Dear Angie

Hello again from Dear Angie! Before addressing this month’s questions and some great suggestions, I’ll summarize the five education sessions from the 2004 CAAA Annual Conference. It was great to meet so many fine educators and to attend the amazing education sessions. I hope everyone will attend the next conference in Quebec City and experience the Education Committee’s work. There is something to interest everyone involved with accounting education.

The Conference

Session 1: Challenges in Education: Open Forum

David Drake chaired this well-attended forum. Many concerns were voiced about student commitment to coursework. Questions involved getting students to read before class, attend class, study for exams, and generally take everything seriously. Suggestions included:

Have chapter quizzes at the beginning of class
Increase class participation through discussion, with more focus on accounting as an information source for management decision making
Provide pre-printed notes and PowerPoint slides before class
Assign 3–4 problems each day, then draw to determine the one to be handed in (allowing each student 3 freebies or missed assignments)
Ensure students know the course objectives; set the bar high
Assign work to student groups, and then select one group to present the solution in class
To motivate improvement, give a bonus to student groups when midterm grades increase (e.g., if midterm grades improve 5% over the previous midterm, every group member gets a bonus)
If you give group grades, have the groups evaluate each other
Have the class generate a “charter of expectations” at the beginning of the course so that objectives are known
Use good discussion cases in class (The Centre of Accounting Ethics at Waterloo is an excellent source)

Session 2: Cultural Diversity: Panel Discussion

Linda Carson chaired this session with panelists Zhenyi Li (UBC), Judy Tsui (Hong Kong Polytechnic U), and Rosalie Tung (Simon Fraser). The panel discussed difficulties international students may encounter at a North American university and problems educators often have with international students. This was a very enlightening session!

I was surprised to learn why many Asian students don’t ask questions or participate actively in class. Many come from cultures where one listens to the instructor and does not question. Questioning can be considered a challenge to the instructor’s authority. Also, asking a question that the instructor can’t answer might cause the instructor to lose face. By knowing these facts, we can better understand why some students find it difficult to ask questions in class. You may be able to encourage greater participation by discussing these issues at the beginning of a course. You could explain to these students that you understand their concerns, and will do whatever you can to help them feel comfortable about asking question and participating actively.

I was also very interested to learn that one of the greatest compliments you can give an author in China is to quote their work verbatim. We should explain at the beginning of our courses that while we understand this, we require something different. Then teach students how to reference properly. You can have students take the work of others and summarize it in their own words, or compare the work of several authors, so that you as an instructor know they understand it.

Session 3: Decline of the Age of Pacioli — Impact of e-Business on Accounting and Accounting Education

Chaired by Robin Hemmingsen, this panel (J. Efrim Boritz (Waterloo), Alestair Nimmons (PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP), and Gerald Trites (St. Francis Xavier) discussed the development of XBRL (Extensible Business Reporting Language). While machines can “talk” to each other, few mechanisms now exist to control this interchange. XBRL helps make this control possible. Businesses are increasingly being asked to prepare XBRL documents for government agencies such as the tax department, and electronic health records will eventually use XBRL.

XBRL has important implications for all of us, and especially for auditors. It will become important to ensure that systems generating financial information are reliable and secure. For example, we need to be confident that nobody has tampered with posted information or otherwise compromised its integrity. We will need to develop GAAP and GAAS for guidance on all information disseminated and used for business decisions.

What does this mean to educators? It suggests that we should consider linking appropriate accounting courses to information systems courses, since the future accountant/ auditor will need a good understanding of data management.

Session 4: Accounting Education Innovation Award Winners

This session was chaired by Pascale Lapointe. Ian Feltmate and Ian Hutchinson (both from Acadia) presented a classroom exercise they developed. I will be asking the two Ians to summarize their exercise for a future Dear Angie column, as I couldn’t do it justice.

Session 5: Professional Judgment and Principles-Based Standards

Michael Gibbins (Alberta) chaired a discussion/debate that pitted Katherine Schipper (of FASB, but presenting her personal point-of-view) against Daniel B. Thornton (Queen’s). As Canadians, we often feel our standard setting process allows more room for judgment, versus a US process that appears more rule-based. The discussants were well equipped to debate this issue. If you teach accounting topics or theory courses, information from the session could help guide a debate on this topic in your own class. I am awaiting electronic copies of the slides used in this discussion. I will post these on the CAAA website when they arrive at www.caaa.ca/faculty_development/education/aids.html.

The Column

Dear Angie:
How can I get students to read the chapter before I lecture on it?
Listening at Laurier

Dear Listening at Laurier:
You’ll find some good ideas in Conference Session 1 summarized above. Barbara Trenholm from UNB also offers this excellent idea.

In our financial and managerial accounting classes, we have used a one-minute chapter question at the start of each class in which a new chapter begins. The purpose of this is to ensure that students read the chapter material before we lecture on it. The question is relatively easy, posed as a short answer, true/false, or multiple-choice question.

Students must record their answer within one minute. The question is worth only 1/2 to 1 mark. While this doesn’t seem like much initially in terms of grade vs. effort, students quickly find that these are the easiest marks they will earn. Also, the marks can ultimately influence the grade level (i.e., 10 chapters x 1 mark = 10 marks). A side benefit is that seeing this material every week helps us learn the students’ names faster and is a quick (albeit partial) monitor of attendance.

Next term we will be using the self-tests on WebCT instead of chapter questions. This will give students a more in-depth review of the chapter material before the chapter lecture.

Dear Angie:
How do I get students to do the assigned problems before coming to class?
Endlessly Trying in Edmonton

Dear Endlessly Trying in Edmonton:
We all seem to struggle over getting students to work! This suggestion comes from Elin Maher of UNB.

I have struggled for years about the best ways to reinforce difficult concepts. I would explain difficult material at length and give detailed examples, but even this was often not enough. I have now added one extra step. After I explain the concept and give an example, I get the students to work in groups on a problem. I then select a group to present their answer.

This group work makes a dramatic difference. It lets the students identify where difficulties lie. They “teach” each other and then they critique the group presenting their solution. The extra few minutes this takes is well worth it.

Thanks to the folks at the University of New Brunswick for this month’s suggestions. Remember, you all do great things in your classrooms and we all want to hear about it. I am on study leave this year, working on health research at the University of Ottawa medical campus, but my email address is unchanged. So please write to Angie (angela.downey@uleth.ca).

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