The Accounting Educator

The Newsletter of the Teaching and Curriculum Section
American Accounting Association
Vol. VIII No. 1 - Fall 1998

Annual Meeting Committee Reports

Treasurer's Report
Don Wygal, Rider University

Statement of Cash Receipts and Disbursements
Teaching and Curriculum Section
1997 - 1998

150-Hour Program Issues Committee, (Sue Ravenscroft, Eastern Michigan University) Sue Ravenscroft reported that as of August 10, 1998, copies of the committee's report on "The Effects of the 150-Hour Rule" are available and will be posted on the web. She reported that "While the results are mixed, usually where there is a differential impact large schools report more positive impacts than small schools; flagship report more than nonflagship and accredited more than unaccredited."

Evaluating Teaching Effectiveness, (Alex Gabbin, James Madison University) Tom Calderon (committee member) reported that the monograph on "Evaluating Teaching Effectiveness," was mailed to members and distributed at T&C sessions at regional meetings. Currently, all copies of the report have been distributed. They are considering printing additional copies or posting the report on the web. Contact the committee members if you are interested in obtaining copies.

First Course in Accounting (Jim Kurtenbach, Iowa State University) Robin Roberts (committee member) reported that the committee has distributed a questionnaire to about 500 schools in June. To date they have received responses from approximately 120 schools and will do a second request in September.

Program Committee, (Robin Roberts, Iowa State University) The T&C Section received 65 paper or panel submissions for presentation at the 1998 AAA Meeting. There were approximately 70 members of the review panel representing a cross-section of universities. Based on the results of the reviews, 21 papers and one panel were accepted for presentation at paper/panel sessions and seven were accepted for presentation at the forum. The section hosted eight sessions at the meeting. All those who submitted requests to be a moderator or discussant were invited to participate.

Research in Accounting Education, (Jim Rebele, Lehigh University) Over the past two years, this committee has reviewed and organized the existing literature into two documents. One document, "Accounting Literature Education Review (1991 - 1997), Part 1: Curriculum and Instructional Approaches," has been published in the Winter 1998 issue of the Journal of Accounting Education. The second document, "Accounting Education Literature Review (1991 - 1997), Part II: Students, Educational Technology, Assessment, and Faculty Issues," will be published in a forthcoming edition of the Journal of Accounting Education. The committee noted that on a positive note, recent literature is focusing more on student issues rather than faculty issues, but that on a negative note, very little has been written about the learning-to-learn objective.

Awards, (Fred Neumann, University of Illinois) This committee investigated possible awards that the T&C Committee could sponsor. The committee recommended two to consider, an Outstanding Educator Award and a Service Award. These will be considered further during the upcoming year.

Two-Year College Issues, (Janet Cassagio, Nassau Community College) This committee was charged with keeping abreast of activities related to Two-Year Colleges. Those items related to the T&C Section include recommendations made by the AAA Committee to Promote Interaction Between Two-Year Faculty and Faculty at Other Institutions to the Accounting Education Advisory Board encouraging increased participation by two-year faculty in presentations and board positions. Also of note, the Two-Year Section presented two awards this year, the Lifetime Achievement in Accounting Education to Joe Rhile and the Outstanding Educator of the Year Award to Phyllis Yasuda. Future plans for this committee include identifying what two-year faculty can offer the T&C Section and what the T&C Section can offer two-year faculty.

Active Learning Committee, (Margarita Lenk, Colorado State University; Dasaratha V. Rama, University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth) Margarita Lenk, Chair, 1997 - 1998, explained that the mission of this committee is to (a) showcase new "active learning," or real-world experiential, pedagogues, (b) provide easy access to resources and mentoring in active learning methods, (c) encourage a forum so that AAA members continuously evaluate experiential teaching methods critically and creatively, and (d) provide ample opportunities for AAA service leadership development. The first focus of the Active Learning Committee is service learning, which involves students in providing accounting, audit, tax, systems, and/or tutoring services to a variety of non-profit organizations. Future plans for the committee include showcasing ideas for service learning on the web and developing resources such as an Active Learning Glossary and Faculty handbook. Professor Lenk praised D. V. Rama for her dedication to the promotion of excellence in active learning and her inspiration, vision, and determination toward the creation and work of this committee. Edward Zlotkowski (AAHE) gave a brief report on the future of service learning in all disciplines in general and in accounting and business courses specifically. He praised D. V. Rama for her authorship of the monograph published by AAHE, "Learning by Doing." D. V. Rama, Chair 1998 - 1999, then summarized the future plans for this committee and encouraged those interested to get involved with the committee.

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