Student satisfaction with cooperative learning in an Accounting curriculum

Abstract

Cooperative learning has been introduced into International Accounting, a second year subject at a major Australian university. The purpose was to provide students with a satisfying experience of learning within a social context and to develop their interpersonal, professional and written communication skills. The main data were collected during the Spring Semester 2005. In the penultimate lecture, a questionnaire was distributed to each of the students present. Findings suggest that despite some difficulties, the majority of students reported that cooperative learning created supportive team experiences that assisted them to develop discussion skills and better engage with the content of International Accounting. This journal article is available in Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice: http://ro.uow.edu.au/jutlp/vol5/iss2/4 Journa l o f Un ivers i t y Teach ing and Learn ing Prac t i ce Student satisfaction with cooperative learning in an Accounting curriculum Brian J Farrell University of Technology Sydney b.farrell@uts.edu.au Helen M Farrell University of New South Wales h.farrell@unsw.edu.au Abstract Cooperative learning has been introduced into International Accounting, a second year subject at a major Australian university. The purpose was to provide students with a satisfying experience of learning within a social context and to develop their interpersonal, professional and written communication skills. The main data were collected during the Spring Semester 2005. In the penultimate lecture, a questionnaire was distributed to each of the students present. Findings suggest that despite some difficulties, the majority of students reported that cooperative learning created supportive team experiences that assisted them to develop discussion skills and better engage with the content of International Accounting.Cooperative learning has been introduced into International Accounting, a second year subject at a major Australian university. The purpose was to provide students with a satisfying experience of learning within a social context and to develop their interpersonal, professional and written communication skills. The main data were collected during the Spring Semester 2005. In the penultimate lecture, a questionnaire was distributed to each of the students present. Findings suggest that despite some difficulties, the majority of students reported that cooperative learning created supportive team experiences that assisted them to develop discussion skills and better engage with the content of International Accounting. S tu d e n t s a t i s f a c t i o n w i t h c o o p e r a t i v e l ea r n in g i n a n A c c o u n t in g c u r r i c u lu m B r ia n F a r r e l l & H e l e n F a r r e l l Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice Vol 5/2, 2008 40 Introduction The accounting profession internationally expects graduates of university programs to have highly developed spoken and written communication skills (Morgan, 1997; Stout & DaCrema, 2004). Good communication skills require a concerted effort from all staff teaching accounting programs from first year through to course completion. This paper describes an intensive approach to develop interpersonal, professional and written communication skills in a second year subject in an accounting program by incorporating cooperative learning in the subject delivery. In recent years, there has been substantial literature that suggests that cooperative learning is a way of achieving academic engagement and social integration among students. Felder in an interview given in 2001 describes the chief characteristics of cooperative learning as ... a more formal kind of activity where students work in teams that stay together for extended periods of time under conditions that involve five criteria... The first criterion is positive interdependence the team members have to count on one another to do what they are supposed to do, otherwise everyone loses. Second is individual accountability, which means everyone is held responsible for understanding both their part of the work and everyone else’s part. Third is face-to-face interaction at least part of the time. The fourth criterion is the development of interpersonal skills needed to work effectively in teams... And the fifth criterion is regular self-assessment of group functioning... The extent to which groupwork has those five elements in place is the extent to which it qualifies as cooperative learning (para.5). This approach to education promotes techniques that enable students to become engaged in their own learning process while simultaneously contributing to the education of their peers. It is a powerful avenue for students to resolve their difficulties and advance their understanding of ideas and processes in an academically and socially supportive environment.