Results, analysis and discussions

Facilitating active-learning through formative assessment in a collaborative learning environment

A collaborative learning environment that encouraged students to engage with the teaching and learning activities (TLAs) was the key focus in the tutor's two tutorial groups. The aims of the learning design were three fold: to enable the students to be active rather than passive learners by taking part in authentic learning activities; to encourage them to take part in formative assessment; and to develop key generic business skills. Accordingly, the design of the TLAs was such that it focused on what the students will do to learn rather than what the tutor will do to teach.

Normally, tutors were expected to go through a set of tutorial questions in the syllabus every time they conduct a tutorial session. These were textbook questions that students were supposed to have worked on after the lecture but prior to each tutorial session. However, in addition to going through textbook questions, a series of action-oriented learning activities using real life examples and business artifacts were designed and deployed in tutorials for these two groups. Students worked in groups and/or in pairs depending on the activity. By using real transaction records in these learning activities, such as invoices, and personal and government budgets, these TLAs helped students to make connections with real-world scenarios and provide a holistic view of learning by establishing linkages between topics. Learning was situated in the context of how students will use the knowledge in their everyday life and in the real business world.

For instance, with the aim of providing a meaningful purpose for studying the topic on cash flow and managing cash using cash budgets, an activity involving students to apply the accounting concepts into their everyday life was the focus of this tutorial session. The group activity involved students in developing personal cash budgets for the semester. They worked in teams to estimate their cash receipts (source of income) and cash payments (expenses). This cash budget showed whether they would be in surplus or deficit for the semester. For this activity, the formative assessment consisted of interactive class presentations. Part of the presentation was to discuss how student groups would go about investing the surplus or financing the deficit and discussing their strategies with the audience.

This activity helped students to contextualize and personalize the knowledge by promoting an appreciation of accounting concepts based on relevant, real life examples. It reinforced the idea that everyone can apply accounting knowledge to manage finances and promote long-term wealth management, thereby 'personalizing' their learning. Such knowledge was then used as the basis for understanding bigger business transactions, in the course of progressively exposing the students to accounting concepts. Perhaps, what made the use of real business scenarios interesting was not that they were real, but because most of these examples were also from personal artifacts and business transactions of the tutor to which students related well.

Most of the learning activities for these two tutorial groups focused on fostering a deep approach to learning. For example, the tutor applied the principle of deep learning to a topic on using ratio analysis to assess business performance, a learning activity was designed that involved working on a real case. This case study was based on a Business Week article about Louis Vuitton by Moet Hennessy, titled 'Inside the world's most profitable money-machine'. The aim is to overcome learning problems that first-year students often experience in analyzing and interpreting formulas (Ramsden, 2003). The brief for the student groups was to analyze this powerful company in terms of financial health and performance, using ratio analysis techniques such as the current ratio and inventory turnover. In contrast with conventional tutorial exercises, where financial data are given, this activity required students to locate the financial data from the relevant section of the annual report and calculate the appropriate ratios for analysis. When students worked out inventory turnover, which happened to be very low (a three-year average of 1.2), they speculated why such a low turnover could result in the company being so profitable. The formative assessment for this task by way of group presentation again provided an opportunity for peer learning when some students realized, and then explained, that the high price tag of the company's products, such as handbags, would result in a lower inventory turnover than that of a grocery store.

This is a typical example of case-based activities used in the class, which promoted deep learning as it required students to interpret and apply ratios in assessing the company. The use of a case study encouraged active involvement in the learning process by promoting judgement to resolve uncertainty, and thereby generated deeper understanding (Boyce et al., 2001). Consequently, students' understanding of the meaning behind the formulas was enhanced when they analyzed the trends and argued the causes behind the contradicting ratios. The case study was therefore an effective teaching method for providing a connection to the external world so that students could become aware of the ambiguities and complexities of real-world decision-making.

Besides presenting their work at the conclusion of a particular learning activity for the formative assessment, students were also asked to work in pairs to prepare and present a weekly preset textbook question. Again, these presentations were ungraded but in general, students responded positively. Some students demonstrated deep interest in the subject by taking initiatives of presenting their findings in creative ways. For example, on the question of investigating why a trial balance was unbalanced, one student group presented the question using the concept of a florist shop under new management. They went so far as decorating the classroom and then facilitated the discussion with fellow students to position the discrepancies and correct the problem.

These spontaneous actions and initiatives on the part of students clearly demonstrated their ability to develop innovation, creative thinking, critical thinking and problem-solving skills, as well as teamwork, presentation and communication skills within the context of the accounting discipline. However, the key was to create a collaborative learning environment and provide realistic contexts that will enable students to foster such development. The formative assessment approaches used were such that the students were encouraged to practice the kinds of thinking processes necessary for the accounting profession.

مواضيع ذات صلة

Research methodology

Students perceptions of accounting

Literature review Pedagogical practices in accounting education

Formative and Summative Assessment and the Notion of Constructive Alignment

Concluding remarks

Alignment of curriculum, teaching and assessment

Assessment protocols

Managing the learning process

Teaching methods

Learning methods

Teaching protocols

Recasting the curriculum