Description
The purpose of this paper is to describe the process of renewal undertaken in a large
undergraduate financial reporting subject.
Accounting Research Journal
A team-teaching based approach to engage students
David Bond Robert Czernkowski Peter Wells
Article information:
To cite this document:
David Bond Robert Czernkowski Peter Wells, (2012),"A team-teaching based approach to engage
students", Accounting Research J ournal, Vol. 25 Iss 2 pp. 87 - 99
Permanent link to this document:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/10309611211287288
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Ilias G. Basioudis, Paul de Lange, Themin Suwardy, Paul Wells, (2012),"Accounting students' perceptions
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Iss 2 pp. 72-86http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/10309611211287279
Warren Maroun, Tasneem J oosub, (2012),"Rogue Trader : using a movie to teach a large auditing class",
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Beverley J ackling, Paul de Lange, J on Phillips, J ames Sewell, (2012),"Attitudes towards accounting:
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A team-teaching based approach
to engage students
David Bond, Robert Czernkowski and Peter Wells
Accounting Discipline Group, UTS Business School,
University of Technology, Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe the process of renewal undertaken in a large
undergraduate ?nancial reporting subject.
Design/methodology/approach – The approach taken in the subject is one in which student
engagement is critical. Selected quantitative and qualitative data from university course and student
feedback surveys were used to assess the effectiveness of the renewal process.
Findings – The renewal process led to increased student engagement, and in?uenced student
learning by demonstrating the relevance of ?nancial reporting regulation. Feedback was also positive
in relation to the level of resources, especially technological, provided in the subject.
Originality/value – Engaging with students is a critical task in any subject, but especially in a
technical accounting subject, as students may not necessarily see the value in the content. This article
reveals possibilities for academics to engage with their students and for their students to engage with
the subject material.
Keywords Australia, Universities, Undergraduates, Teaching methods, Accounting standards,
Team teaching, Re?ective, Engagement
Paper type Viewpoint
1. Introduction
We teach an intermediate undergraduate ?nancial reporting subject called Accounting
Standards & Regulation (ASR) in the UTS Business School. Over the past few years we
have been renewing the subject and have transformed it from a fairly comprehensive
technical subject to a comprehensive subject which engages students. Critically, we
have not substantially changed the underlying content. Engagement has been attained
not by breaking down the barrier between academic and student, but by making that
barrier more permeable. Information ?ows in both directions, in diverse ways and
more frequently than it has previously. This continual information ?ow, through
weekly wraps, screencasts and feedback sessions, inter alia, harnesses the technology
available to us, while making the use of technology transparent.
ASR has a number of strong contextual factors that make teaching it a challenge.
First, the subject has a large student cohort, ranging from 350 to 550 in any given
semester. Second, as is common in many Australian business schools, it has a high
proportion of international students, many of whom are from non-English speaking
backgrounds. Third, it is a technical ?nancial reporting subject, which not only requires
a reasonable level of quantitative skills, but also an ability to read, understand and apply
accounting regulation[1]. Together, these three factors de?ne the challenge and have
been central to many of the innovations and activities undertaken by the team in ASR
over recent years.
Our philosophy towards teaching and learning in ASR is multi-facetted.
Underpinning our teaching of ASR is student engagement, and the need to raise
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1030-9616.htm
Team-teaching
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Accounting Research Journal
Vol. 25 No. 2, 2012
pp. 87-99
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
1030-9616
DOI 10.1108/10309611211287288
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students desire to learn about ?nancial reporting. Achieving student engagement
necessarily involves making resources available to assist students in undertaking this
subject in a manner which best suits their learning style. It also requires a cohesive
academic team with diverse skills.
In the following section, we start by documenting the ?rst part of our philosophy,
namely building engagement. We then discuss the resources necessary to achieve
engagement. Finally we detail our ongoing evaluation of ASR, as well as how we
disseminate knowledge to our colleagues through scholarly activities. Whilst not
explicitly discussed as part of our teaching philosophy, our re?ective practice, whether
as individuals or as a team, underpins our ability to successfully operationalise our
philosophy within ASR.
We work closely together as a team on all facets of the subject. Our cohesion is
achieved through major meetings at key points in time (i.e. beginning and end of
semester), as well as informal meetings on a weekly, if not more regular, basis. We all
come to the subject with differing content expertise[2] and personal experience[3].
Collaboration allows us to draw on our collective wisdom to provide a positive and
engaging learning environment for our students. All approaches to teaching and
learning and resources used in this subject are the joint output of all our efforts.
2. Approaches to engage students
Engagement withstudents in ASRis especially important given the nature of the subject,
as well as the diverse makeup of the student cohort. As can be imagined, students are
sometimes a little less than enthusiastic at the prospect of studying a subject with the
words “standards” and “regulations” in the title[4]. We have worked hard to make a
subject which is about the rules relating to ?nancial reporting as interesting and relevant
to our students as possible. The ?rst aspect of our teaching philosophy is, thus, to make
the subject content appealing. The second aspect is that we work hard to make it known
to students that we are approachable, and that we do care about how they are going
with the subject.
While we have created and developed a number of resources to help students engage
with the content, which will be discussed in more detail in the following section, the
primary way in which we engage students at a content level is by drawing upon current
topical issues throughout our lectures that demonstrate real-world applications of
accounting theory. Our techniques include the use of videos, real world non-traditional
contexts to highlight accounting issues, as well as our “spotlight” series.
Videos
Where possible, we regularly include short videos within the weekly lecture. The aim
of these videos is twofold. First, we use these videos as it allows for a shift in tempo
during the lecture. This is important as our lectures are two hours long, and this is a
long time for students to concentrate (Bligh, 1998). Second, they provide additional real
world linkages to topic material. These videos range from excerpts of documentaries
on fraudulent accounting practices (e.g. Sunbeam overin?ating revenues in the late
1990s), to humorous clips demonstrating real accounting issues (e.g. The Daily Show’s
report on the Arizona State Government’s sale and leaseback arrangements). The
feedback from students is generally positive:
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Personally, I found various video clips and media types made your lectures more entertaining
and kept me focused and not get lost [. . .] (comment fromUTSStudent Feedback Survey [SFS]).
Non-traditional contexts
Often accounting ideas, and especially the regulation of accounting, can seemsomewhat
arcane to those not familiar with the material. To act as a bridge to the regulation we
often try to frame the idea in a real world context, whether by using the KFC Double
Down Burger to discuss revenue recognition[5], or the Mars Bars “1 in 6 free bars”
promotion to highlight the difference between a contingent liability and a provision[6].
For example, the key difference between a contingent liability and a provision is whether
the company has a present obligation to another party. By using this promotion,
students are able to explore whether Mars Inc has an obligation when a customer buys
a Mars Bars, and if so, how it would be measured (Figure 1).
“Spotlight” series
Acornerstone of our University’s learning approach is the concept of practice-orientated
education. Our aimwith the spotlight series is to package current accounting case-based
information in such a way to make it more accessible and understandable to students.
