by Sebastian Freisleder, FWU Institut für Film und Bild, Germany.
Fun and entertainment – these are probably not the terms that first come to mind when thinking about economics and finance. And yet it was precisely this approach that we wanted to pursue with our e-book “Geld verstehen digital”. The e-book was published in 2022 and is a joint project between the FWU Institut für Film und Bild and C.C.Buchner21 on behalf of the Deutsche Bundesbank. The target audience is students aged 12-16.
Although omnipresent in our lives, economic and financial education often play only a minor role at school. Yet an understanding of economic and financial processes is crucial to being able to lead a self-empowered life. The Deutsche Bundesbank is therefore particularly committed to bringing such education into schools and equipping students with economic and financial skills.
Even though images and texts play an important part in the e-book, as in the previously published print edition “Geld verstehen”, the e-book was primarily intended to be interactive and rich in multimedia. On the one hand, our focus was on short, humorous films that summarize the topics of the individual chapters in an entertaining way and provide them with a wink. On the other hand, “Geld verstehen digital” contains a large number of interactions in which the students can become instantly active. These range from simple H5P exercises to complex applications that have been specially designed and developed for the e-book. One advantage of the interactions is that students receive immediate feedback. This means that the e-book can also be used in self-learning scenarios in which the teacher takes on a more supportive role.
For example, how about an experiment with the key interest rate machine (chapter 7.4)? Here you can use a virtual machine and try out what happens when the ECB lowers or raises key interest rates. In an equally entertaining and interactive way, you can also explore the magical triangle of investments (chapter 4.4), loans (chapter 5.3), the tasks of a bank (chapter 6.1) or the euro countries (chapter 6.2).
The films summarize the content of the different chapters in a humorous way. They explore the questions:
- What is money? (and why fish is not a good medium of exchange)
- How do I plan with money? (and why you can’t foresee all the surprises in life)
- How do I pay? (and why even pirates have to pay at the supermarket)
- How do I save? (and why Grandpa Reiner is a real saver)
- How do I borrow money? (and what role the credit fairy plays)
- Who is responsible for the money? (and why even medieval knights like to do their shopping online)
What is my money worth? (and why star coins do not have a good influence on inflation)
In addition to these aspects of content, the e-book offers various features:
- personalized note fields where you can save notes (account-based across different devices)
- mobile responsive design, so that the e-book can be used every kind of device (desktop, tablet, smartphone)
- platform independence
- simple access requirements: only a current browser is required, without the need to install an app
- data protection compliance
- search function for the entire e-book
- information for teachers
We are incredibly proud that “Geld verstehen digital” has won the MEDEA Award 2024 and see this as a great appreciation of our work.
The e-book is available for free at: https://ebook.fwu.de/bundesbank
Editor’s Note: We are delighted that Geld verstehen digital was the 2024 MEDEA Award winner which was announced on 20 June in Leuven as part of the annual Media & Learning Conference. Sebastian Feisleder joined us for the MEDEA Awards ceremony in Leuven City Hall and accepted the MEDEA Statuette on behalf of the team.
