Technology Use in the First Intermediate Accounting Course:

Possibilities and ExperiencesCarla Carnaghan, University of LethbridgeCAAA Annual Conference 2016 St. John’s

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Overview

Technologies• Clickers• Accounting Simulation• Homework

Management Systems• Videos• Communication Tools

– Text/Chat– Meeting/video

Discussion Points• Why?• What?• Usage• Experiences• Things to Think

About

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Context: The Challenges of Intermediate Accounting

• Lots of material to cover in some way (even if students left to cover on their own)

• Often the first course in the major –students may still not have right work habits, feel overwhelmed

• Students have forgotten key ideas from Intro Financial – then stumble in Intermediate where there is little room for error

• Need to get students to practice 3

Clickers (Student Polling Systems)Why?• Check that students understand what you

are saying• Allow the students to determine their own

understanding• Allow students to benchmark themselves• Break up the class a bit• Prompt questions from students• Encourage students to keep up• Provides a little bit of practice

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Clickers (Student Response Systems)What?•Many choices- see if your institution has a standard

– Turning Point– iClicker– Socrative– TopHat

•Many now require no specialized hardware –students can use smartphones, tablets, laptops with wifi; instructor just needs computer and wifi•Currently using Reef Polling from iClicker – no special hardware needed 5

Typical Polling Screen (Reef Polling)

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Typical Polling Feedback Window (Reef Polling)

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Clickers (Student Response Systems)Usage•Usually ask 3-4 questions throughout a 75 minute class•Try for reasonable level of difficulty – ideally the majority get it right and some get it wrong•Can also have several questions on same topic back –to-back of increasing difficulty•Give students 2 points for each question – 1 for trying, 1 for getting answer right•Individual thought, then small group discussion if they wish•Make this worth 5% of course mark

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Reef Polling Assessment Report Summary

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Clickers (Student Response Systems)Experiences• Fairly Positive• A number of students really like being able to

check their understanding as they go– I found that useful too

• Some concerns about cost– Was $9.99 for 6 months, now $14.99, for

unlimited number of courses• A little bit of work to upload to LMS (Moodle)

– But should work better now – If manual, do a couple of times over term– Ask your LMS Admin about integration

• Expect modest effects on learning outcomes10

Things to Think About • Will your clicker software work with any

software/display (PP, Excel, Word, whiteboard)?• Response types• Need for specialized hardware (prefer not to

need this)• Integration with LMS (not required, but nice)?• Sources of questions (Can base on textbook)?• Free-riding problems• Question difficultyAbility of software to mark

responses– Better to have a few marks assigned to

responses, so marking needed11

Accounting Cycle SimulationWhy:

– To help students recollect what they learned in Intro Financial

– To help students practice something like a first co-op term financial statement preparation, with source documents

– To help students integrate knowledge across a wide array of accounting topics -see how things come together

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Accounting SimulationWhat:

– Lyryx (lyryx.com)• Provides an electronic accounting cycle

simulation based on intro financial course• Canadian

– Woodlawn Engineering (Wiley)• Simulation based on intermediate

accounting topics• Canadian

– Bluesky Publishing (U.S.) • Various Simulations

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Accounting SimulationUsage (Lyryx - “Case Study”)

• Assign at Start of Term• 11 Parts to Project, corresponding to

parts of accounting cycle• Students must get at least the

instructor threshold score on each part before being allowed to proceed to the next part (e.g., 90%)

• Worth 10% of course grade• Takes a strong student 10-12 hours, a

a weak student 50-60 hours 14

Accounting SimulationUsage (Continued)• Lyryx Provides an Instructor Solution• Algorithmic, so students get different

companies/numbers, but same transactions to record, such as recording sales of product or note receivable payment

• I provide students with a tips document and a video introduction on Youtube to help them get started

• Also provide an optional lab to come with questions, and office hours 15

Accounting Simulation – step 1: Journalizing transactions

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Accounting Simulation – sample source document

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Accounting SimulationExperiences•Have used this for about 7 years•Very helpful as a refresher•Can be very frustrating for weak students, esp. the first part which is long•Simulation is deliberately set up to make “brute force” tactics hard – entire part must be redone if threshold not met (though numbers stay the same)•Helps many students realize they did not know how to apply their knowledge

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Accounting SimulationExperiences•Tips document is important to help students avoid some situations where multiple answers could be correct, but only one is considered acceptable, and to deal with common problems•Some free-riding on this assignment – I follow up with exam questions to check understanding•Nearly all students end up with 90% or better; those who don’t complete also tend to fail the course 19

Accounting SimulationThings to Think About•Review simulation and solution carefully before using – does it do what you want?•Be prepared for some frustration

– Encourage students to come see you before they get really upset

– Weak students in particular will struggle

•Allow 4-6 weeks for students to work through simulation?

