Good vs. Bad Online Content for Learning

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Good vs. Bad Online Content for Learning

• Continuing Professional Education Session
• American Accounting Association
• Atlanta, Georgia
• August 11, 2001

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Creating and Teaching Accounting Courses in an
On-line EnvironmentRobert J. WalshMarist
CollegeSchool of ManagementPoughkeepsie, NY
12601
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These transparencies are available at

• www.academic.marist.edu/faculty/walsh

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Overview of Typical Features in On-line Course

• 1) Lecture Notes
• 2) Problems/Examples
• 3) Email
• 4) Electronic Bulletin Board
• 5) Testing Devices
• 6) Chat Sessions

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Difficult versus Really Difficult

• Lecture notes, problems, testing are difficult
• Chat sessions and bulletin boards are really
  difficult

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Difficult..

• Lecture notes - write it once, then again, then
  again
• Give numerous examples, each building upon one
  another
• There are NO dumb looks

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More on Lecture notes -- Instructors
almost never cover the entire textbook, so be
VERY explicit on what should be read and
understood and what should not be in each
chapter. Typically this can be put in the
syllabus, and then reinforced by use of a weekly
email and/or electronic calendar.- Point out
what problems should be done and understood well,
and what definitions should be memorized and
applied, versus just memorized.
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How do you answer the student that says I want
to do more problems at the back of each
chapter?- If at all possible, select a
textbook with an solutions manual (or a partial
solutions manual) which can be accessed
electronic - OR - scan the answers into a web
page - OR - be prepared for a much more difficult
job teaching on-line.
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More Difficult.

• Testing -
• How often?
• How do I know that the student is really the
  student?
• Should I have the students do computations
  (fractions,etc.)? Are they required to show
  their work?
• How much should I resort to multiple choice
  testing?

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Now for Really Difficult Course Communication -
Particularly Between Students

• and if you ask students after taking an on-line
  course what is the one thing that you missed
  from a regular on-campus course?
• .classroom interaction, particularly with other
  students

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Drawbacks for Instructor

• The course takes more time than a course
  on-campus, and any additional features in the
  communication part of the course take even more
  time.
• The course may have more students than a course
  on-campus.
• The instructor may not feel comfortable using
  computers, or the Internet, or communcating
  on-line.

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Drawbacks for Students(same as on-campus,
almost!)

• Some students may be shy.
• Others may say too much.
• Some students may be non-native English speakers
  and/or writers.
• Others may not be assertive enough to break into
  discussions.
• Some may think they do not have anything
  important to say.

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Communication Skills

• 1) Cited as important, even in the introductory
  accounting courses, and may become even more
  critical in an evolving business environment
• 2) Builds critical thinking skills
• 3) Knowledge of accounting is unimportant if the
  individual is unable to communicate this
  knowledge.

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Communication in the On-line Course

• Important socially - students miss the on-campus
  interaction
• Important instructionally - students need to
  learn to synthesize and communicate answers to
  others.

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Students and Instructors

• For students, begin with a set of ground rules
  for students, which is particularly useful for
  those students who have not previously
  experienced an on-line course.
• For the instructor, begin thinking about the ways
  in which you want to use the communication tools
• how much focus do I want students to have?
• what goals should they have?
• what is my role?

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Create Ground Rules for Students

• Not a writing exercise - it is a dialogue.
• Elaboration on only one or two ideas in a single
  bulletin board posting or chat lines.
• Make sure students think first, especially before
  posting to the bulletin board.
• Require students to check back to bulletin boards
  with 24/48 hours.

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What are Some Broad Considerations for On-line
Instructor to Remember?

• Focus - it is more difficult to bring a chat
  session, and particularly a stream of bulletin
  board posting, back into focus.
• Consider the design of the question - what are
  the possible answers?
• Consider the possibility of other student
  responses.
• Consider dividing one question in two or three
  different questions.

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Another Broad Consideration

• Goals - what do you want the student or students
  to learn from this chat session or stream of
  bulletin board postings?
• Knowledge?
• Analysis?
• Application?
• Synthesis?

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Other thought

• Instructors Role - how often do you, as the
  instructor, want to post comments and feedback?
• Often? Perhaps the students will feel overly
  monitored and also, remember students like and
  miss the student-to-student interaction in a
  on-campus course.
• Seldom? How much learning will really take place?

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Specific examples for chat session use

• Make participation required.
• Student led chat session on some topic with the
  instructor functioning only as a moderator.
• Restricting conversation to only one topical
  area.

