The Accounting Educator
The Newsletter of the Teaching
and Curriculum Section
American Accounting Association
Volume V, No. 1 [Fall, 1995]
I assume this letter will find all of you excited
about the start of a new year and heavily involved with
your teaching, research, and service commitments. The
Teaching and Curriculum section had a very informative
business meeting in Orlando, although the number of
attendees was down due to the time slot (we will
hopefully correct this in Chicago). Two committees with
the topics of "Attracting the Best and the Brightest
to Accountancy" and "Promoting and Evaluating
Effective Teaching" discussed their activities and
responded to questions from the audience. It was decided
by the executive committee that the reports should be
sent to all of our members so that those not in
attendance would have access to the findings. As Chair I
feel that the role of the Section should be to distribute
to our members as much information on accounting
education as possible. As in the past, the results of the
work of our committees will also be published in the Journal
of Accounting Education in an effort to maximize the
dissemination of the findings.
The last few years have been difficult for many of us in
the academic side of the profession. We have witnessed
changes in the alleged needs of the employers hiring our
students, calls for change in the way we educate our
students, increased demands from our funding groups
concerning the results of our efforts while reducing the
support they provide, and a downward trend in business
school enrollments around the country. It is not clear
where the profession is heading, but it is clear that the
problems we are encountering are not easily solved. In
addition to these concerns, we are also dealing with the
150-hour requirement and its effect on our programs. Due
to the questions/concerns that have been expressed to me
by many of our members, I have established a committee to
study the effects of the 150-hour requirement on those
schools that are not considered to be the
"flagship" programs in their state. There are
serious issues that need to be addressed focusing on -the
gap between the "haves" and "have
nots" and the widening of this gap in the current
environment. Sue Ravenscroft from Eastern Michigan
University has agreed to chair the committee. If you have
any thoughts or input of any type on the 150-hour
requirement, please contact Sue or myself.
I have also established a committee consisting of the
past Chairs to examine where the Section is going in
relation to the needs of the members and the strategic
plan of the AAA. Our size and importance in the AAA
necessitate some type of game plan as to the direction we
wish to take; the member survey completed last year and
the ongoing input from our colleagues will help us in our
efforts. In addition, we have approved updating and
expanding the efforts of David Stout in his
"Graduate Program Resource Guide" and are
searching for sponsors to help us in this area.
I would like to see a renewed effort in the recruiting of
section members, especially at our regional meetings.
Although we are one of the fastest . growing sections,
our rate of growth is beginning to level off, with
current membership approaching fifteen hundred. I will be
asking the regional representatives to appoint an
individual from each region to work on increasing our
numbers. If you have suggestions or ideas in this area or
wish to help, please feet free to contact me.
Included in this newsletter is some important information
on our financial condition and several proposed
amendments discussed at the national meeting. You will be
asked to vote by mail on the three amendments; I have
included a summary of Council's discussion with the
amendments. It is important to note that in addition to
the amendments, there was a separate discussion on the
issue of how we vote for AAA executive officers. At the
current time the voting takes place at the national
meeting by those in attendance. It has been suggested
that this process be changed so that all members of the
AAA have the opportunity to vote by mail ballot. This
will allow you to have input into the selection of the
executive officers regardless of your ability to attend
the national meeting. I will keep you posted on the
outcome of these discussions.
I hope that you are able to attend one of the regional
meetings or the national meeting and participate in the
section activities/presentations/sessions. Attendance at
the Teaching. and Curriculum sessions is always
impressive and the topics are normally very informative.
Interest in the instructional topics is a reflection of
the ongoing change in the priorities of our profession.
Please remember that we need your input and ideas to keep
the Section viable and responsive to the membership, so
let us know how we are doing and what changes need to be
made! Thanks and have a good semester.
Submitted by Dick Baker
The new Educational Technology Award created by the
Center for Educational Technology in Accounting was
presented to E. Barry Rice of Loyola College in Maryland
at the Annual Business Meeting of the Teaching and
Curriculum (T&C) Section. Mr. Rice was selected by a
committee of the T&C Section based on his use of
classroom technology. He is also Director of the Pacioli
International Centre for Accounting Education Using
Computers and Multimedia, and has sponsored four Trends
in Computerized Accounting Education Conferences.
Submitted by Bob Sanborn and Joe
Hoyle, University of Richmond
Learning about and using technology can seem so
complex, confusing and of doubtful use that many
professors simply do not try. In fact, often our students
drag us along with their insistence on doing
"something new." Recently we at the University
of Richmond have found a way to encourage our entire
community to increase use of the Net for educational
purposes. Most Nets have User News Groups available.
These are very much like those "bulletin
boards" you may have heard so much about. People can
leave messages on the News Group to each other and anyone
who accesses the News Group can read and respond to the
message. We are establishing News Groups for many of our
classes this fall. Anyone who accesses our net will be
able to read and leave messages, but their name and user
address will be recorded. Our aim is for our students to
leave questions for each other. These question -s should
be about the course they are taking. For example, on the
Intermediate One News Group a student might ask for help
in solving a dollar value LIFO question. Other students
could then respond with their suggestions. We plan on
having each professor who teaches the course covered by
the News Group monitor the Group at least two times a
week. Our syllabi will include a reward structure which
provides bonus points for distribution to the "best
question" and "best answer" of the week.
We hope that this exercise will expand our students and
our own use of the Net for educational purposes. Our aim
is to also stimulate our students to think about our
classes and subject more often when they are out of
class. A few classes used this idea during the past
spring semester, but this fall will be our first expanded
effort using the idea. If anyone has suggestions or
comments please send back a note to Sandra Byrd for use
in future issues and/or contact me at
sanborn@urvax.urich.edu (Tel. 804-289-8573).
Deputy Webmaster, Teaching and Curriculum Section of the American
Accounting Association
Meg Dwyer - University of
Wisconsin-Eau Claire
Newsletters Maintained by
Sandra Byrd - Southwest
Missouri State University
Last Updated: January 22, 1999
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