Money Skills FAQs

Money Skills program

What is the Money Skills program?
Money Skills is a unique five-lesson program that has been designed to teach critical, yet basic, financial skills that are aligned with the standards of Oklahoma’s Passport to Financial Literacy Act of 2007.

How do I sign up?
Currently students and educators interested in participating in the Money Skills program can register for the program here: http://www.weprosper.org/partners/money-skills.aspx

Who created the Money Skills program?
Money Skills is based on curriculum developed by Oklahoma CareerTech and will be complimented by iThryv Professor (ITP), a web based financial literacy teaching platform made possible by weProsper.

Who is it for?
7th grade and older.

Who is promoting it?
Money Skills will be promoted by The Oklahoman, and can be found in your daily delivered newspaper as a pull-out supplement beginning March 23rd, 2009. There will be 5 weekly installments, starting with introductory material and then followed each of the 4 subsequent weeks with a new lesson.

What is the Training Center?
After teachers sign up for Money Skills, they will receive a login to the Training Center: http://www.weprosper.org/support/training-center.aspx

Within the Training Center teachers will get all of the materials and online training they need to get up and running quickly with the Money Skills program.

Background on iThryv Professor

What is iThryv Professor?
iThryv Professor is a free online teaching tool designed to help students learn about financial literacy. It is brought to you by weProsper.

What is Financial Literacy?
Financial literacy is the ability to use knowledge and skills to manage financial resources effectively for a lifetime of financial well-being.

Who is iThryv Professor for?
Designed for youths aged 5-24, iThryv Professor also offers parents and educators the resources they need to teach young people important money-management skills. We encourage parents and guardians to use iThryv Professor with their children. Parents can create their own accounts, or help their kids create household savings goals and budgets. It’s a great tool for the whole family!

What is a widget?
A widget is a tool on our Web site that allows you to accomplish different things in iThryv Professor. For example, the My Earnings widget allows users to track the revenues and expenses of their business.

What is weProsper?
weProsper is an organization dedicated to improving the financial future of America by increasing financial literacy in younger generations. weProsper unites a community of people committed to helping our children become financially secure and independent. Learn more at www.weprosper.org.

How can I get more information?
If you would like to learn more about iThryv Professor or weProsper, please contact us at info@weprosper.org.

Getting Started with iThryv Professor

How do I log in to iThryv Professor?
Once you’ve gotten your login information via email, go to http://itp.ithryv.com and log in using the password that was sent to you.

How do I set up my class?
Open the “Group Set-Up” Widget and set up your “Group”:

1. Note: “Group” is another word for “class.”
2. Click the “New” button.
3. Select the “Schema,” “Grade,” “Theme,” “Level” and “Standards.”
4. Click the “Save” button in the lower right-hand corner.

How do I enter my students into my Group?

1. If you have a small class, you can manually enter your students into the Group Set-Up widget:
2. Enter First Name, Last Name, email, and gender.
3. If you don’t have your students’ email addresses, you can enter your email address. Don’t worry! We won’t send you an email for each time you enter your address!
4. Click the “Save” button to add the student to the group list.

If you have a class of typical size, open the Bulk Import widget and transfer your class list to iThryv Professor:

1. Make sure you have your class list in a file that is formatted as a .csv text file. You can create a .csv by using Excel. Here’s how you do it:
   1. Export your class data from your Student Information System into Excel. Format the class data to include the four fields shown below:
      
      

      First Name	Last Name	Email	Gender
      John	Doe	jdoe@sample.com	M
      Jane	Smith	teacher@teacher.com	F
      Carlos	Ruiz	teacher@teacher.com	M

   2. Make sure you have all of the fields filled out for each student: First Name, Last Name, email, and gender. Again, if you don’t know the student’s email address you can simply insert your own. Don’t worry! We won’t send you an email for each time you enter your address!
   3. Save the file as a .csv file. See screen below:
      
   4. After you’ve saved your .csv file, then go back into iThryv Professor.
   5. Click on “Choose File” and select your .csv file
   6. Click “Load File.” The names will appear in the list in the widget.
   7. Click “Save.”

How can I customize my desktop?
Click on the “Customize” tab at the top of the page and your options will appear below. Choose the “Theme Selector” widget. Click the “Apply Theme” button to change your desktop theme.

How do I give my students their username/password information?
Within the Group Setup or Bulk Import widget:

1. Print the screen where you’ve loaded the students.
2. The username and password are initially the same.
3. Students can change their password on the login page.
4. When appropriate as part of the Money Skills lessons, direct students to http://itp.ithryv.com to log in.
   

Using iThryv Professor with your Money Skills Lessons

How do I make sure my students can see the information they need to do the activities?
Log into iThryv Professor and click on the “Transaction & Lesson Generator” widget:

1. Select the Class/Group you’re assigning the transaction to.
2. Scroll down and find Money Skills: Lesson #1 – Spending and Saving.
3. Click “Assign.”
4. iThryv Professor is now ready for your students. The information they need will appear in their “Account Activity” widget when they log in.

