Description
Accounting ®rms are intensifying their reliance on experiential learning, and experience increasingly involves the use
of computerized decision aids [Messier, W. (1995) Research in and development of audit decision aids. In R. H. Ashton
& A. H. Ashton, Judgment and decision making in accounting and auditing (pp. 207±230). New York: Cambridge
University Press]. Accountants are expected to learn from automated decision aid use, because the aids are not always
available when dealing with the aid's topical matter, and the knowledge inherent in the aid is needed for competency on
broader issues. To facilitate knowledge acquisition and explain the logic of the underlying processes, computerized
decision aids provide the rationale for their calculations in the form of online explanations. We study how the location
of explanations in a computerized decision aid aects learning from its use. Speci®cally, this research extends the
existing literature by using a framework for the study of learning from decision aid use and by using cognitive load
theory to explain the failure of certain decision aid design alternatives to promote learning.
doc_658711393.pdf
Accounting ®rms are intensifying their reliance on experiential learning, and experience increasingly involves the use
of computerized decision aids [Messier, W. (1995) Research in and development of audit decision aids. In R. H. Ashton
& A. H. Ashton, Judgment and decision making in accounting and auditing (pp. 207±230). New York: Cambridge
University Press]. Accountants are expected to learn from automated decision aid use, because the aids are not always
available when dealing with the aid's topical matter, and the knowledge inherent in the aid is needed for competency on
broader issues. To facilitate knowledge acquisition and explain the logic of the underlying processes, computerized
decision aids provide the rationale for their calculations in the form of online explanations. We study how the location
of explanations in a computerized decision aid aects learning from its use. Speci®cally, this research extends the
existing literature by using a framework for the study of learning from decision aid use and by using cognitive load
theory to explain the failure of certain decision aid design alternatives to promote learning.
doc_658711393.pdf