We did so by selecting key instances where companies, or in fact whole industries,
use creative accounting to achieve a favourable outcome for a vested interest, such as the
company “hitting” pro?t targets so that management earns their bonus. Our initial
example focuses on arguably the biggest corporate failure in history, that of Enron.
Presenting this information in an obviously different way (different slide background)
fromthe rest of the lecture slides led to an increased level of engagement by the students
with the material, as the following student feedback alludes to (Figure 2):
The spotlight segments makes the subject seem more practical and interesting.
I also enjoyed the spot lights included in the lectures to help show how the standards we were
learning were being applied in the real world.
We also supplement these strategies by trying to ensure the students feel they are able
to approach us. Underscoring approachability is important as, given the large numbers
of students in the subject, it is easy for students to feel lost in the crowd, especially
when they are struggling with the subject in some way. Additionally, given the diverse
range of backgrounds of our students, it is important for us to try to interact as much
as we can with the students so that we can tailor assistance and instruction to the
needs of individual students as much as possible.
A range of activities has been implemented over recent semesters to engender a
sense of engagement with us. These activities include an e-mail strategy which
includes both regular broadcast e-mails, as well as more targeted e-mails at speci?c,
critical points in time. In addition we provide substantial student support through
drop-in workshops and the discussion board on UTS’s blackboard system.
Weekly broadcast e-mail to all enrolled students
To increase the level of engagement of students with the subject, and to keep them
motivated during the week between classes, we began sending out a weekly wrap e-mail
(whichwas also placedinthe announcements sectionof blackboard). This e-mail generally
includes a debrief of important points fromthe previous class, administrative information,
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as well as anything topical from the week. The feedback from the students about these
e-mails has been quite positive; for example:
The wrap up emails/ announcements at the end of each week is helpful.
Although it may be a small thing, the emails being sent out were entertaining to read (as well
as giving us important information of course) which meant that we actually read it! It was
refreshing to read after the boring ones sent out by other subjects. Also it provided as a “wrap
up” of the week and highlighted anything that we should be aware of in the next few weeks.
E-mail “at-risk” students prior to the semester
Before each semester begins we identify those students who have failed the subject
at least twice previously. We then e-mail those students individually to suggest it may
be bene?cial for them to meet with one of us in the ?rst week of semester to map out
Figure 1.
Example of lecture slides
A B
C
Notes: These are three examples of lecture slides using non-accounting examples to allow
students to better understand potentially difficult accounting ideas; Slide A appears in
Lecture 2, and uses the KFC Double Down Burger as a way to discuss when a company
should realistically be allowed to recognise revenue; the circular flow diagram is from the
textbook; Slide B appears in Lecture 5, and continues the narrative of using the KFC Double
Down Burger; Slide C uses the Mars Bar promotion to get the students to explore the idea of
provisions versus contingent liabilities
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Figure 2.
“Spotlight” series
Notes: This is an example of the spotlight series from Week 1 Spring 2011;
the slides have been deliberately designed so that they are identifiably
different from the standard slides; this helps to alert students’ to the
importance of these cases; in addition, the material focuses on the key
elements, and not the technicalities of the case, allowing students to better
understand the relevance of the case to the subject
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a study plan. We average approximately one to two students that agree to meet out of
the approximately ten e-mails a semester we send.
E-mail “at-risk” students after the mid-semester exam
After the mid-semester we identify those students who achieve a mark of less than
33 percent and e-mail each of those students to suggest it may be bene?cial for them
to meet with one of us. These meetings serve a number of purposes. First, we make the
point that eventhoughtheydidnot performwell inthe examtheystill have arealistic chance
of passing the subject. We seek to manage their expectations in this way in order to address
the problem of students that perform very poorly in the mid-semester tending not to
complete subsequent assessment items[7]. The second purpose is to discuss the reasons for
their poor performance. Whilst for some students the poor outcome was due to a lack of time
on task, for others the problem may be that they are having trouble with a particular
aspect of the subject. These discussions provide us with an opportunity to encourage
the students and recommend how best to proceed with their study plans for the remainder
of the semester. It also provides us more in-depth and timely student feedback as to
potential areas where students more generally may be struggling. Spring 2011 was the ?rst
semester we adopted this strategy; of the 29 e-mails we sent out we received 13 replies, and
held discussions with eight students individually. Whilst the sample size is small, there is
some evidence that these meetings did help, with two of the eight students passing
(25 percent) as compared with three of the 21 (14 percent) who did not attend.
E-mail high-performing students after assessments and ?nal grades
These e-mails serve two functions. The ?rst is to provide the students with a sense of
external recognition from the University that high performance is valued. The second is
that these e-mails start to build relationships with high performing students and make
us more approachable, and may foster the idea of further research, or anacademic career.
We congratulate by e-mail those students who earn a mark greater than 90 percent
in the mid-semester exam, as well as those students who achieve a high distinction
in the subject overall. The students seem to appreciate the contact, with upwards of
80 percent of students replying to these e-mails. In addition, since the Spring 2011
mid-semester, two of these students have commenced work for the Accounting
Discipline Group (ADG) as research assistants.
Face-to-face student support through drop-in workshops
Through the various feedback channels (discussed in more detail under scholarly
approaches, below) used in ASR, we found a number of common concerns students had
with successfully completing this subject. These included the best way to read and
understand an accounting standard, and how to properly answer theory based
questions in an exam. Due to these concerns, in Spring 2010 we instituted weekly
drop-in workshops open to all students. For the theory question workshop, we get the
students to attempt a theory question in exam conditions, and then have them swap
papers with another student who then provides feedback on both content and style. We
then come together as a group to discuss the process. We have had good turn-out with
the workshops we have run, with on average 250 students attending the workshops
per semester. Relevant student feedback in the SFS includes:
Drop in classes were also very helpful and was a chance to ask the lecturer questions [. . .]
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Online student support through the blackboard discussion board
Whilst students have many avenues for face-to-face contact, not all students feel
comfortable in asking questions in person. In addition, students may have questions
about the material which cannot wait. We respond to all online questions in a timely
manner so to ensure a safe environment is created for students to work on problems in
their own time, as they know they can receive feedback quickly. Promptness is
consistent with our intention to create a ?exible and dynamic approach to teaching.
Focus group feedback noted that the “quick responses were appreciated!,” whilst
student SFS comments include:
In addition to this I noted that the response times to the discussion board were prompt and
polite (Unlike other subjects – this was refreshing).
Thank you very much for your quick responses to the Discussion Board questions.
3. Development of subject resources
In conjunction with the numerous activities undertaken in ASR (listed above), we have
also generated a substantial amount of innovative resources. The three key resources
we have developed are a suite of screencasts, lecture podcasts and a subject Delicious
site. In each case, the resource was developed with the student learning experience at
the forefront of our minds, and how it would assist them in ASR, considering both the
diversity in the student cohort and the dif?culty of the subject material.
