Online Accounting Education versus In-Class Delivery: Does Course Level Matter?

2012 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clement C. Chen ◽  
Keith T. Jones ◽  
Keith A. Moreland

ABSTRACT: This study examines whether the effectiveness of online accounting education relative to traditional in-class delivery depends upon the level of the course. Students enrolled in principles and advanced cost/managerial and in advanced financial accounting courses were surveyed regarding their perceptions on several dimensions. The results suggest that the course level is important when assessing whether it is advisable to offer online accounting courses. In advanced courses, the outcomes examined were significantly more favorable for traditional classroom environments than for online, while the delivery mode was not important in principles courses when controlling for other variables. The results also provide further support for the notion that blended learning, i.e., offering a few on-campus class meetings for a predominately online course, may be desirable regardless of course level, but that course level is potentially important when deciding upon the mix of face-to-face versus online instruction. Data Availability: Available upon request.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate L. Morgan ◽  
Wei Chen

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss the changes made to course delivery, course materials and assessment approaches required in response to the COVID-19 pandemic which forced many changes to occur in a very short time. Design/methodology/approach It is a case study of the changes made to content, teaching methods and assessment in a postgraduate introductory financial accounting course of approximately 350 students across two terms. Findings The key findings are that the sudden change from face-to-face to online teaching to address government regulations, social distancing expectations and students’ needs required immediate changes to how content was delivered, how to interact with students (many of who were studying outside of Australia), and how to adapt to online assessments. Many of the innovations the authors describe will continue to be used in the course going forward both in face-to-face and online formats. That is, the need to change resulted in innovations that can be implemented in a post-pandemic environment. Originality/value The key value of this paper is to provide instructors with insights into the innovations the authors made to address the changed circumstances, which can be incorporated into other accounting courses in the future.


2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 68-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul M. Di Gangi ◽  
Samuel H. Goh ◽  
Carmen C. Lewis

Social media has become widely adopted in both society and business. However, the academy has been slow to leverage social media as a learning tool. The purpose of this study is twofold. First, this study explores student perceptions about the use of social media in face-to-face classroom environments. Second, this study examines how social media, as a learning tool, supports presentation skill development. Using a proprietary social media application, we conducted a sequential mixed method study using students enrolled in undergraduate introductory information systems courses that included a student presentation project. One hundred seventy-seven students responded to a survey based on a facilitator and inhibitor model of social media use and an open-ended questionnaire to understand how social media impacts presentation skill development. The implications of the results from this study are discussed along with directions for future research.


2000 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 583-603 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony H. Catanach ◽  
David B. Croll ◽  
Robert L. Grinaker

This paper describes a creative approach to the instruction of intermediate financial accounting that relies primarily on a business activity model (BAM). Initially funded by an Accounting Education Change Commission (AECC) grant, this curriculum revision is designed to (1) motivate students for their chosen profession, (2) promote their technical competency, and (3) develop in them an expanded set of educational objectives including critical-thinking, communication, and research skills. The BAM emphasizes financial disclosure and technical research as well as those topics commonly found in “traditional” intermediate accounting courses. Working in professional service teams, students mimic the accounting and financial-reporting processes found in the “real world” by conducting analytical reviews, soliciting information from clients, preparing adjusting and correcting entries, and drafting financial statements and notes for a fictitious client company.


Author(s):  
Maria Joseph Israel

<p class="BodyA">The idea of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) has attracted a lot of media attention in the last couple of years. MOOCs have been used mostly as stand-alone online courses without credits. However, some researchers, teachers, colleges, and universities have attempted to utilize MOOCs in blended format in traditional classroom settings. This paper reviews some recent experiments in the context of current trends in MOOCs by examining methodologies utilized in blended MOOCs in a face-to-face environment. This paper further discusses the preliminary findings related to its effectiveness of learning outcomes and its impact on students and instructors in blended MOOCs format. The review of blended MOOCs in classrooms assists to form the emerging consensus on integrating MOOCs in conventional classroom settings, while highlighting potential opportunities and challenges one might face when implementing MOOCs in similar or entirely different contexts.</p>


Author(s):  
Karen L. Milheim

This chapter addresses the complexities of building an effective learning environment in light of a diverse, multicultural student group. Existing research focuses on how to foster learning in traditional classroom environments, comprised of students from varied cultures and backgrounds. Yet, little is known about what strategies towards cultural inclusion are effective in an online learning environment. This chapter discusses the influence of cultural difference in online learning and provides ways courses can be more inclusive. This chapter is beneficial for instructors, course designers, and administrators who want to learn more about how to foster a culturally inclusive learning environment in online course settings.


