Ithryv.com Offers Free Online Financial Literacy Software to Schools

January 16th, 2009 By: Diane Trim in Articles, Technology in the Classroom

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As of this writing, the economic downturn is the third longest since 1945. Families are stretching their dollars further and kids are less likely to wear the latest tennis shoes or play the latest video game.

We’re all tightening our belts, but some of us do it better than others. Financial literacy is important for students to understand, not just during economic recessions, but for positive life-long spending habits.

A recent British study found that children imitate their parents’ spending habits, mostly those of their mothers. So if you’re spendy rather than thrifty, there’s a good chance your kids will be, too. However, researchers also found that 45 percent of adults have developed their own spending habits, independent from their parents.

That’s good news for we the spendy and we the educators. We can change our spending habits and teach good ones to our students.

Ithryv.com (pronounced I thrive) is a new site that helps educators teach about financial literacy in an age-appropriate, hands-on way. Teacher sign up for the free Web-based software through its sister site, WeProsper.org.

WeProsper.org is a movement to promote financial literacy. Teachers who sign up can have access to ithryv – professor. The ithryv – professor version allows teachers to upload class lists and student ages as well as set up scenarios for the class to practice on. Teachers can review class data and provide students feedback.

When students visit the site, they can choose the look and flavor of their banking screen and view the data the teacher has loaded for them. Students also see their savings score, which is analogous to the real world’s credit score, and content.

Students use ithryv as a simulation of financial decisions in the real world. They make choices about how to spend or invest their money and their decisions affect their savings score as well as their account balance.

“It’s a content ecosystem,” said Matt Messinger, ithryv’s vice president. “The intelligent system registers the user’s demographic and spending habits and offers content targeted to that student.”

Ithryv has formed a partnership with Junior Achievement and now offers teachers and students entrepreneurial opportunities. Teachers can select the entrepreneur module on ithryv – professor, which will give students over 10 different choices to make money in the real world. Downloadable guides help students start a shoe shine business, a pet care service, or a mommy’s helper agency. Students can track their expenses and earnings in ithryv and receive advice about how to spend or invest their money.

Ithryv is in the Beta stage this quarter, but a full version of the site, with expanded offerings for high school students will arrive in the fall of 2009. Eventually, the site’s owners will partner with banks so that young banking customers will find the ithryv platform and financial advice when they monitor their accounts over the Internet.

Parents can also have access to the ithryv software and create financial simulations for their children at home, too.

Bottom line: This attractive site is still in the testing stage, but from the looks of the site, the full version will be robust. Eventually, the site will include state standards and ready-to-use lesson plans for teachers to easily incorporate financial literacy in their classrooms.

Recommended disciplines: ithryv would be best for business education teachers, consumer math teachers, life skills special education teachers, and business writing classes.

Pilot teachers wanted. Messinger invites teachers to check out the site and leave feedback to make the free financial literacy tool useful for classroom teachers.

Tags: financial literacy, Website

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