Recording live lectures
We began recording lectures and making them available to students in 2007.
The reason we did this was to allow students to be able to listen to the lecture again as
part of the revision process if they happened to miss something during the lecture. The
lecture recording service is especially pertinent for ASR, as not only is the content of a
technical nature, but a large proportion of our students are from a non-English
speaking background and can sometimes ?nd it dif?cult to understand all the lecture
content[8].
In terms of impact, in the Autumn 2011 semester, there were over 16,000 downloads
of lectures and these were downloaded right across the duration of the semester.
In addition, it seems that students were using these recordings for revision, and not
substitution. Prior to deciding to make lecture recordings available online we were
concerned that there would be a decline in attendance because students would chose to
listen to the lectures at home rather than come to class. However, we have not noticed a
decline in attendance in our lectures, nor is substitution suggested by comments in
feedback where students seem to greatly appreciate the recordings being available:
Lecture recordings were uploaded consistently every week. The recordings help
tremendously especially in preparing for exams. I don’t know how hard it is to record the
lectures and upload them, but it’s surprising how few of the lecturers actually put in the effort
to do this. I guess a reason may be they believe students will not turn up if they provide
recordings however ASR had well ?lled lectures every week.
[. . .] Also, the fact that lectures are recorded and put online are also extremely helpful.
Students still show up to the lectures and it is often hard to ?nd a seat.
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Recording multi-media technical examples
ASR is a technical ?nancial reporting subject, and as such a substantial component of
the subject requires students to apply accounting regulation in a practical manner.
We created multi-media screencasts[9] on a range of topics to enable students to work
through the material at their own pace, and replay sections if required. A screencast is
essentially an animated PowerPoint with narration. The content of the screencasts was
chosen based on student and tutor feedback and staff discussions of areas of the
subject which seemed to be especially problematic for students. These content
decisions not only related to the topics chosen to create the screencasts, but also how
the instruction was structured within each screencast.
The development of the screencasts began with a pilot of two basic screencasts in
Autumn 2008 with two pilot screencasts. Due to the success of the pilot
(with over 99 percent of the 511 enrolled students downloading both), it was decided
to create a full suite of screencasts. In 2010, nine screencasts were created, with a further
four added in 2011.
In the Autumn 2011 semester, the 13 screencasts were downloaded 29,460 times by
535 students, making an average of 4.24 downloads per screencast per student.
To provide some sense of what this usage means in instructional time, the average
screencast is approximately 8 minutes long. Assuming each download was watched
only once, this would equate to approximately 4,000 hours of instruction. This amount
of usage is a very strong indication that providing such visual practical
demonstrations with voiceovers is appreciated by students and bene?ts them.
The following student SFS feedback also captures this:
The providing of screencasts – I have never had a subject in my 4 years at UTS that provides
screencasts. They are very useful for students. It shows the lecturers and subject coordinators
are using the technology available to them in order to give their students a more
comprehensive teaching.
The screen-casts were extremely useful and should de?nitely be adopted in other subjects!
When it came to revision, they helped explain the relevant practical questions and
demonstrations. I do not believe I would have been able to answer the practical questions in
the exam as well as I did, without the screen-casts!
In addition to the direct student bene?t, an indirect bene?t of these screencasts is
that students require less assistance from teaching staff for the lower order technical
issues which are covered in the screencasts. Moving technical material to screencasts
allows students to use face to face contact time more ef?ciently, and we are able to go
into more depth on the topic at hand. It also means that we are able to transfer some of
the time we previously spent on answering more routine questions to more targeted
assistance, such as meeting with “at-risk” students.
Provision of contemporary media articles
An important aspect to what we do within the subject is to link the academic with the
real world. In addition to including a variety of examples within the lecture, we also
provide additional links to relevant sources (including newspaper articles, company
reports, and accounting regulator media releases), with commentary on the bookmarking
web site Delicious (Figure 3)[10]. As Delicious is not controlled by the University,
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students access statistics are not available. However, feedback indicates students
were using it and bene?ting from it:
Delicious, that social networkingsite where anythingthat Dave’s readingor Rob’s readingtheycan
go [. . .] It posts this article to Dave’s Delicious page which he’s happily named ASRor Accounting
Standards Regulations Spring 2010. It’s got all recent examples of [accounting issues] – similar to
the spotlights. But that’s also what I use as examples inthe exam(Student comment, Focus Group).
4. Scholarly approach
Underpinning all the work described in the previous sections is a commitment to
continuous evaluation. We have committed to understanding not only who our students
are, but also how they engage with the subject, and how the actions we take affect the
learningprocess. The ?rst part of this sectiondescribes the wayinwhichwe continuously
evaluate the subject to help guide strategic decisions in ASR, whilst the second part
identi?es how relevant knowledge has been disseminated to a wider audience.
Continuous evaluation
We evaluate ASR continuously by obtaining information from a number of sources
including student feedback, student performance as well as feedback from colleagues.
Figure 3.
Delicious web site
C
A
B
D
Notes: This is a partial screenshot of the ASR Spring 2011 semester Delicious page; it easily
allows for the saving and viewing of web page links; by clicking on the link at A, a student
will be taken to the material; additional functionality of Delicious means that we can include
commentary on the article (explicating the link to ASR, posing questions), which can be seen
at B; we can also include meta-data by creating tags for the link; the individual tags for the
BHP article can be seen at C, whilst the aggregated tags can be seen at D; this allows students
to more easily find relevant articles
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The ?rst, and most obvious student feedback is the end of semester SFS. We augment
the information we receive from the SFS with any e-mail or blackboard feedback we
receive. We also commissioned a lecturer in the Marketing Discipline Group to conduct
a number of independent focus groups with students to gather deeper qualitative
information on their views of the subject (Figure 4)[11].
We also receive feedback from our tutors and the U
ass Leaders. These casual
academics and students are our eyes and ears on the ground. We keep in regular
contact with them throughout the semester, so that we are able to pick up on any
student issues which may be emerging. As our tutors are also our primary markers for
the subject, they also advise us on key issues with the assessment.
In addition to the numerous information sources listed above, we also use student
performance to help us identify those students who may be struggling with the subject,
as well as content areas which may be of concern. As discussed previously, we identify
“at-risk” students who are repeating the subject, as well students who have performed
poorly in the mid-semester exam. Both sets of students are offered meetings with us.
At the content area level, we input all assessment results into the subject ?le on
a disaggregated basis so that we are able to identify those questions which students
overall are having dif?culty with. Such dif?culty may be due to the question type
(i.e. practical versus theory) or question content (i.e. topic area).
Figure 4.
Excerpt from the Focus
Group Report
Notes: This is an excerpt from the Focus Group Report (Newman, 2011); the final
report was based on focus groups conducted between Spring 2009 and Spring 2010
inclusive; we also received interim reports shortly after each set of focus groups were
concluded so that we had information available for us to plan for the upcoming
semester; this particular section provides a general overview of the focus group
findings
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How we use this information is wholly dependent on what it relates to. Many of the
engagement strategies and resources developed have come about due to our ongoing
evaluation of the subject. For example, the theory question themed drop-in workshop
was set up due to feedback from students during exam consultations, as well as a
review of exam question performance.
