Improving introductory financial accounting learning and retention through course redesign
Department
School of Accountancy
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-1-2023
Abstract
This paper reports the results of a course redesign project for introductory financial accounting taught predominately to non-accounting majors. The objectives were to improve student learning and student retention. Student learning was measured with an assurance of learning (AOL) instrument. Retention was measured by the DFWI rate, composed of the grades of D, F, W (withdrawal) or I (incomplete). Thus, we measured the impact that the course redesign had on mean AOL scores and on mean DFWI rates. The first step in the redesign was to reduce the detailed course content. This created time for pedagogical changes in the second step. Metacognitive and active learning activities were added to foster student learning. Results indicated that the content reduction alone did not significantly impact AOL scores or DFWI rates. The pedagogical changes significantly improved AOL scores, and the combination of the content reduction and pedagogy changes decreased DFWI rates. It is hoped that the positive results will serve to inform other such course improvement efforts.
Journal Title
Journal of Accounting Education
Journal ISSN
07485751
Volume
62
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.1016/j.jaccedu.2022.100816