Accounting Education and Reform : A Focus on Pedagogical Intervention and Its Long-Term Effects

The purpose of this study is to assess the extent technology based pedagogy (TBP) contributes to student performance and how information obtained about this linkage can be employed to guide accounting education reform. To do so, we measure the predictive ability of TBP on performance in the first Financial Accounting course (Financial I) over time. We then compare the performance of students exposed to TBP to those who have not. A key component of our investigation controls for demographic variables. Our results offer evidence TBP positively affects performance over the long term and that this effect is not diminished by the presence of demographic variables. Introduction The purpose of this study is to assess the extent technology based pedagogy (TBP) contributes to student performance and how information obtained about this linkage can be employed to guide accounting education reform. This inquiry is important for four reasons. First, evidence suggests accounting education reform has attracted a high level of interest across communities (Albrecht and Sack 2000; Catanach et al. 2000; Donelan and Reed 1992; Russell et al. 2000; and Barsky et al. 2001). In these communities, several approaches have arisen to deal with reform, but critics describe these efforts as fragmented or non-comprehensive (Frederickson and Pratt 1995; Barefield 1991; Barsky et al. 2003; and Dosch et al. 2006). Moreover, Siegal et al. (2010) indicate significant gaps exist between what accounting educators teach and what practicing accountants do. Second, a very real issue facing reform is that it is multi-faceted in that one has to consider the varied inputs (i.e., student, pedagogy and environment) of the education production function to make reform value-adding (Frederickson and Pratt 1995). As such, suggested approaches include creating a foundation to address reform efforts across time, pedagogy, and learning and teaching environments (Gow et al. 1994; English et al. 2004). 68 Morris, Burnett, Skousen and Akaaboune The Accounting Educators’ Journal, 2015 Reforms should also highlight how and why improved learning occurs when students process and re-process information they previously gained to inform future learning. Finally, efforts to support reforms adopted should focus on indicating results can sustain over time, especially in relation to how learning reacts to pedagogical choices made by an instructor as learning contexts change (Jackling 2005a and 2005b). Third, current research indicates that active engagement promotes learning whereby students are stimulated to participate in creating their own learning agendas (Hand et al. 1996). Evidence also suggests employing active learning to promote students to “learn to learn” and gaining insight about how students learn in varied contexts are equally important (Jackling 2005a; Adler and Milne 1997b). Indeed, it may be that learning environments, and the pedagogy adopted to accompany them, promote individualized thinking and thus, improve academic outcomes (Entwistle 1991). Moreover, given the aim of education is to promote conceptual learning, identifying educational climates that facilitate motivated and focused learning is of central importance (Benware and Deci 1984). Finally, reform should facilitate current and future general, academic, and professional knowledge (AECC 1990). One area many suggest needs more attention is how technology can shape learning and the acquisition and use of knowledge (McDowall and Jacking 2006; Ahadiat 2008; Bryant and Hunton 2000; Peng 2009; Al-Khadash and AlBeshtawi 2009; Togo and McNamee 1995). In particular, there are specific concerns accounting education is not doing enough to include the use of technology in its curriculum (Albrecht and Sack 2000). This is important because the use and application of technology in the profession is growing. For instance, the extent to which technology based innovations are changing the focus of professional accounting has removed traditional communication borders and redefined working relationships (Drew 2012; Tysiac 2012). In addition, the extent to which the presence of technology awaits our students upon graduation looms large. This latter observation takes into account the extent to which technology based activities have guided this current generation of students to do very little without the use of electric mediums (Gaffney et al. 2010). With such evidence, constructing reforms absent an attention to the role technology plays may be of little value. In this study, we have adopted technology and it’s interaction with pedagogy to assess TBP effectiveness and, herein, it’s potential to provide input to a reform agenda. We make use of TBP because the use of technology in the accounting profession is expansive. Our study is unique in that we evaluate the infusion of technology based on how it adds value to student learning. Based on a premise that student learning