Information dissemination
Where possible, we have looked to disseminate our experiences to our colleagues, both
within the ADG and faculty, through to the wider academic community in the
University and internationally. To that end we have written a number of scholarly
papers (Bond et al., 2008, 2009), along with other colleagues, which have been presented
at conferences both in Australia and internationally. We have also presented our
experiences with colleagues as part of the ADG Spring 2011 Research Seminar Series.
We have happily shared our practice on an informal level with colleagues within the
ADG. One of our screencasts has been adopted by the lecturer in charge of Financial
Statement Analysis; she is also in the process of arranging additional screencasts to be
developed for other Accounting subjects, based on the high level of usage and
favourable feedback we have received in ASR.
In terms of a more formal sharing of practice with the ADG, we presented our work
in ASR to our colleagues in a presentation entitled “Large class teaching: how to get
bang for your buck” in August 2011. An outcome of this has been the uptake by a
number of colleagues of some of the activities we have introduced in ASR, including
the use of targeted e-mails and Delicious. Feedback has been very positive:
[. . .] we do not generally seek out those who have done well. It has been lovely to receive such
positive feedback from those students who have worked hard and are generally used to being
ignored. One said to me that he had never been emailed by a co-ordinator of any subject in his
entire University education and that it should be done all the time (Lecturer, ADG).
As a group we have also written a number of scholarly papers based on our work in
ASR, which have been presented at conferences both national and international. David
and Peter (along with Dr Tony Holland of UTS) have presented papers around utilisation
of lecture podcasts (Bond et al., 2008) as well as the utilisation of online materials
more generally (Bond et al., 2009). Peter (with Dr Brian Farrell of UTS and Helen Farrell
of UNSW) published a paper in 2010 which documents the high level of English
pro?ciency required to read accounting standards. Last, David and Robert (along with
Professor Martin Bugeja of the ADG) have recently published a discipline paper based
on their understanding of changing Australian accounting standards (Bond et al., 2012).
5. Conclusion
We believe that we have successfully transformed ASR from a competent dry subject
into one that engages and motivates students. This transformation has been effected
by explicitly seeking feedback from students and by not being afraid to experiment
with innovative techniques for teaching and learning. As all three of us come from
similar backgrounds, albeit with different experiences, we are on “the same page”
insofar as practical and theoretical content are concerned.
Our range of experiences has enabled us to try new approaches, while our University
environment has allowed us to replace techniques which, on the evidence, do not work.
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This conjunction of experience and environment has enabled us to develop a portfolio
of effective learning tools. Taken together, this portfolio makes students feel engaged;
it encourages themto learn, and to viewus as partners in their learning. Taken separately,
these tools allowstudents to select learning strategies which suit their individual learning
strategies.
From our side, we make an effort to engage with students. Beyond the direct
learning tools we provide, our continual gathering of general feedback and evidence
allows us to monitor the performance of the student cohort; our monitoring of students
individually enable us to acknowledge success and give a helping hand to students
who appear at risk.
Since our renewal of this subject began a few years ago, we have worked hard, as a
team, to increase student engagement with the subject content, the accounting
profession and the University. ASR is now no longer a subject; it is an engaging
learning experience. The bene?ts of this process are quite clear: improved ef?ciency of
the teaching process and also, as a direct consequence, the making of teaching into a
much more enjoyable process.
Notes
1. As noted in Farrell et al. (2010), a substantial level of English is required
to successfully read and understand accounting regulation, such as the accounting
standard on leases.
2. The accounting standards are voluminous and are frequently revised and changed making
it a signi?cant task for any one person to have in-depth knowledge and expertise in all the
standards.
3. Our ages, family circumstances, and academic experience vary widely.
4. Examples of these preconceived notion of students can be found in the following SFS
quotes “I was prepared to hate this subject but now it’s one of my favourites,” “[. . .]
By looking at this aspect of accounting it helped make a potentially ‘dry’ subject very
interesting,” and “Despite the name it is an interesting subject.”
5. This example has proved a boon in recent semesters, as it has been used in another three
topics over the course of the semester, which allowed us to use it as a continuing narrative.
Students also seemed to appreciate the humour embedded in the example.
6. Examples of these can be found at:http://druh.com/ARJ_article/?gures.pdf
7. Historically 18.1 percent of students in ASR who receive a mark of less than 33 percent in the
mid-semester do not attend the ?nal exam. This compares to a non attendance rate in the
?nal of 4.3 percent for students who receive a mark of 33 percent or greater.
8. Whilst it is of more concern for non-English speaking background students, students from
all backgrounds can sometimes have dif?culty comprehending lecture material
the ?rst time they hear it, even though we make a conscious effort to take care with how
we speak in the lecture (i.e. speed, accent), as well as terminology used and structure of
explanations.
9. A screencast is essentially an animated PowerPoint with narration. An example of a live
screencast is at:http://druh.com/ARJ_screencasts/ASR_Autumn_2011_Construction_
Contracts_Screencast.pdf
10. The Spring 2011 site is located at: www.delicious.com/asrspring2011
11. Focus groups were conducted with students Spring 2009, Autumn 2010, and Spring 2010.
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References
Bligh, D. (1998), What’s the Use of Lectures?, 5th ed., Intellect Books, Exeter.
Bond, D., Bugeja, M. and Czernkowski, R. (2012), “Did Australian ?rms choose to switch to
reporting operating cash ?ows using the indirect method?”, Australian Accounting Review,
Vol. 22, pp. 18-24.
Bond, D., Holland, T. and Wells, P. (2008), “Podcasting and its relation with student performance”,
paper presented at International Conference on e-Learning, Cape Town, South Africa.
Bond, D., Holland, T. and Wells, P. (2009), “Student performance and its association with
utilisation of teaching material”, paper presented at European Conference on e-Learning,
Bari, Italy.
Farrell, B., Farrell, H. and Wells, P. (2010), “The rocket science: reading ?nancial accounting
standards”, The Irish Accounting Review, Vol. 17 No. 2, pp. 41-63.
About the authors
David Bond is a Lecturer in Accounting in the UTS Business School. David Bond is the
corresponding author and can be contacted at: [email protected]
Robert Czernkowski is a Senior Lecturer in Accounting in the UTS Business School.
Peter Wells is a Professor in Accounting in the UTS Business School.
To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: [email protected]
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This article has been cited by:
1. Muhammad Kashif, Attiq ur Rehman, Zaida Mustafa, Sara Basharat. 2014. Pakistani Higher Degree
students' Views of Feedback on Assessment: Qualitative study. The International Journal of Management
Education 12, 104-114. [CrossRef]
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doc_783316489.pdf
The purpose of this paper is to describe the process of renewal undertaken in a large
undergraduate financial reporting subject.
