An investigation into the use of a blended model of learning

The weaknesses of ‗traditional‘ modes of instruction in accounting education have been widely discussed. Many contend that the traditional approach limits the ability to provide opportunities for students to raise their competency level and allow them to apply knowledge and skills in professional problem solving situations. However, the recent body of literature suggests that accounting educators are indeed actively experimenting with ‗non-traditional‘ and ‗innovative‘ instructional approaches, where some authors clearly favour one approach over another. But can one instructional approach alone meet the necessary conditions for different learning objectives? Taking into account the ever changing landscape of not only business environments, but also the higher education sector, the premise guiding the collaborators in this research is that it is perhaps counter productive to promote competing dichotomous views of ‗traditional‘ and ‗non-traditional‘ instructional approaches to accounting education, and that the notion of ‗blended learning‘ might provide a useful framework to enhance the learning and teaching of accounting. This paper reports on the first cycle of a longitudinal study, which explores the possibility of using blended learning in first year accounting at one campus of a large regional university. The critical elements of blended learning which emerged in the study are discussed and, consistent with the design-based research framework, the paper also identifies key design modifications for successive cycles of the research

How are Australian higher education institutions contributing to change through innovative teaching and learning in virtual worlds?

Over the past decade, teaching and learning in virtual worlds has been at the forefront of many higher education institutions around the world. The DEHub Virtual Worlds Working Group (VWWG) consisting of Australian and New Zealand higher education academics was formed in 2009. These educators are investigating the role that virtual worlds play in the future of education and actively changing the direction of their own teaching practice and curricula. 47 academics reporting on 28 Australian higher education institutions present an overview of how they have changed directions through the effective use of virtual worlds for diverse teaching and learning activities such as business scenarios and virtual excursions, role-play simulations, experimentation and language development. The case studies offer insights into the ways in which institutions are continuing to change directions in their teaching to meet changing demands for innovative teaching, learning and research in virtual worlds. This paper highlights the ways in which the authors are using virtual worlds to create opportunities for rich, immersive and authentic activities that would be difficult or not possible to achieve through more traditional approaches

Self-direction and lifelong learning in the information age: Can PLEs help?

This paper offers a perspective on what it means for individuals to learn in the information age and examines challenges concerning learner control and self-direction. Supporting learners and learning are also discussed and considers how the PLE (personal learning environment) idea, as a methodology, can deliver holistic support within and beyond institutional learning engagements

Self-direction and lifelong learning in the information age: Can PLEs help?

This paper offers a perspective on what it means for individuals to learn in the information age and examines challenges concerning learner control and self-direction. Supporting learners and learning are also discussed and considers how the PLE (personal learning environment) idea, as a methodology, can deliver holistic support within and beyond institutional learning engagements

The teleological reason why ICTs limit choice for university learners and learning

The application of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to support and enhance learning and teaching (e-learning) provides the potential to significantly increase the flexibility and choice for university learners and learning. The evidence, however, seems to indicate that these advantages are not evident in the majority of e-learning practice. This paper argues that the teleological design process which underpins almost all e-learning within higher education significantly limits the flexibility and choice ICTs can provide. The contribution of this paper is to illustrate how organisational implementation of e-learning has become imprisoned by a dominant and unquestioned epistemological foundation that is limiting understanding. It seeks to improve the understanding that informs e-learning implementation, in order to increase the level of flexibility and choice provided by the institutional implementation of e-learning for learners and learning

Cognitive apprenticeship in accounting education : preparing students for the profession

Sourced from a review of generally recognised problems in accounting education, the aim of the research discussed in this paper is to help ensure that students are well equipped to enter the profession. This research forms part of a curriculum renewal initiative within the business faculty of a multi-campus regional university, and involves the redesign of an undergraduate course in accounting. Guided by design-based research methods, the implementation of the redesigned course is documented, analysed and evaluated. Research findings suggest favourable results, as highlighted in the students' perceptions of their learning experience, and as evidenced in the significant improvements to students' academic performance. The experience reported in this paper may serve to advance understandings of learning innovation in accounting education, and promote the adoption of apprenticeship-style learning in the classroom

Formative and summative assessment and the notion of constructive alignment

This paper discusses the different perceptions of first year accounting students about their tutorial activities and their engagements in assessment. As the literature suggests, unless participation in learning activities forms part of graded assessment, it is often difficult to engage students in these activities. Using an action research model, this paper reports the study of first year accounting students' responses to action-oriented learning tasks in tutorials. The paper focuses on the importance of aligning curriculum objectives, learning and teaching activities and assessment, i.e. the notion of constructive alignment. However, as the research findings indicate, without support at institutional level, applying constructive alignment to facilitate quality student learning outcomes is a difficult task. Thus, the impacts of policy constraints on curriculum issues are also discussed, focusing on the limitations faced by tutors and their lack of involvement in curriculum development

Formative and summative assessment and the notion of constructive alignment

This paper discusses the different perceptions of first year accounting students about their tutorial activities and their engagements in assessment. As the literature suggests, unless participation in learning activities forms part of graded assessment, it is often difficult to engage students in these activities. Using an action research model, this paper reports the study of first year accounting students' responses to action-oriented learning tasks in tutorials. The paper focuses on the importance of aligning curriculum objectives, learning and teaching activities and assessment, i.e. the notion of constructive alignment. However, as the research findings indicate, without support at institutional level, applying constructive alignment to facilitate quality student learning outcomes is a difficult task. Thus, the impacts of policy constraints on curriculum issues are also discussed, focusing on the limitations faced by tutors and their lack of involvement in curriculum development

The tutorial as cognitive apprenticeship : developing discipline-based thinking

Tutorials are a pedagogical cornerstone of on-campus academic learning environments. They are frequently constructed as the complement to a lecture program, and remain a default feature of contemporary courses in higher education. Their purposes are many and varied, and it is beyond the scope of this chapter to present the kind of comprehensive survey that would be required to do justice to the many forms and structures that tutorials take in the contemporary academy. However, one feature that all tutorials have in common, regardless of their structure, is the opportunity they provide for students to interact closely with a disciplinary expert. While we recognise this is not their only purpose, it is this opportunity presented by tutorials that we want to focus upon in this chapter. This way of thinking about tutorials builds upon the argument made in Chapter 4, where the concept of curriculum alignment was presented as the means by which learning experiences and associated pedagogies could be organised to facilitate the development of complex disciplinary understandings. We see the tutorial as an important space within which complex disciplinary understandings can be made visible through careful learning design. To make clear how tutorials might operate to build complex disciplinary understandings, we explore the tutorial within a learning design framework called ‘cognitive apprenticeship’