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Homework Management Systems• Why?• To encourage students to practice

problems• To provide immediate feedback• To reduce marking load on faculty

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Homework Management Systems• What• All major publishers seem to have these,

e.g. MyAccountingLab, Connect, WileyPlus

• Also independent sites like Lyryx provide support for some open source materials

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Homework Management SystemsUsage• Have problem sets for each Chapter• Worth a small amount of course grade

(4%)• Set up as three attempts per problem,

right/wrong indicators for first two attempts, full solution after due date

• Students can redo problem sets for no marks after due date

• Optional problem sets for additional practice also provided 23

Homework Management SystemsExperiences• ??? Really not sure• Many students get marks without actually

doing problems• Solution quality/implementation can be

questionable • Are these better than pen and paper

assignments?????• Are they better than nothing? (Probably)

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Accounting Videos (Screencasts)Why?• To give students a chance to view and

review approaches to complex problems• To allow time in classroom for flipped

approaches• Preferred by majority of students to

reading notes (survey results)

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Accounting VideosWhat• Many already on YouTube

– But often U.S. GAAP– Good source of ideas on how to present

videos• Create your own with tools like Camtasia and

iMovie, or Snagit for basic videos ($29.95)– If only using Powerpoint with voiceover,

Adobe Presenter is also a possibility ($10/month for express version)

– $99 for Camtasia for Mac, $237 for PC version with some add-ins for interactivity

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Accounting Videos – Camtasia Screen before recording

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Accounting Videos –Camtasia window while editing

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Accounting VideosUsage•Camtasia for Mac to make 7-15 minute screencasts to post on YouTube•Videos based on textbook problems or self-developed problems•Create a YouTube account (free) for posting•Camtasia will upload directly to Youtube•Videos set to “unlisted” on Youtube – can be viewed if you have link, but not otherwise•Put links in LMS, such as Moodle or Blackboard

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Accounting VideosUsage (Continued)•Set region to 720 HD in Camtasia•Have documents ready to be filmed•Keep cursor near where you might want to zoom in•Make use of some basic features in Camtasia – zoom in, annotations, cursor highlights, markers within video so YouTube makes table of contents•Not sure if a script needed…

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Accounting VideosExperiences•Keep videos short and simple – max 6-8 minutes

– This means some topics need to be split across multiple videos

– Simpler means you are more likely to redo as needed

– Experiment!!!•Try to set up documents so students can fill in then check their work

– Post documents as well 31

Accounting VideosExperiences•Basic example video at https://youtu.be/lEVs5KT-nYs•Have documents ready to be filmed•Keep cursor near where you might want to zoom in/add features•Make use of some basic features in Camtasia – zoom in, annotations, cursor highlights, markers within video so YouTube makes table of contents•Start simple and learn 32

Accounting VideosExperiences• Used Word and Excel as basis for

screencasts as well • Add some colour and annotations where

possible• Some great examples out there:

– Allan Mursau https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KB7YvOuYmfw

– Rutgers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQtPKPI2JrE

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Communication Tools (Chat and Video)Why?• Improve out-of-class communication• More efficient if students can see Q&A• Have virtual office hours

– Good for evening classes, working adults

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Communication ToolsWhat?•Text/Chat

– Ideally:• multiplatform – computer, tablet,

smartphone, Android and IOS• Notifications across platforms• Free

– If less picky can use chat features on LMS

•Meeting/Video– Share screens, VOIP, robust 35

Communication ToolsUsage (text/chat)• Hipchat

– Multiplatform, notifications across platforms

– Searchable– Multiple chat rooms

• Band– Multiplatform– Multiple rooms

• Both have their problems 36

Communication ToolsUsage (text/chat - continued)• Slack looks promising

– Easy to invite– Multiplatform– Can set up members to join rooms

automatically upon joining- Desktop notifications

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Communication Tools - Slack

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Communication ToolsUsage (video)• Webex• Skype• GoToMeeting; Adobe Connect• Adobe Connect• Have mostly used Webex

– Can use for groups up to 20– Not free– VOIP– Great screen sharing and annotation 39

Communication Tools - Webex

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Communication ToolsExperiences

– Not happy with Hipchat• Very hard to invite people successfully

– Will be trying Slack– Fairly happy with Webex

• Robust to variety of older computing systems

– Important given the variety of what students use!

• Good quality audio• Use a headset or earbuds with mic to

avoid echo problems 41

Further Reading• McVay, G. et al (2008) Good Practices in Accounting Education: Classroom

Configuration and Technological Tools for Enhancing the Learning Environment. Accounting Education

• Holtzblatt, M. et al (2011). Expanding Your Accounting Classroom with Digitial Video Technology. Journal of Accounting Education.

• Carnaghan, C. et al (2011) Using Student Response systems in the Accounting Classroom: Strengths, Strategies and Limitations. Journal of Accounting Education

• Smithrud, D. et al (2015). Pencil–Paper Learning Should Be Combined with Online Homework Software. Journal of Chemical Education.

• Kinza, M. et al (2014) Mixed-Methods Study of Online and Written Organic Chemistry Homework. Journal of Chemical Education.

• Woolley, D. (2015). Which Helps Accounting Students More: Traditional Homework, Online homework, or Clickers? Academy of Educational Leadership Journal.

• Hahn, W. et al (2013). Online Homework Managers and Intelligent Tutoring Systems: A Study of Their Impact on Student Learning in the Introductory Financial Accounting Classroom. Issues in Accounting Education.

• Sargent, C et al . (2011). Improving Retention for Principles of Accounting Students: Ultra-Short Online Tutorials for Motivating Effort and Improving Performance. Issues in Accounting Education.

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Thank You!

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