Designing financial education applications for development: applying action design research in Cambodian countryside

Abstract

ABSTRACT Combining financial literacy education with technology literacy is a logical step for organisations focusing on finance-education programsin developing countries. Our study sought to foster and improve this process by exploring how design science, specifically the Action Design Research (ADR) method, could be effectively used in developing such technology. The study describes an IT development project where a small NGO-based team designed and developed a tablet application that assisted rural Cambodians in understanding and managing simple financial matters. We describe how the project applied ADR from the problem formulation to the formalisation of learning in the form of design principles that can be applied to IT projects in rural and remote locations in any developing country. We conclude our study by recommending the further use of information systems in conjunction with more traditional teaching methods, and encourage the further application of ADR and Agile methods when considering software development in the context of developing countries. This study fills a gap in the literature by combining a theoretical model with practical application for more effective learning.