COLLABORATIVE LEARNING THROUGH REAL-LIFE ASSIGNMENTS IN ACCOUNTING COMMUNICATIONS CLASSES Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 23, 1996 COLLABORATIVE LEARNING THROUGH REAL-LIFE ASSIGNMENTS IN ACCOUNTING COMMUNICATIONS CLASSES Gretchen N. Vik, San Diego State University Carol Venable, San Diego State University ABSTRACT Adding a unit to an existing Reporting for Accountants course increases student opportunity for oral communication and presentation practice. We have also been able to integrate technical material from real-world exercises into this class, now team-taught by faculty from the Departments of Information and Decision Systems (IDS) and Accounting. Through team teaching and collaborative classroom assignments, we incorporate the move by the Big Six accounting firms to specialize in industry groups (our company/industry reports) and have students produce payroll workpapers, an area not covered in detail in the auditing/systems course. We have also added more material on teamwork and on critical thinking. This presentation will discuss how the new course integrates technology, collaborative learning, teamwork, and team teaching into a formerly more traditional course. Students are experiencing how to communicate in a professional way by using techniques proven to be useful in actual accounting practice. INTRODUCTION Real-life professional communication has the following attributes not always found in university communication courses: ambiguity of assignments, use of strategies rather than models, individual and collaborative work, and use of technology for editing, production, and visuals. Adding active learning and critical thinking to the reporting class gives students a chance to figure out how to approach communication problems (both written and spoken) rather than be told exactly how to handle an assignment. It also gives student teams more practice in effective group work (not just dividing up a task, but sharing the task). To teach these new skills, we chose assignments related to work students will encounter on the job as professional accountants. SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS Company/Industry Report Assignment Integrating Accounting Potential industry groupings used by the Big Six include financial services, health services, entertainment and media, government and not-for-profit, retail merchandising, computers and software, and communications. Using different subgroups and different companies gives this assignment a different flavor every term (and encourages students to produce new work). One major assignment combining individual and teamwork is the company/industry report. Students each are assigned a different publicly traded company to follow during the semester, with a goal of assessing business risk and audit risk for a potential new client. An individual report limited to two single-spaced pages assesses these risks (students are asked to use headings and to make these papers look like professional reports). Required attachments include the most recent annual report and a list of references used to collect information. Other attachments include graphs, tables, work-papers, and other supplementary documents. Working in teams by industry grouping, students then produce an industry report using their company analyses as part of their information. An industry report, limited to two single-spaced pages with headings, assesses industry business environment risk. This report also has required attachments as well as supplemental attachments. In addition to teaching business research skills (among more traditional sources, students use EDGAR, the SEC electronic filing Web site), this assignment integrates accounting course information into the communication course, reinforces team work skills, and gives students real-world experience in preparing information for business audiences. Report writing, document design, graphics development, and other communication topics become more relevant to students when they apply this material to accounting topics. 183 Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 23, 1996 Teams of students make professional oral presentations on their industry reports toward the end of the semester. PowerPoint or a similar program is required for development of visuals, which can include overheads and charts. Accounting Cycle Assignment Payroll was chosen for this assignment because it is not covered in detail in the auditing/systems course for accountants. Each student team identifies a business to interview about its payroll system. Students then write up workpapers documenting the system in a flowchart and narrative discussion of strengths, weaknesses, and recommendations. Teams present their findings orally with visuals; again, all team members must speak. This assignment teaches students how to plan an interview and get information from a company, how to prepare professional work papers, and how to analyze a company’s system. Students soon realize that these companies apply the theory taught in accounting classes in many different but still acceptable ways. CLASS CONTEXT AS PART OF THE ACCOUNTING CURRICULUM In the late 1980’s, the professional accounting community joined with educators on a national basis to stimulate accounting education reform aimed at developing skills and abilities for a changing environment. As a result, the School of Accountancy revised its undergraduate upper division program to replace traditional accounting courses with three mandatory six-unit accounting courses, two accounting electives, and one expanded writing for accountant’s course. Interrelated Courses One objective in adopting these courses was to demonstrate the interrelated nature of the various accounting subdisciplines. Another objective was to show how accountants are part of a larger, dynamic environment where they must anticipate, understand, and respond to the information needs of a variety of constituencies, both within and beyond the bounds of their organization. A