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Exhibit 1 Example of making participation
required in the on-line chat sessionInstructorgt
gtok, suppose I set up a corporation by
contribution 10,000cash to the company. What
is the journal entry?Student 1gtgtDR Cash 10k,
CR Owners Equity 10kInstructorgtgtcorrectInstru
ctorgtgtNow on a balance sheet, under assets, I
would have10,000(for cash) and under liabilties
and owner's equity or capital,I would have 0
liabilities and 10,000 of capital (so assets
liabilities owner's equity)Instructorgtgtok,
next, student 2. Suppose I provide a service and
received 5000 cash for it. What is the journal
entry?Student 2gtgtDR Cash 5k CR Service
Revenue 5kInstructorgtgtcorrectInstructorgtgtok,
next, Student 3, suppose I pay an employee 500
cash in wages for work he provides to me. What
is the journal entry?Student 3gtgtDR Salary
Expenses 500 CR Cash 500Instructorgtgtcorrect

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• Using leader 1, leader 2 and student 8, student 9
  and student 10 and the instructorLeader 1gtgtok,
  any questions tonight?Student 8gtgtHow important
  is it that we know the j/es for
  jobcosting?Leader 1gtgtfor job order
  costing?Student 8gtgtyesStudent 8gtgtI understand
  the concepts but I fear I will neverremember the
  flow ...Instructorgtgtthere is one important
  problem -- I had the solutionoptically scanned
  at the bottom of the lecture notes for chapter
  20. If you know that, you should be ok as a
  start.Leader 1gtgti think it is important to
  understand that the cost neverget expensed until
  the inventory product is actually soldLeader
  2gtgtso by moving raw materials into work in
  processLeader 2gtgtor wip into finished goods,
  you are merely switching an asset for an
  assetLeader 2gtgtonly when you sell the inventory
  -- DR-- COGS, CR-- Finished Goods, and that is
  when we recognize an expenseStudent 9gtgtthe
  j/e's DR - WIP CR - Manufacturing O/H
  doesn't recognize an expense as the item is
  made?Leader 1gtgtno -- WIP is an asset (a type of
  inventory)InstructorgtgtRemember when you paid
  your factory employees, previously you would
  DR--Wage Expense, Cr-- Cash -- but now you DR--
  Manufacturing Overhead and CrCash where MOH is
  again a type of asset that gets put into
  inventory

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Exhibit 3 Example of instruction restricted to
only one topical areaHere is a chat session
with the instructor and students 1, 2, 3, 4 and
5. The discussion is restricted only to the
computation of depreciation methods. Notice that
some students (3,4 and 5) wish to ask questions
in other topical areas. By focusing the
discussion on only one area, however, students
are able to answer the instructors questions
more easily.InstructorgtgtAs an example, let's
say we buy a truck for 30,000, with a 5 year
useful life and a 5000 salvage value. What is
sl in first year?Student 1gtgt5kInstructorgtgtok,
5000 is correct. what about ddb for year
1?Student 1gtgt.40X30kInstructorgtgt(30,000)
1/5 2 12,000Student 2gtgt10k Student
2gtgtOh, I forgot that ddb uses the whole
amountStudent 3gtgtWhy do I want to capitalize
interest expense? Doesn'tit overstate my assets
and owner's equity?Student 4gtgtthe expense would
be less so net income would be higher
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Specific examples for bulletin board session

• (Warning - Incorrect usage - one or two answers -
  which is VERY common in accounting courses.)
• Asking students to provide answers to specific
  questions looking up different web sites.
• Having master students monitoring different
  forums.

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Other specific examples

• Asking students to integrate real-life business
  experiences into accounting concepts.
• Having students posted questions from the
  examination, and other students answer their
  questions.

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• Exhibit 4 Example of incorrect usage of
  electronic bulletin board posting
• Instructor Question on depreciation.
• Suppose your company purchased a truck on
  January 1, 2000 for 30,000. It has a 5-year
  useful life and no salvage value. How much
  depreciation expense does the company recognize
  on December 31, 2000 (at the end of year one)
  assuming straight-line depreciation?
• Student 1- 6,000
• Student 2 - 6,000
• Student 3- 6,000
• Student 4 - 6,000
• Student 5- 6,000
• Student 6 - 6,000
• Student 7- 6,000
• Student 8- 6,000

