DEVELOPING HALAL FINANCIAL JOURNEY: AN EXPERIENTIAL BOARD GAME FOR ISLAMIC FINANCIAL PLANNING

Abstract

Islamic financial planning requires not only knowledge of financial principles, but also the ability to apply them in daily financial decision-making. This study aims to develop Halal Financial Journey, an experiential educational board game designed to support learning in Islamic financial planning through contextual decision-making and game-based learning. The study employed a Research and Development (R&D) approach using the ADDIE model, comprising analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. The analysis stage involved needs analysis and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) to identify participants’ financial learning needs and challenges. The prototype was subsequently reviewed by a board game design expert and an Islamic financial planning expert and revised before a limited trial. Evaluation involved a one-group pre-test–post-test design with 24 participants who completed both measurements, complemented by post-game user evaluation and qualitative feedback. The mean score on the understanding measure increased from 87.08 at pre-test to 93.75 at post-test. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test indicated a statistically significant within-participant difference (p = 0.012), with a standardized change of Cohen’s dz = 0.57. User evaluation showed positive perceptions of educational impact, engagement, and interaction, although game duration, learning complexity, and physical components require further refinement. The findings provide preliminary evidence of improvement in measured understanding following gameplay and suggest that the game’s educational value is reflected in decision-making, consequences, and reflection. Rather than establishing causal effectiveness, the study contributes a prototype for experiential Islamic financial planning and identifies priorities for subsequent refinement and controlled evaluation.