Accounting Research Journal
A team-teaching based approach to engage students
David Bond Robert Czernkowski Peter Wells
Article information:
To cite this document:
David Bond Robert Czernkowski Peter Wells, (2012),"A team-teaching based approach to engage
students", Accounting Research J ournal, Vol. 25 Iss 2 pp. 87 - 99
Permanent link to this document:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/10309611211287288
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Users who downloaded this article also downloaded:
Ilias G. Basioudis, Paul de Lange, Themin Suwardy, Paul Wells, (2012),"Accounting students' perceptions
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Iss 2 pp. 72-86http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/10309611211287279
Warren Maroun, Tasneem J oosub, (2012),"Rogue Trader : using a movie to teach a large auditing class",
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Beverley J ackling, Paul de Lange, J on Phillips, J ames Sewell, (2012),"Attitudes towards accounting:
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A team-teaching based approach
to engage students
David Bond, Robert Czernkowski and Peter Wells
Accounting Discipline Group, UTS Business School,
University of Technology, Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe the process of renewal undertaken in a large
undergraduate ?nancial reporting subject.
Design/methodology/approach – The approach taken in the subject is one in which student
engagement is critical. Selected quantitative and qualitative data from university course and student
feedback surveys were used to assess the effectiveness of the renewal process.
Findings – The renewal process led to increased student engagement, and in?uenced student
learning by demonstrating the relevance of ?nancial reporting regulation. Feedback was also positive
in relation to the level of resources, especially technological, provided in the subject.
Originality/value – Engaging with students is a critical task in any subject, but especially in a
technical accounting subject, as students may not necessarily see the value in the content. This article
reveals possibilities for academics to engage with their students and for their students to engage with
the subject material.
Keywords Australia, Universities, Undergraduates, Teaching methods, Accounting standards,
Team teaching, Re?ective, Engagement
Paper type Viewpoint
1. Introduction
We teach an intermediate undergraduate ?nancial reporting subject called Accounting
Standards & Regulation (ASR) in the UTS Business School. Over the past few years we
have been renewing the subject and have transformed it from a fairly comprehensive
technical subject to a comprehensive subject which engages students. Critically, we
have not substantially changed the underlying content. Engagement has been attained
not by breaking down the barrier between academic and student, but by making that
barrier more permeable. Information ?ows in both directions, in diverse ways and
more frequently than it has previously. This continual information ?ow, through
weekly wraps, screencasts and feedback sessions, inter alia, harnesses the technology
available to us, while making the use of technology transparent.
ASR has a number of strong contextual factors that make teaching it a challenge.
First, the subject has a large student cohort, ranging from 350 to 550 in any given
semester. Second, as is common in many Australian business schools, it has a high
proportion of international students, many of whom are from non-English speaking
backgrounds. Third, it is a technical ?nancial reporting subject, which not only requires
a reasonable level of quantitative skills, but also an ability to read, understand and apply
accounting regulation[1]. Together, these three factors de?ne the challenge and have
been central to many of the innovations and activities undertaken by the team in ASR
over recent years.
Our philosophy towards teaching and learning in ASR is multi-facetted.
Underpinning our teaching of ASR is student engagement, and the need to raise
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1030-9616.htm
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Accounting Research Journal
Vol. 25 No. 2, 2012
pp. 87-99
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
1030-9616
DOI 10.1108/10309611211287288
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students desire to learn about ?nancial reporting. Achieving student engagement
necessarily involves making resources available to assist students in undertaking this
subject in a manner which best suits their learning style. It also requires a cohesive
academic team with diverse skills.
In the following section, we start by documenting the ?rst part of our philosophy,
namely building engagement. We then discuss the resources necessary to achieve
engagement. Finally we detail our ongoing evaluation of ASR, as well as how we
disseminate knowledge to our colleagues through scholarly activities. Whilst not
explicitly discussed as part of our teaching philosophy, our re?ective practice, whether
as individuals or as a team, underpins our ability to successfully operationalise our
philosophy within ASR.
We work closely together as a team on all facets of the subject. Our cohesion is
achieved through major meetings at key points in time (i.e. beginning and end of
semester), as well as informal meetings on a weekly, if not more regular, basis. We all
come to the subject with differing content expertise[2] and personal experience[3].
Collaboration allows us to draw on our collective wisdom to provide a positive and
engaging learning environment for our students. All approaches to teaching and
learning and resources used in this subject are the joint output of all our efforts.
2. Approaches to engage students
Engagement withstudents in ASRis especially important given the nature of the subject,
as well as the diverse makeup of the student cohort. As can be imagined, students are
sometimes a little less than enthusiastic at the prospect of studying a subject with the
words “standards” and “regulations” in the title[4]. We have worked hard to make a
subject which is about the rules relating to ?nancial reporting as interesting and relevant
to our students as possible. The ?rst aspect of our teaching philosophy is, thus, to make
the subject content appealing. The second aspect is that we work hard to make it known
to students that we are approachable, and that we do care about how they are going
with the subject.
While we have created and developed a number of resources to help students engage
with the content, which will be discussed in more detail in the following section, the
primary way in which we engage students at a content level is by drawing upon current
topical issues throughout our lectures that demonstrate real-world applications of
accounting theory. Our techniques include the use of videos, real world non-traditional
contexts to highlight accounting issues, as well as our “spotlight” series.
Videos
Where possible, we regularly include short videos within the weekly lecture. The aim
of these videos is twofold. First, we use these videos as it allows for a shift in tempo
during the lecture. This is important as our lectures are two hours long, and this is a
long time for students to concentrate (Bligh, 1998). Second, they provide additional real
world linkages to topic material. These videos range from excerpts of documentaries
on fraudulent accounting practices (e.g. Sunbeam overin?ating revenues in the late
1990s), to humorous clips demonstrating real accounting issues (e.g. The Daily Show’s
report on the Arizona State Government’s sale and leaseback arrangements). The
feedback from students is generally positive:
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Personally, I found various video clips and media types made your lectures more entertaining
and kept me focused and not get lost [. . .] (comment fromUTSStudent Feedback Survey [SFS]).
Non-traditional contexts
Often accounting ideas, and especially the regulation of accounting, can seemsomewhat
arcane to those not familiar with the material. To act as a bridge to the regulation we
often try to frame the idea in a real world context, whether by using the KFC Double
Down Burger to discuss revenue recognition[5], or the Mars Bars “1 in 6 free bars”
promotion to highlight the difference between a contingent liability and a provision[6].
For example, the key difference between a contingent liability and a provision is whether
the company has a present obligation to another party. By using this promotion,
students are able to explore whether Mars Inc has an obligation when a customer buys
a Mars Bars, and if so, how it would be measured (Figure 1).
“Spotlight” series
Acornerstone of our University’s learning approach is the concept of practice-orientated
education. Our aimwith the spotlight series is to package current accounting case-based
information in such a way to make it more accessible and understandable to students.
