A Finance-Based Self-Learning Online Platform for Holistic Evaluation of Innovation Projects

This paper outlines the development and the implementation of an online finance-based self-learning platform to augment the application of finance concepts by non-business undergraduate students undertaking innovation project-based modules. This online self-learning platform has two key objectives; (i) to empower students in multi-disciplinary fields to self-study finance concepts using online learning platforms and to subsequently apply them in project-based modules, (ii) to increase efficiency in teaching finance-based contents with limited resources, especially in this COVID-19 environment with an online mode of learning. This online self-learning platform allows involvement of faculty without any finance background to embed a bite-sized content as supplementary topics for students to self-learn at their own pace. The efficacy of the online self-learning platform was determined through pre and post quizzes to identify student's current and acquired finance knowledge. Quantitative data obtained demonstrate that there is significant improvement in the post-quiz scores; the mean of all the modules improves by 28% for post quiz score, and paired t-test for pre and post quiz scores are significant. These results as well as feedback received from students, demonstrate the effectiveness of the implemented online self-learning platform to augment the application of finance concepts by non-business undergraduate students.