Will I be teaching with just iThryv Professor or do I need other materials?
You will also need to use paper materials as your students will do paper-based activities in addition to doing activities in iThryv Professor. All of these materials are available in the Training Center: http://www.weprosper.org/support/training-center.aspx

Do students need any additional “tools” beyond iThryv Professor?
Yes. Students will need to do some basic calculations. They can of course do these calculations using pencil/paper, a calculator, or even Microsoft Excel.

What is the Account Summary widget?
When you open the “Account Summary” widget it shows you the “Account Activity.” The “Account Activity” lists all of a user’s transactions. It is similar to a checkbook register but more useful. It also provides users the chance to track their spending and categorize wants vs. needs.

What is the “My Earnings” widget?
The “My Earnings” widget is where users can enter the expenses and revenues associated with their business. The widget subtracts the expenses from the revenue to get income (earnings).

What is the “Students Using Money” widget?
The “Students Using Money” widget allows students to generate their own transactions. Once they create the transactions and press “Submit” the transaction appears in the “Account Activity” widget.

If I have a question about how a widget works, what do I do?
Help information is included in each widget. To access it, simply click on the “?” icon in the upper right-hand corner of the widget. This will make the Help text appear. When you’re done reading the Help text, click on the red “x” and you’ll be able to see the widget again.

Business Plan widget

What is the Business Plan widget?
This widget allows users to select a business plan that guides them in starting a new venture.

What is a business plan?
A business plan is a roadmap to help guide you through the steps of starting your own business. iThryv Professor’s business plans tell you how much it will cost to start and run your business, what supplies you’ll need, how to increase the number of customers you serve, how to connect your business to your community, and more.

How do I select which plan to choose?
The key to a successful business is hard work, so it’s important to choose something you are interested in. Before you select a plan from this list, you might ask yourself: What do I like to do? What skills do I have? How much time do I have to run a successful business?

How do I view a business plan?
Once you see a Business Plan that interests you, click on it. The selected plan appears in the Choose A Plan section seen above. A brief description of the plan appears to the right of the Choose a Plan box. If you want to learn more about this plan after reading that description you can click the “View Plan” button to open the business plan in a new window.

I’ve found a plan that I like. How do I add it to My Headquarters?
If you decide you want to start a business, click the “Select Plan” button to add your new business to the “My Earnings” and “My Headquarters” widgets.

Can I select more than one business plan?
Sure! It’s important to read through an entire business plan to determine if it is right for you and if you really want to start the business. If you read a plan and decide you might prefer to start a different business, just close the PDF and choose another one to view. You can download as many business plans as you like.

Can I create my own plan?
Of course! The best entrepreneurs come up with creative new business ideas all the time. We encourage you to use our business plans as a model to build one of your own. If you write a business plan you’d like to share with others, email it to us at info@weprosper.com. We always love hearing new ideas!

My Headquarters Widget

What is the My Headquarters widget?
The My Headquarters widget is where users get the resources to help promote their business. Users also have the chance to read suggestions from other users on how to start their business.

How do I add a business plan to My Headquarters?
To add a business plan to your headquarters you first have to select it in the Business Plans widget. Make sure you click the “Select Plan” button next to the icon for your desired business in the Choose a Plan box.

Where can I see the business plans I have selected?
If you have multiple businesses, you can look at them individually by selecting the business from the drop down list.

How do I access my marketing materials?
Under the My Marketing section, you will see links to flyers, business cards, and door hangers. When you click on any of those links, a list of possible templates will appear. For example, when you click on Flyers, one or more flyer templates will appear. Click on the flyer name to open the template and input your information to personalize your flyers.

How do I personalize the marketing templates?
When you click on a marketing template, a document will open on your desktop. You can enter your own information, such as your name and phone number, directly into this template before you print. Just click on the document where you want to add your information and start typing. Note: You will need Adobe Reader to view the plans. You can download the latest version at http://get.adobe.com/reader/.

Can I share one of my own ideas on iThryv Professor?
Please do! If you have a successful idea you want to share, enter your idea in the Post Idea text box and click the “Add” button.

Why hasn’t my idea been posted?
iThryv Professor reviews all of the ideas submitted to the site before they are posted. Due to the large number of ideas we receive, we are not able to post each one, however, we do our best to post as many of them as possible.

The My Earnings Widget

How can I view my different businesses?
If you have multiple businesses, you can look at them individually by selecting the business from the drop down list at the top of your window.

What is the difference between revenue and expenses?
Revenue is the money you earn. Your expenses are the things you have to pay for to run your business. For example, if you run an eBay business, you will need to spend money on supplies such as boxes, bubble wrap, tape, and postage. To calculate your profit, subtract your expenses from your revenue.

How do I enter my transactions?
To record a transaction, all you have to do is type in an amount under the “Revenue” or “Expenses” box and then push “Submit.” After you have pushed “Submit” your transaction will appear under the “Register” section. Under this section, you can categorize the transaction.

I entered my revenues and expenses a few days ago but I don’t see them anymore. Where did they go?
The My Earnings widget tracks transactions by the month. If you don’t see the amounts you entered earlier, check to see if they are recorded on the previous month.

Where can I see my profits?
It is easy to see how your business is doing in the graph. You can display Revenues, Expenses, or Total Profit by selecting the view in the drop down list.