third objective was to create a learning environment that included students as interactive participants in the process. Technical and Computer Depth Students see on-line demonstrations of computer conferencing, Email, and tours of the Internet showing connections to on-line library resources, gopher access, and Usenet. A lab manual introduces students to the LAN in the new Windows-based Computer Lab. Spreadsheet templates for projects that previously had been distributed by copying floppy disks are now stored on the server and students can upload these to workstations. The LAN also is connected to the campus backbone allowing students telnet access. Over the course of the year, a specialty assigned classroom has been outfitted with a Sony video projector, VCR, computer connection, CD-ROM capability and telephone line to support connection to the modem pool. Active Learning Active learning techniques are the featured teaching methodology. There is little lecture from the faculty. Instead, cases with open-ended (and ambiguous) solutions are discussed in class. Students are evaluated on both written work and oral class presentations. Use of Teams In-class teams and out-of-class teams are extensively used for homework problems, case discussions and write-ups. All students use computer conferencing for interacting with the faculty and other students outside of class. In addition, students use Email to correspond individually with classmates and faculty. CONCLUSION The Reporting for Accountants course is now an even more integral part of the revised accounting curriculum. Team teaching by Information/Decision Systems and Accounting faculty allows for more cross-discipline topics for writing assignments, more technology-based assignments, and provides opportunity for experiential tasks as well as ready access to real-world databases. In addition, team teaching may provide useful role models for building students’ team skills. For related references and more detail, please contact the authors at the College of Business Administration, San Diego State University, San Diego CA 92182-8234. 184 Table of Contents Volume 23, 1996 Modeling Advertising Effectiveness Simulation as an Aid to Learning: How Does Participation Influence the Process? Administering Business Simulations in Transitioning Economies: The Introduction of Simulation Gaming to Estonia Business Simulation Games: Current Usage Levels. A Ten Year Update The Relationship Between Interpersonal and Task Cohesiveness and Performance in a Business Simulation Game The Design of an ITS-Based Simulation: A New Epistemology for Learning Correlates of Learning in Simulations How Do We Know where we're going if we don't know where we have been: A Review of Business Simulation Research Making Cash Flow Come Alive and Sensible in the Classroom Enhancing Simulation Learning through Objectives and Decision Support Systems An Analysis of Deliberate and Emergent Strategies Relative to Porter's Generic Differentiator and Cost Leader: A Bias and Variance Modeling Approach Introducing Ethical Dilemmas into Computer-Based Simulation Exercises to Teach Business Ethics CEO Strategic Locus of Control Effects on Game Performance and Playing Behavior The Relational Database As a Link between Operations and Cost Accounting Goal Setting over Time in Simulations Computerized Business Simulations: A Workshop Exploring the Tutor's Role, Task & Needs Strategic Analysis of the Product Portfolio with the COMPLETE PPA Package: A Strategic Market Planning Tool Draft Standards and Registration Procedure for Assessment Instruments Perspectives on a New Generation of Business Games An Economic Multiple Regression Case In Experiential Learning Changing Institutional Norms and Behavior, Not Culture: Experiential Learning Comes to Myanmar Strategic Management and the Case Method: Survey and Evaluation Individual Differences in Internet Attitude and Use Long Live the Plan - or Should It? Examining the Impact of Detailed Strategic Plans on Organizational Performance Do Your Students Really Read the Manual? A Computerized Contextual Tool As A Surrogate for the Traditional Student Manual Pilot Analyses of Self-Peer Evaluations in an Experiential-Exercise Human Resources Management Course Leader Behavior Feedback: A Learning Exercise Dilemma-Dilemma: An Exercise for Teaching Significance Of Communication Computer Mediated Conferencing: Technology and Classroom Learning Multimedia in the Workplace: Who is really using it and where is it Headed? Using Experiential Exercises for Collecting Research Data: Integrating Teaching and Research Interactive Distance Learning as a Tool in a College's Theory and Practice The President's Decision: An Experiential Exercise in Decision Making Integrating Computer Literacy Skills in the Undergraduate Curriculum: The Advanced Accounting Experiment Imperatives for the Transfer of Experience-Based Training Deciding How to Decide The Internet as a Pedagogical Tool Internet Scavenger Hunt Two Management Exercises Based on Committee Work Multimedia in the Year 2000: How Will It Affect Our Lives? Bootstrap Benefit Segmentation: Finally A Way to Teach Benefit Segmentation without Primary Data or Those Fancy Statistical Methods Multimedia and Learning: Is There A Connection? A Changing Business Policy Collaborative Learning Through Real-Life Assignments in Accounting Classes The Necessity Of Incorporating Local Cultural Aspects Into International Business Experiential Exercises Utilizing Cultural and International Landmark Constructs to Assess Business Student's International Awareness Legal Issues related to the Use of Application Blanks: An Experiential Exercise The Family in the Classroom: An Experiential Exercise for Teaching Issues Related To Expatriate Assignments Using Internet Resources to Enhance Teaching of Information Systems Courses: A Demonstration Proposal Chalkboards to Chipboards for Teachers and Consultants How Do We Measure The Learning In Experiential Learning and How Do We Best Simulate It?