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• Exhibit 5 Asking students to provide examples of
  companies using specific rule in accounting (and
  providing URLs)
• Instructor Project 3 for students 8, 9 and 10.
• Go to a website of a hotel chain (Hilton,
  Holiday Inn, etc.) Review their income statement
  for cost of goods sold and report what you found.
  Then, go to financial statement footnotes. Tell
  me what types of inventory items they listed and
  the method of inventory used. As always, do not
  use the same company as a previous poster. Also,
  other students will receive one credit for making
  constructive comments about your postings.
• Student 8- Hilton Hotels.
• Hilton Hotels (at www.hilton.com) does not
  report cost of goods sold directly. I went to
  their footnotes (footnote 1) and it is reported
  that cost of goods sold was 63 million. It does
  not say in the footnotes what this is for, but I
  think it is for things like towels, pillows,
  soap, furniture, etc.
• Student 23 Comment to Student 8, Hilton Hotels
• Hilton Hotels cost of goods sold can only be for
  things that they intend for resale, like stuff in
  the gift shop or food.
• Instructor Comment to Student 23
• That is correct, student 23. One credit for
  you.
• Student 28 Comment to Student 8, Hilton
  Hotels
• Student 8 probably swipes the towels and pillows
  from Hilton. So in fact it is a cost of goods
  sold to Hilton Hotel.

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• Exhibit 6 Example of master student group using
  the topic of responsibility accounting (note that
  some responses have been shortened by the
  authors)
• Instructor Question for master students group
  for week 8
• Go to the annual report for 1999 for Ford Motor
  Company at their web site of www.ford.com.
  Discuss the presentation of Fords operating
  results by each division. Label each division as
  a responsibility center of revenue, cost, profit
  or investment. Then take questions as other
  students might present.
• Master Student Group for week 8 Answer to
  instructors initial question
• Ford Motor Credit Corporation is a revenue
  center. The annual report reports only revenue
  for that division. Its Hertz division is a
  profit center.
• Student 13- Question for Master Student Group for
  week 8
• I think FMCC should have been reported as an
  investment center..What do you think?
• Master Student Group for week 8 Answer to
  Student 13
• We dont think so. FMCC had no control over the
  level of investment they receive from their
  parent, Ford Motor Company.
• Instructor Reply to MSG 8/ Student 13
• I dont think we really know that discretion
  over level of investment, through just reading
  the annual report, do we? Can anyone else in the
  class find this information for certain?

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• Exhibit 7 Example of integration students
  real-life business experiences into instructors
  questions
• Instructor Question for Students 1, 2, and 3
• Ok, students 1, 2 and 3. I would like you each
  to provide an example of internal control at your
  place of work.
• Student 1- SAP R/3
• We use SAP R/3 at work. It is password
  protected and I can only use certain components
  of the system.
• Student 24 Comment to Student 1
• We use SAP R/3 too, but anybody can logon to
  anyone elses site.
• Instructor Open question to students on
  Student 24 comments
• Does anyone else have this problem at work (with
  any computer system.) Does anyone see any
  problem with this? List a few of the
  problems..

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• Exhibit 8 Student interaction on the electronic
  bulletin board by providing correct explanations
  to graded examination answers
• Student 1- M/C question 17
• For question 17, I answered c. The problem
  wanted to know the 12/31 adjusting entry for
  prepaid insurance, 1-year policy, purchased on
  June 1 for 1200. I figured expense would be
  700, so answer c.
• Student 2- Correct answer to 17
• The expense is 700, but answer c is crediting
  expense, not debiting it. Therefore, the answer
  is e (none of the above.)
• Student 3 Correct answer to 17
• I took the same one stupid mistakes kill me
• Student 4- Question 26

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Some other examples for usage in bulletin boards
and chat sessions

• Debating teams where students formulate ideas and
  defend their position.
• Jigsaw groups where members break into
  subgroups to discuss various parts of a topic.
• Mock trials where students assume various roles
  of individuals in a real world setting.

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Final Warning!

• All of these may seem like great ideasBUT.
• Not all can be implemented into a single course -
  you need to pick and chose, consistent with your
  goals for the students in the course, along with
  the amount of time and effort you, the
  instructor, can put into your on-line course.

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Final Words(as opposed to Final Warning)

• Limit your initial expectations
• Limit your initial implementation
• Do not be reluctant to make changes
  semester-to-semester
• Start each semester with a non-graded assignment
  (for bulletin boards)

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These transparencies are available at

• www.academic.marist.edu/faculty/walsh