styles are affected by tasks one is asked to complete, we evaluate whether a pedagogy that is based on student self-directed engagement brought on by pedagogies that employ technology as a mode of instruction create or promote differential student outcomes. Under this perspective, and as denoted by Orlikowski (1992), technology acts a material trigger that intervenes the relationship between humans and the structures imposed on them. In addition, in constructing our setting and view of technology in this manner, we are addressing the observation that it is the failure of accounting education to change and develop pedagogies that actively involve students that is the real contributing factor for the lack of efficacy in accounting education today (Adler and Milne 1997a). Guided by these observations, then, it is the pedagogy (i.e., the TBP structure), its impact on learning, and subsequently, its effect on student outcomes that is our real query. Addressing our query over time responds to calls for a need to gather past and current information about student performance to draw value adding inferences about the effectiveness of learning pedagogies and how their relationships with teaching environments and student learning styles might guide reform (Adler and Milne 1997a). This paper seeks to assess the effects of TBP on student performance by examining this link as related to the first Financial Accounting (Financial I) course. Following previous work, we assess this effect in the presence of other demographic and environmental variables known to affect performance (Bryne and Flood 2008; Eikner and Montondon 2001; Frakes,1997; Turner et al. 1997); Didia and Hasnat 1998). We also examine effects over time via discrete intervals to ensure the complete impact of TBP is captured. Our results show that after controlling for the demographic and environmental variables known to affect performance, TBP impacts performance over time. The results of this paper lead us to infer an effective approach to accounting education reform requires more information about how the use of technology based pedagogies increase Accounting Education and Reform: A Focus on Pedagogical Intervention and Its Long-Term Effects 69 The Accounting Educators’ Journal, 2015 ability, capacity, and desire to learn and how these outcomes work together to improve student performance. We suggest one way to achieve this objective is to focus on curriculum and instructional models that are all-inclusive and sensitive to the impact time has on the ability to learn. Literature Review and Motivation Challenges of Accounting Education Reform: Past, Present and Future A very real challenge related to accounting education reform implementation is that it is a multi-faceted process (Albrecht and Sack 2000; Frederickson and Pratt 1995). A value adding approach to reform is to start with gaining an understanding of students and the environments in which they reside (Frederickson and Pratt 1995). In addition, reform must be guided by the objectives it is trying to accomplish (Adler and Milne 1997b). Reform also requires information be gathered about how students learn and process information, and how they can use what they have learned to improve future learning (Monsanto et al. 2004). Finally, reform efforts should include an evaluative component to measure the extent education reform interventions enhance learning to a greater degree than traditional or previous approaches (Chu and Libby 2010). Seminal to the last observation is the need to evaluate outcomes based on learning context and approaches (Reeves 2000). In addition, accounting education reform has been criticized for trying to create, evaluate, and implement outcomes without fully understanding how a student has been affected by the learning that associates with an intervention and the environment in which the intervention takes place (Du and Wagner 2005; English et al. 2004). Failure to recognize this link contributes to the lack of understanding of the determinants of high level learning outcomes which impedes the development of value adding accounting reforms (Byrne eta al. 2002). Active verses Passive Participation Learning is not merely a mental, intellectual, or behavioral process but rather, is a process that improves outcomes by relying on how a student: 1) creates knowledge; 2) reacts to the learning environment; 3) relies on prior learning experiences; 4) uses the tools provided to learn; and 5) incorporates the teaching strategies and pedagogies of the instructor (Bryne et al. 2002). Effective learning techniques recognize past knowledge shapes future knowledge and promotes an ability to figure out how things work now and in the future; in essence, the learner needs to be given the chance to develop over time (Adler and Milne 1997a). Adopting reforms using this approach as a guide addresses the need for educators to select reforms that add value (Reeves 2000). Existing accounting education reviews and frameworks contend classroom pedag