We did so by selecting key instances where companies, or in fact whole industries,
use creative accounting to achieve a favourable outcome for a vested interest, such as the
company “hitting” pro?t targets so that management earns their bonus. Our initial
example focuses on arguably the biggest corporate failure in history, that of Enron.
Presenting this information in an obviously different way (different slide background)
fromthe rest of the lecture slides led to an increased level of engagement by the students
with the material, as the following student feedback alludes to (Figure 2):
The spotlight segments makes the subject seem more practical and interesting.
I also enjoyed the spot lights included in the lectures to help show how the standards we were
learning were being applied in the real world.
We also supplement these strategies by trying to ensure the students feel they are able
to approach us. Underscoring approachability is important as, given the large numbers
of students in the subject, it is easy for students to feel lost in the crowd, especially
when they are struggling with the subject in some way. Additionally, given the diverse
range of backgrounds of our students, it is important for us to try to interact as much
as we can with the students so that we can tailor assistance and instruction to the
needs of individual students as much as possible.
A range of activities has been implemented over recent semesters to engender a
sense of engagement with us. These activities include an e-mail strategy which
includes both regular broadcast e-mails, as well as more targeted e-mails at speci?c,
critical points in time. In addition we provide substantial student support through
drop-in workshops and the discussion board on UTS’s blackboard system.
Weekly broadcast e-mail to all enrolled students
To increase the level of engagement of students with the subject, and to keep them
motivated during the week between classes, we began sending out a weekly wrap e-mail
(whichwas also placedinthe announcements sectionof blackboard). This e-mail generally
includes a debrief of important points fromthe previous class, administrative information,
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as well as anything topical from the week. The feedback from the students about these
e-mails has been quite positive; for example:
The wrap up emails/ announcements at the end of each week is helpful.
Although it may be a small thing, the emails being sent out were entertaining to read (as well
as giving us important information of course) which meant that we actually read it! It was
refreshing to read after the boring ones sent out by other subjects. Also it provided as a “wrap
up” of the week and highlighted anything that we should be aware of in the next few weeks.
E-mail “at-risk” students prior to the semester
Before each semester begins we identify those students who have failed the subject
at least twice previously. We then e-mail those students individually to suggest it may
be bene?cial for them to meet with one of us in the ?rst week of semester to map out
Figure 1.
Example of lecture slides
A B
C
Notes: These are three examples of lecture slides using non-accounting examples to allow
students to better understand potentially difficult accounting ideas; Slide A appears in
Lecture 2, and uses the KFC Double Down Burger as a way to discuss when a company
should realistically be allowed to recognise revenue; the circular flow diagram is from the
textbook; Slide B appears in Lecture 5, and continues the narrative of using the KFC Double
Down Burger; Slide C uses the Mars Bar promotion to get the students to explore the idea of
provisions versus contingent liabilities
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Figure 2.
“Spotlight” series
Notes: This is an example of the spotlight series from Week 1 Spring 2011;
the slides have been deliberately designed so that they are identifiably
different from the standard slides; this helps to alert students’ to the
importance of these cases; in addition, the material focuses on the key
elements, and not the technicalities of the case, allowing students to better
understand the relevance of the case to the subject
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a study plan. We average approximately one to two students that agree to meet out of
the approximately ten e-mails a semester we send.
E-mail “at-risk” students after the mid-semester exam
After the mid-semester we identify those students who achieve a mark of less than
33 percent and e-mail each of those students to suggest it may be bene?cial for them
to meet with one of us. These meetings serve a number of purposes. First, we make the
point that eventhoughtheydidnot performwell inthe examtheystill have arealistic chance
of passing the subject. We seek to manage their expectations in this way in order to address
the problem of students that perform very poorly in the mid-semester tending not to
complete subsequent assessment items[7]. The second purpose is to discuss the reasons for
their poor performance. Whilst for some students the poor outcome was due to a lack of time
on task, for others the problem may be that they are having trouble with a particular
aspect of the subject. These discussions provide us with an opportunity to encourage
the students and recommend how best to proceed with their study plans for the remainder
of the semester. It also provides us more in-depth and timely student feedback as to
potential areas where students more generally may be struggling. Spring 2011 was the ?rst
semester we adopted this strategy; of the 29 e-mails we sent out we received 13 replies, and
held discussions with eight students individually. Whilst the sample size is small, there is
some evidence that these meetings did help, with two of the eight students passing
(25 percent) as compared with three of the 21 (14 percent) who did not attend.
E-mail high-performing students after assessments and ?nal grades
These e-mails serve two functions. The ?rst is to provide the students with a sense of
external recognition from the University that high performance is valued. The second is
that these e-mails start to build relationships with high performing students and make
us more approachable, and may foster the idea of further research, or anacademic career.
We congratulate by e-mail those students who earn a mark greater than 90 percent
in the mid-semester exam, as well as those students who achieve a high distinction
in the subject overall. The students seem to appreciate the contact, with upwards of
80 percent of students replying to these e-mails. In addition, since the Spring 2011
mid-semester, two of these students have commenced work for the Accounting
Discipline Group (ADG) as research assistants.
Face-to-face student support through drop-in workshops
Through the various feedback channels (discussed in more detail under scholarly
approaches, below) used in ASR, we found a number of common concerns students had
with successfully completing this subject. These included the best way to read and
understand an accounting standard, and how to properly answer theory based
questions in an exam. Due to these concerns, in Spring 2010 we instituted weekly
drop-in workshops open to all students. For the theory question workshop, we get the
students to attempt a theory question in exam conditions, and then have them swap
papers with another student who then provides feedback on both content and style. We
then come together as a group to discuss the process. We have had good turn-out with
the workshops we have run, with on average 250 students attending the workshops
per semester. Relevant student feedback in the SFS includes:
Drop in classes were also very helpful and was a chance to ask the lecturer questions [. . .]
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Online student support through the blackboard discussion board
Whilst students have many avenues for face-to-face contact, not all students feel
comfortable in asking questions in person. In addition, students may have questions
about the material which cannot wait. We respond to all online questions in a timely
manner so to ensure a safe environment is created for students to work on problems in
their own time, as they know they can receive feedback quickly. Promptness is
consistent with our intention to create a ?exible and dynamic approach to teaching.
Focus group feedback noted that the “quick responses were appreciated!,” whilst
student SFS comments include:
In addition to this I noted that the response times to the discussion board were prompt and
polite (Unlike other subjects – this was refreshing).
Thank you very much for your quick responses to the Discussion Board questions.
3. Development of subject resources
In conjunction with the numerous activities undertaken in ASR (listed above), we have
also generated a substantial amount of innovative resources. The three key resources
we have developed are a suite of screencasts, lecture podcasts and a subject Delicious
site. In each case, the resource was developed with the student learning experience at
the forefront of our minds, and how it would assist them in ASR, considering both the
diversity in the student cohort and the dif?culty of the subject material.
