS DKV Department, namely Putri Dwitasari ST MDs, Nurina Orta Darmawati ST MDs, Nugrahardi Ramadhani SSn MT, and Didit Prasetyo ST MT. This Abmas KKN also involved 11 students from the ITS DKV Department. Thanks to collaboration between members and support from the ITS Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Study Center, this team succeeded in innovating a physical game called Tata Harta.

Initially, Bendra and his KKN Abmas team carried out data collection regarding what content needed to be taught in financial literacy games. Next, to prepare the gameplay or game rules, the KKN Abmas team collaborated with one of the educational application development companies, Mechanimotion, which has developed the implementation of financial literacy educational games.

Display of the Tata Harta financial educational game, the idea of the ITS KKN Abmas team

In short, according to Bendra, the rules of the game will be similar to the investment simulation process. Initially, players will be given initial capital and there will be several rounds. In each round there will be changes in the prices of shares, gold and deposits, depending on the cards that come out in that round. Players can freely develop strategies for buying or selling assets.

Furthermore, this ITS DKV S1 alumnus said that determining victory in the Treasure Management game was not based on the amount of money earned. The winner of this game will be determined by the number of points obtained. Players earn these points when they spend on happiness, save for dreams, and make donations.

ITS KKN Abmas team leader Rabendra Yudistira Alamin ST MDs (right) with students from SMKN 1 Mojokerto after playing Tata Harta to improve financial literacy

After successfully conceptualizing the rules of the game, the next process is to build the visual design of the physical game. By providing attractive visuals, Bendra hopes to attract high school students to play and learn with this game. “Until finally we visited SMKN 1 Mojokerto to implement the game,” he said.

This bespectacled lecturer hopes that the game Tata Harta can open up public awareness of the importance of games in the learning process. Specifically, Bendra hopes that this game can continue to be sustainable. “Hopefully the content can continue to be developed to increase knowledge about finance,” he said hopefully. (ITS Public Relations)

Reporter: Mohammad Febryan Khamim 

Translator: NA