Author(s):  
Abbie H. Brown ◽  
Tim Green

The authors report the results of a study that provides bases for comparison between the time necessary to participate in courses delivered asynchronously online and courses delivered in a traditional classroom setting. Weekly discussion threads from 21 sections of six courses offered as part of online, degree-granting, accredited, graduate programs were examined. The purpose of this research is to determine whether students are spending more or less time participating in an online course than in a traditional classroom. The discussion size (i.e., the number of words per discussion) was determined using the automatic word count function in MS Word. Once the word counts for each course section were determined, the average words per discussion were calculated. The authors used 180 words per minute to calculate the average reading time, based on the work of Ziefle (1998) and Carver (1985, 1990), in order to determine the average minutes per week a student spent reading the discussions. The study indicates that a typical, graduate-level, online, asynchronous discussion requires about one hour a week of reading time, and the time commitment for participatory activity is similar to that of traditional, face-to-face courses, given that it takes under two hours to compose initial messages and responses to the discussion prompt. Although these findings are informative, further research is recommended in the area of time spent on online course activities in terms of student hours earned to enable a direct focus on various student characteristics, such as English language competency and student level.


Author(s):  
Jennifer Schneider

This essay presents an argument in support of the broad adoption of a critical inquiry and anti-bullying discourse in online and face-to-face classroom spaces worldwide. The author argues in support of moving beyond simple discourse and awareness towards active, intentional, and reflective strategies that all individuals are capable of executing in and outside of the traditional classroom space. The essay explores the reasons underlying this need through a review of historical examples, longstanding challenges, and recent trends and experiences in online programs as well as traditional face-to-face classroom environments.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-40
Author(s):  
Nur Syafiqah Hussin ◽  
Naqiah Awang ◽  
Farah Husna Mohd Fatzel

Covid-19 is an unprecedented crisis that has affected almost all industry players including education. It has transformed our way of life and introduced a new normal to how things are done. As an effort to contain the outbreak of pandemic Covid-19, universities have shifted to online learning. In line with this, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) has decided to execute open and distance learning (ODL) for the current semester until 31 December 2020. ODL introduces a different learning environment as compared to the traditional classroom that requires students to be self-reliant in learning new things. Hence, the purpose of the study is to explore students’ experiences in the process of knowledge transfer through ODL specifically for accounting subjects. A questionnaire was distributed to students who were taking the subject of Introduction to Financial Accounting and Introduction to Cost Accounting in UiTM Pahang Kampus Raub and a total of 206 responses were received. The study found over half of the students enjoy learning through ODL but only one-third were looking forward to having ODL for the next semester. Poor internet connection is the main reason found in the study that makes ODL not preferred by the students. At the same time, few features were highlighted by the students about ODL such as the advantage of pre-recorded video to catch up the new material and flexibility for them to learn at their own pace.


Author(s):  
Leanri van Heerden

After the #FeesMustFall strikes that have been haunting South African universities since 2015, Instructional Designers felt pretty confident that they can drive their institutions through any dilemma. Along came the 2020 COVID-19 epidemic and they realised they have been playing in the kiddie pool all along. On 23 March 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a national lockdown level 5 to start on 26 March 2020 (Department of Health, 2020). Three days head start for a three-week lockdown (which was eventually extended till the time of writing) was a logistical nightmare for even the most technology driven universities. All staff were sent home with only enough time to grab their office plants and laptops and no idea how they were going to move forward. The issue with staff and students all working from home is that the lecturers working at the Central University of Technology (CUT), being primarily a face-to-face delivery university, was completely unprepared for moving their traditional and blended approaches to completely online. In their study, Mogeni, Ondigi and Mufo (2020) found that most of the investigated teachers were not empowered enough to deliver instruction fully online and either needed to be retrained, receive further specialised training or be trained completely from scratch. A lack of confidence in the delivery mode of instruction will cause even the most knowledgeable subject spcialist to fail in their task. At the CUT lecturers needed a way of quickly acquiring the necessary skills to deliver their content and assessments on the institution Learning Management System (LMS). The aim of this paper is to measure participant perspectives of an emergency intervention to facilitate the process of online delivery skills acquisition quickly and online. To ensure relevant results a systematic process of designing an intervention and recording participant perspectives is necessary. This extended abstract will take a look at the methods used to drive the paper, briefly discuss the results and findings, and lastly explore the implications and significance of the research for the use of higher education institutions for emergency LMS training. Keywords: LMS training; e-Learning; Online Instruction; Instructional Design


Author(s):  
Lisa Fitriani Rahman

Accounting education is taught in some private universities has impressed as stagnant knowledge, mechanical, and oriented material that causes a lot of students in general become saturated in the learning process. In Indonesia at several universities, almost all accounting courses little or no charge to enter the motivation, creativity, and mentality in the accounting curriculum-based motivation, creativity, and mentality can only he done well when formulated in a more complete firm of the curriculum. Therefore, this study examines the effect of motivation, creativity and mentality in accounting education to obtain empirical evidence. In this study using primary data obtained through questionnaires from a list of questions posed to accounting students in private universities in the city of Padang. The sample in this study was conducted with a purposive sampling technique where the sampling method was based on certain criteria, namely : involving student participants who majored in accounting class of 2010, 2011, and 2012 who had studied the sciences and overall accounting associated with accounting. Testing the hypothesis of this research is conducted with multiple regression analysis. The first hypothesis testing results found that motivation does not significantly influence accounting education in private universities Padang. The second hypothesis testing results found that creativity significantly influence accounting education in private universities Padang. The third hypothesis testing results found that significantly influence the mentality of accounting education in private universities Padang.


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