Recording live lectures
We began recording lectures and making them available to students in 2007.
The reason we did this was to allow students to be able to listen to the lecture again as
part of the revision process if they happened to miss something during the lecture. The
lecture recording service is especially pertinent for ASR, as not only is the content of a
technical nature, but a large proportion of our students are from a non-English
speaking background and can sometimes ?nd it dif?cult to understand all the lecture
content[8].
In terms of impact, in the Autumn 2011 semester, there were over 16,000 downloads
of lectures and these were downloaded right across the duration of the semester.
In addition, it seems that students were using these recordings for revision, and not
substitution. Prior to deciding to make lecture recordings available online we were
concerned that there would be a decline in attendance because students would chose to
listen to the lectures at home rather than come to class. However, we have not noticed a
decline in attendance in our lectures, nor is substitution suggested by comments in
feedback where students seem to greatly appreciate the recordings being available:
Lecture recordings were uploaded consistently every week. The recordings help
tremendously especially in preparing for exams. I don’t know how hard it is to record the
lectures and upload them, but it’s surprising how few of the lecturers actually put in the effort
to do this. I guess a reason may be they believe students will not turn up if they provide
recordings however ASR had well ?lled lectures every week.
[. . .] Also, the fact that lectures are recorded and put online are also extremely helpful.
Students still show up to the lectures and it is often hard to ?nd a seat.
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Recording multi-media technical examples
ASR is a technical ?nancial reporting subject, and as such a substantial component of
the subject requires students to apply accounting regulation in a practical manner.
We created multi-media screencasts[9] on a range of topics to enable students to work
through the material at their own pace, and replay sections if required. A screencast is
essentially an animated PowerPoint with narration. The content of the screencasts was
chosen based on student and tutor feedback and staff discussions of areas of the
subject which seemed to be especially problematic for students. These content
decisions not only related to the topics chosen to create the screencasts, but also how
the instruction was structured within each screencast.
The development of the screencasts began with a pilot of two basic screencasts in
Autumn 2008 with two pilot screencasts. Due to the success of the pilot
(with over 99 percent of the 511 enrolled students downloading both), it was decided
to create a full suite of screencasts. In 2010, nine screencasts were created, with a further
four added in 2011.
In the Autumn 2011 semester, the 13 screencasts were downloaded 29,460 times by
535 students, making an average of 4.24 downloads per screencast per student.
To provide some sense of what this usage means in instructional time, the average
screencast is approximately 8 minutes long. Assuming each download was watched
only once, this would equate to approximately 4,000 hours of instruction. This amount
of usage is a very strong indication that providing such visual practical
demonstrations with voiceovers is appreciated by students and bene?ts them.
The following student SFS feedback also captures this:
The providing of screencasts – I have never had a subject in my 4 years at UTS that provides
screencasts. They are very useful for students. It shows the lecturers and subject coordinators
are using the technology available to them in order to give their students a more
comprehensive teaching.
The screen-casts were extremely useful and should de?nitely be adopted in other subjects!
When it came to revision, they helped explain the relevant practical questions and
demonstrations. I do not believe I would have been able to answer the practical questions in
the exam as well as I did, without the screen-casts!
In addition to the direct student bene?t, an indirect bene?t of these screencasts is
that students require less assistance from teaching staff for the lower order technical
issues which are covered in the screencasts. Moving technical material to screencasts
allows students to use face to face contact time more ef?ciently, and we are able to go
into more depth on the topic at hand. It also means that we are able to transfer some of
the time we previously spent on answering more routine questions to more targeted
assistance, such as meeting with “at-risk” students.
Provision of contemporary media articles
An important aspect to what we do within the subject is to link the academic with the
real world. In addition to including a variety of examples within the lecture, we also
provide additional links to relevant sources (including newspaper articles, company
reports, and accounting regulator media releases), with commentary on the bookmarking
web site Delicious (Figure 3)[10]. As Delicious is not controlled by the University,
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students access statistics are not available. However, feedback indicates students
were using it and bene?ting from it:
Delicious, that social networkingsite where anythingthat Dave’s readingor Rob’s readingtheycan
go [. . .] It posts this article to Dave’s Delicious page which he’s happily named ASRor Accounting
Standards Regulations Spring 2010. It’s got all recent examples of [accounting issues] – similar to
the spotlights. But that’s also what I use as examples inthe exam(Student comment, Focus Group).
4. Scholarly approach
Underpinning all the work described in the previous sections is a commitment to
continuous evaluation. We have committed to understanding not only who our students
are, but also how they engage with the subject, and how the actions we take affect the
learningprocess. The ?rst part of this sectiondescribes the wayinwhichwe continuously
evaluate the subject to help guide strategic decisions in ASR, whilst the second part
identi?es how relevant knowledge has been disseminated to a wider audience.
Continuous evaluation
We evaluate ASR continuously by obtaining information from a number of sources
including student feedback, student performance as well as feedback from colleagues.
Figure 3.
Delicious web site
C
A
B
D
Notes: This is a partial screenshot of the ASR Spring 2011 semester Delicious page; it easily
allows for the saving and viewing of web page links; by clicking on the link at A, a student
will be taken to the material; additional functionality of Delicious means that we can include
commentary on the article (explicating the link to ASR, posing questions), which can be seen
at B; we can also include meta-data by creating tags for the link; the individual tags for the
BHP article can be seen at C, whilst the aggregated tags can be seen at D; this allows students
to more easily find relevant articles
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The ?rst, and most obvious student feedback is the end of semester SFS. We augment
the information we receive from the SFS with any e-mail or blackboard feedback we
receive. We also commissioned a lecturer in the Marketing Discipline Group to conduct
a number of independent focus groups with students to gather deeper qualitative
information on their views of the subject (Figure 4)[11].
We also receive feedback from our tutors and the U
ass Leaders. These casualacademics and students are our eyes and ears on the ground. We keep in regular
contact with them throughout the semester, so that we are able to pick up on any
student issues which may be emerging. As our tutors are also our primary markers for
the subject, they also advise us on key issues with the assessment.
In addition to the numerous information sources listed above, we also use student
performance to help us identify those students who may be struggling with the subject,
as well as content areas which may be of concern. As discussed previously, we identify
“at-risk” students who are repeating the subject, as well students who have performed
poorly in the mid-semester exam. Both sets of students are offered meetings with us.
At the content area level, we input all assessment results into the subject ?le on
a disaggregated basis so that we are able to identify those questions which students
overall are having dif?culty with. Such dif?culty may be due to the question type
(i.e. practical versus theory) or question content (i.e. topic area).
Figure 4.
Excerpt from the Focus
Group Report
Notes: This is an excerpt from the Focus Group Report (Newman, 2011); the final
report was based on focus groups conducted between Spring 2009 and Spring 2010
inclusive; we also received interim reports shortly after each set of focus groups were
concluded so that we had information available for us to plan for the upcoming
semester; this particular section provides a general overview of the focus group
findings
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How we use this information is wholly dependent on what it relates to. Many of the
engagement strategies and resources developed have come about due to our ongoing
evaluation of the subject. For example, the theory question themed drop-in workshop
was set up due to feedback from students during exam consultations, as well as a
review of exam question performance.
