Tuesday, August 16, 2016

CLASSES ARE READY TO START—WHAT DO YOU REALLY WANT TO ACCOMPLISH?



On July 25, 2016, I posted a blog entry describing a class supplement I was building for my introductory financial accounting class.   I have spent the summer creating electronic flashcards using Power Point so that I could embed audio clips and link to videos that I had made.   My goal was to guide students through each chapter of the textbook to help them in organizing and reviewing complex material (or to serve as the preliminary coverage for a flipped classroom).  In that earlier posting, I stressed the need for careful sequencing of the individual cards.

I emailed the finished product for Chapter One to my students yesterday.   I am a big believer in the power of communications so I explained what I was trying to do and why.   I asked for their feedback.   After all, the product is for their benefit.  Students are in the best position to say what works and what doesn’t.

If you would like a copy of what I created for Chapter One and shared with my students, drop me a note at Jhoyle@richmond.edu and I will email it to you.  

Even if you don’t teach financial accounting (or even accounting at all), you might find the construction interesting.   It might stimulate your own thinking.   I believe that what I built, anyone could build for virtually any course.
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One of the great things about teaching is that your thinking evolves as you gain more experience.   Over the past year, I have become especially focused on exactly what I am trying to teach my students (or maybe I should say:  How I want to change my students—I actually think that sounds better).   Once determined, I have worked to connect each element of my courses to that specific goal.  It seems obvious, I guess, but I wonder how many teachers can state in one sentence what they want to teach their students.  Here, at the start of a new semester, that might be a worthwhile exercise.

So, I have a couple of basic questions to stimulate your thoughts as you look forever to the first day of fall classes:
--At the very foundation level, what is it that you want to teach your students?  How do you want your students to be different at the end of the semester?
--Is everything you do in class tied to that goal?

What objective is at the core of your course and how is the class constructed around that core?  I never used to think like that but my teaching has certainly evolved in that direction.

I think the easiest way for me to explain my thinking is by sharing a note (slightly edited) that I emailed to my Intermediate Accounting II students a few days ago.  After a long summer, they are getting ready for the start of classes next Monday morning.   Not only is it important to know what you want to accomplish, I really think you should make that as clear as possible for your students.   Why leave them in the dark?

To my Intermediate Accounting students:
“Okay, if you don’t read any other question this semester read this one because it explains the whole purpose of everything we will do in this class.  Over and over and over, I will give you countless weird, odd, bizarre accounting and reporting situations and I will help you learn how to arrive at viable solutions that you can justify as being fairly presented according to U.S. GAAP.  That’s it.  That’s the course in one sentence.   I will pose these odd situations before every class for your preparation (and also after many of the classes as follow up practice).  Then, when you come to each of the tests, I will throw out new weird, odd, bizarre accounting and reporting situations so that I can see whether you have gained the ability to arrive at viable solutions that you can justify as fairly presented according to U.S. GAAP.   That’s what CPAs do all the time.   It is not about memorization.   It is about understanding and developing the ability to (using my three favorite words from class) “figure it out.”   Notice that this is also the basic premise underlying your three-part writing assignment for this semester.   This is what this course is all about.

“So, here is your first question for next Monday as a warmup:  You go to a used book store and buy a book for $20 on December 30, Year One.   You tell them that you’ll pay for the book in two months and they say okay.   However, you believe the clerk treats you rudely and when you get home you slam the book down and say ‘I do not want to be treated that way.   I’m going to keep this book and never pay for it.’  

“If you make a balance sheet on December 31, Year One, do you have to report the $20 as a liability?   Weird, odd, bizarre – how do you report this?   When you report a liability on a balance sheet, what are you reporting – what you owe or what you are going to pay?   What is a viable solution that you could justify as being fairly presented according to U.S. GAAP in case, for example, you ever wind up in court and have to explain the logic of your answer to a judge.  It's a simple question so what's your answer?  And, we will always assume that all amounts in this class are material.   Saying that something is not material is just a way to avoid making a decision”

What do I want to accomplish?   I want my students to be able to analyze unique situations.   I want my students to understand that being an accountant is not about memorizing rules.   I want my students to have a firm understanding of U.S. GAAP.   I want my students to realize that being a CPA means being able to come up with answers where obvious answers do not exist.   That requires critical thinking skills that I think can best be developed using oddball questions.  

To me, this is accounting education at its most exciting.   Even after 45 years in the classroom, I cannot tell you how excited I am to get back to work.   I am sure the class will not be perfect but, at least, I do know what I want my students to accomplish. 


Let me leave you with one suggestion.   Write down, in one sentence, how you want your students to be different by the end of the semester and then email it to them.   Go on record.  “This is the goal.”   It’s a good exercise for you and the students will appreciate the clarity and frankness.     



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