Financial education in virtual reality with Ego

Autor: Simona Miklošovičová, hovorkyňa | 21.11.2022 | 3 mins reading

Young people love new technologies and can absorb them very quickly. However, they lack the financial literacy, which is key to manage their finances. Therefore, Tatra banka brings a unique approach to financial education combining the world of technology and virtual reality with the acquisition of new knowledge. This initiative is a continuation of its activities related to social responsibility and the concept of #forblueplanet.

Young people today use technologies quite naturally and they form an integral part of their daily lives. However, how quickly they are able to understand the latest technologies contrasts with how they understand the topic of finance. The low level of financial literacy is not typical for just the young generation because we have been noticing the similar trend also among the working-age adults. The field of money is often considered boring and uninteresting but understanding the world of finance is a prerequisite for a good quality of life. Tatra banka in cooperation with Virtual Everything presents an innovative financial education, linking the virtual reality education technology with the artist and rapper Ego. This concept aims to explain complex financial themes in an amusing and easily comprehensible way.

“The development of education in Slovakia is one of the fundamental pillars we have been supporting in Tatra banka on a systematic basis. I am very glad that the innovative form of acquiring information in the unusual space of virtual reality will become part of the initiatives that contribute to this,” says Martin Kubík, member of the Managing Board of Tatra banka Foundation and member of the Board of Directors of Tatra Banka.

“Young people can get acquainted with the important knowledge in the field of financial literacy in an enjoyable way using VR technologies, while being able to experience the positive impact the correct financial decisions can have upon their lives, which I think is currently very important,” adds Tomáš Brngál, co-owner of Virtual Everything.

Virtual reality for all secondary schools

VR Generation

In 2020, Tatra banka introduced the first version of VR Generation, which involved several selected secondary schools from all over Slovakia. In a virtual reality environment, students tried out different situations related with the world of finances. GoGo (Daniel Štrauch) explained them many financial topics using videos set as stories The success of combining the topic of finance with virtual reality technology is evidenced by 40,000 downloads of the application. A survey among over 500 students revealed that as many as 93 % of them liked the game and 90% of them had actual understanding of the topics related with finance.

In connection with the success of the pilot version, Tatra banka in cooperation with Virtual Everything bring a sequel available to all secondary schools in Slovakia, which had an opportunity to register for the project until the beginning of October. Tatra banka Foundation will gift the attending schools a limited version of cardboards – virtual glasses to their students, which allow their smartphones turn into VR glasses.

“The young generation was born with smartphones in their hands. It is natural for them to use new technologies, which is also why they find classical approaches to education obsolete. It can therefore be a challenge for teachers to catch their attention,” says Ľudo Cibulka, Innovation Development Manager of Tatra banka. “So two years ago, we launched a pilot of a virtual reality educational game aimed at helping secondary school students navigate the world of finance in an amusing way close to their thinking. The results of the first version confirmed that this concept works very well. That´s why we decided to develop the project into a full version and make it available to all secondary schools,” he concludes.

7 lessons with Ego

VR Generation brings several new features in 2022. The player is guided through the world of finance by rapper Ego, who explains the financial topics secondary school students should have a good command of in 7 chapters. Young people´s attention is triggered by many factors in their environment and therefore they often struggle with focusing on their education. The application content is therefore created to provide in an active form as much information as possible in a few minutes. Together with Ego, the students will experience a multitude of interesting activities. For example, students will learn about the basics of the world of investing from a helicopter above the High Tatras. They can also enjoy a visit to a recording studio or a ride in superb cars. Everything they already know well from rap videos. The combination of virtual reality, the artistic personality of rapper Ego, who speaks the language of the young, and engaging content is designed to help the young generation to acquire new information in the financial field more or less effortlessly. All students need to do is download the application available in the stores. The virtual game can be played without special glasses too, although they will enhance the experience of the player.

“I often see that young people spend money unwisely. I would like to help young people being in control of their finances. That´s why I was looking for a form that would both teach and entertain them. I found it in the VR Generation project, which connects virtual reality and the financial world,“ explains Ego.

Secondary schools find the virtual reality education attractive, which is evidenced by 133 participating schools from all over Slovakia we sent 10,000 cardboards to. The training will officially start on 11 November by launching the VR Generation application.

Ego (Michal Straka)

Ego, whose real name is Michal Straka, is a well-known Slovak rapper and law graduate. He has been active on the music scene since the second half of the 1990s. Ego is part of the noted formation Kontrafakt and has four solo albums as well.

Virtual Everything

Virtual Everything is a technological company focusing on virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) in the field of industry, automotive industry, banking and virtual training systems.