Information dissemination
Where possible, we have looked to disseminate our experiences to our colleagues, both
within the ADG and faculty, through to the wider academic community in the
University and internationally. To that end we have written a number of scholarly
papers (Bond et al., 2008, 2009), along with other colleagues, which have been presented
at conferences both in Australia and internationally. We have also presented our
experiences with colleagues as part of the ADG Spring 2011 Research Seminar Series.
We have happily shared our practice on an informal level with colleagues within the
ADG. One of our screencasts has been adopted by the lecturer in charge of Financial
Statement Analysis; she is also in the process of arranging additional screencasts to be
developed for other Accounting subjects, based on the high level of usage and
favourable feedback we have received in ASR.
In terms of a more formal sharing of practice with the ADG, we presented our work
in ASR to our colleagues in a presentation entitled “Large class teaching: how to get
bang for your buck” in August 2011. An outcome of this has been the uptake by a
number of colleagues of some of the activities we have introduced in ASR, including
the use of targeted e-mails and Delicious. Feedback has been very positive:
[. . .] we do not generally seek out those who have done well. It has been lovely to receive such
positive feedback from those students who have worked hard and are generally used to being
ignored. One said to me that he had never been emailed by a co-ordinator of any subject in his
entire University education and that it should be done all the time (Lecturer, ADG).
As a group we have also written a number of scholarly papers based on our work in
ASR, which have been presented at conferences both national and international. David
and Peter (along with Dr Tony Holland of UTS) have presented papers around utilisation
of lecture podcasts (Bond et al., 2008) as well as the utilisation of online materials
more generally (Bond et al., 2009). Peter (with Dr Brian Farrell of UTS and Helen Farrell
of UNSW) published a paper in 2010 which documents the high level of English
pro?ciency required to read accounting standards. Last, David and Robert (along with
Professor Martin Bugeja of the ADG) have recently published a discipline paper based
on their understanding of changing Australian accounting standards (Bond et al., 2012).
5. Conclusion
We believe that we have successfully transformed ASR from a competent dry subject
into one that engages and motivates students. This transformation has been effected
by explicitly seeking feedback from students and by not being afraid to experiment
with innovative techniques for teaching and learning. As all three of us come from
similar backgrounds, albeit with different experiences, we are on “the same page”
insofar as practical and theoretical content are concerned.
Our range of experiences has enabled us to try new approaches, while our University
environment has allowed us to replace techniques which, on the evidence, do not work.
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This conjunction of experience and environment has enabled us to develop a portfolio
of effective learning tools. Taken together, this portfolio makes students feel engaged;
it encourages themto learn, and to viewus as partners in their learning. Taken separately,
these tools allowstudents to select learning strategies which suit their individual learning
strategies.
From our side, we make an effort to engage with students. Beyond the direct
learning tools we provide, our continual gathering of general feedback and evidence
allows us to monitor the performance of the student cohort; our monitoring of students
individually enable us to acknowledge success and give a helping hand to students
who appear at risk.
Since our renewal of this subject began a few years ago, we have worked hard, as a
team, to increase student engagement with the subject content, the accounting
profession and the University. ASR is now no longer a subject; it is an engaging
learning experience. The bene?ts of this process are quite clear: improved ef?ciency of
the teaching process and also, as a direct consequence, the making of teaching into a
much more enjoyable process.
Notes
1. As noted in Farrell et al. (2010), a substantial level of English is required
to successfully read and understand accounting regulation, such as the accounting
standard on leases.
2. The accounting standards are voluminous and are frequently revised and changed making
it a signi?cant task for any one person to have in-depth knowledge and expertise in all the
standards.
3. Our ages, family circumstances, and academic experience vary widely.
4. Examples of these preconceived notion of students can be found in the following SFS
quotes “I was prepared to hate this subject but now it’s one of my favourites,” “[. . .]
By looking at this aspect of accounting it helped make a potentially ‘dry’ subject very
interesting,” and “Despite the name it is an interesting subject.”
5. This example has proved a boon in recent semesters, as it has been used in another three
topics over the course of the semester, which allowed us to use it as a continuing narrative.
Students also seemed to appreciate the humour embedded in the example.
6. Examples of these can be found at:http://druh.com/ARJ_article/?gures.pdf
7. Historically 18.1 percent of students in ASR who receive a mark of less than 33 percent in the
mid-semester do not attend the ?nal exam. This compares to a non attendance rate in the
?nal of 4.3 percent for students who receive a mark of 33 percent or greater.
8. Whilst it is of more concern for non-English speaking background students, students from
all backgrounds can sometimes have dif?culty comprehending lecture material
the ?rst time they hear it, even though we make a conscious effort to take care with how
we speak in the lecture (i.e. speed, accent), as well as terminology used and structure of
explanations.
9. A screencast is essentially an animated PowerPoint with narration. An example of a live
screencast is at:http://druh.com/ARJ_screencasts/ASR_Autumn_2011_Construction_
Contracts_Screencast.pdf
10. The Spring 2011 site is located at: www.delicious.com/asrspring2011
11. Focus groups were conducted with students Spring 2009, Autumn 2010, and Spring 2010.
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References
Bligh, D. (1998), What’s the Use of Lectures?, 5th ed., Intellect Books, Exeter.
Bond, D., Bugeja, M. and Czernkowski, R. (2012), “Did Australian ?rms choose to switch to
reporting operating cash ?ows using the indirect method?”, Australian Accounting Review,
Vol. 22, pp. 18-24.
Bond, D., Holland, T. and Wells, P. (2008), “Podcasting and its relation with student performance”,
paper presented at International Conference on e-Learning, Cape Town, South Africa.
Bond, D., Holland, T. and Wells, P. (2009), “Student performance and its association with
utilisation of teaching material”, paper presented at European Conference on e-Learning,
Bari, Italy.
Farrell, B., Farrell, H. and Wells, P. (2010), “The rocket science: reading ?nancial accounting
standards”, The Irish Accounting Review, Vol. 17 No. 2, pp. 41-63.
About the authors
David Bond is a Lecturer in Accounting in the UTS Business School. David Bond is the
corresponding author and can be contacted at: [email protected]
Robert Czernkowski is a Senior Lecturer in Accounting in the UTS Business School.
Peter Wells is a Professor in Accounting in the UTS Business School.
To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: [email protected]
Or visit our web site for further details: www.emeraldinsight.com/reprints
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This article has been cited by:
1. Muhammad Kashif, Attiq ur Rehman, Zaida Mustafa, Sara Basharat. 2014. Pakistani Higher Degree
students' Views of Feedback on Assessment: Qualitative study. The International Journal of Management
Education 12, 104-114. [CrossRef]
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