A Custom eLearning Solution For Spreading Financial Awareness And Literacy

Riyali: 79% Surge In Financial Know-How

When we think of custom eLearning, our minds often jump straight to courses. Yet, customization extends far beyond course offerings. This is particularly evident in the case of Riyali, a financial literacy platform in Saudi Arabia that provides tailored learning experiences for individuals of diverse backgrounds and age groups.

Let’s explore how Kashida, in collaboration with Riyali, revolutionized the landscape of customized financial awareness education in Saudi Arabia.

Since 2016, Kashida has been instrumental in transforming Riyali’s vision into reality. Through our collaboration, the program has been able to offer a truly customized learning experience to all its beneficiaries, with a 79% increase in financial knowledge.

The LMS

After an extensive discovery process, we got to work developing a bespoke Learning Management System using Open edX. This platform is very dynamic and ensured that Riyali could service over 4000 concurrent learners whilst also delivering different courses to target audiences in both English and Arabic. The Riyali LMS is currently catering to over 2 million beneficiaries. This remarkable number can be attributed to the platform’s ability to accommodate a wide range of learners with diverse learning preferences and backgrounds, making it a go-to resource for individuals seeking knowledge on financial literacy. There are currently five flagship courses catering to the general public, youth, adolescents, and children. What’s more, the Riyali platform is accessible to all users free of charge and meets the WCAG AA level of accessibility standard.

The Riyali Ecosystem

While the learning experience includes traditional self-paced courses, we also devised a content strategy that focuses on reaching the learners in other ways. This includes blogs, engaging podcasts, and a comprehensive tools directory. Furthermore, up-to-date news, impactful statistics, a customized admin dashboard, and a fully tailored ambassador loyalty program further enhance the overall experience of any learner joining the program.

Riyali’s blog articles offer knowledge that extends beyond the courses and are up to date with a wealth of 131 articles so far, with 1.3 million unique pageviews and an average time of over 2 minutes.

Some learners are more auditory; here is where the Riyali podcast emerges as a valuable resource. The Riyali podcast is accessible on the platform and across various podcast channels. Like the blogs, the podcast offers a diverse range of up-to-date topics about financial literacy and convenience for listeners to access it at their own pace.

The tools directory offers learners a wide array of downloadable resources, infographics, and templates. Once downloaded, these tools are a convenient resource to have at hand. The directory includes practical guides on crafting budget plans and achieving financial dignity and independence, customizable CV templates, SMART goal-setting framework, and insightful information on managing credit and debit cards. The tools directory covers an extensive range of topics essential for financial empowerment. And this is just the tip of the iceberg; the directory includes an extensive collection of resources designed to cater to learners’ diverse needs and aspirations, ensuring that individuals can access the support they need to navigate their financial journey with confidence.

The Riyali ecosystem offers a holistic learning environment designed to empower and enrich learners on their financial literacy journey.

Atharonaa conducted a series of surveys to measure the impact of the Riyali program on its participants. Below are key highlights. People who completed the Riyali courses showed the following increase after taking the course versus before starting:

Atharonaa (2021). Impact Report: Riyali Financial Literacy Program

The Ambassador Loyalty Program

The Ambassador Loyalty Program (ALP) is a fully customized program on the Open edX platform we implemented for Riyali and was shortlisted for Best Learning Platform Implementation (International) at the Learning Technologies Awards UK in 2023. The platform serves Riyali’s mission in spreading financial awareness across KSA and engages and incentivizes learners, teachers, and supervisors in collaboration with the Ministry of Education.

We managed in the first 3 months of launch to reach 47 cities, 23,000 schools, 13,000 teachers, and 700,000 learners with 40% completion rate, engaging more than 13,000 teachers and supervisors in the public education system, and overall reaching 1.1 million learners, making it the largest financial literacy training program in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The Ambassador Loyalty Program’s impact stems from its robust customization. It provides a tailored experience for different user types with 6 unique dashboards that include various filters to ensure that each specific user’s needs are met effectively. The installation is on Open edx and was built on a scalable server which can handle up to 4000 concurrent users.

We have also customized five account types: student, ambassador (teacher), supervisor, Saudi Ministry of Education, and admin account. Customization encompassed the reporting we provide for Riyali, which is tailored to the needs of the program and the stage it is in, and we have generated 105 reports in total.

The customized user experience of the ALP program extends to provide different learning experiences to different learners. We designed it in a way to cater to every educational stage, providing individuals with the opportunity to express their financial literacy in a personalized and creative manner:​ elementary students showcased savings by doing art projects such as piggy banks or drawings and paintings​; intermediate students presented their success stories through videos and infographics;​ and secondary students designed an event to spread the culture of savings through a motion graphic or an infographic.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Kashida’s collaboration with Riyali has led to the creation of a custom learning ecosystem tailored to the specific needs of Riyali’s diverse audience. From the LMS to the fully customized Ambassador Loyalty Program, Kashida is dedicated to providing tailored learning experiences and driving positive change through innovative approaches and solutions.