INSIDE

By Roger A. Gee

San Diego Mesa College
Email: roger_gee@msn.com

I believe to the core of my bones that all college students, by the time they graduate, should be as comfortable using the computer as they are driving their cars. That comfort level can be reached only if the students are required to use computers in every class.

That said, let me tell you what happened in my financial accounting classes this spring. At the beginning of the semester, I announced to my students that they would complete all assignments using a computer. I promised that I would have transparencies showing how homework problems can be completed using spreadsheet software. I also said that I would give points for evidence of intellectual attempt.

The students treated my offer as a license to experiment. I was delighted with the variety of ways the students used spreadsheet software to solve problems. My fears that students would do the work and make copies for their buddies were unfounded. Some students, who discovered they didn’t know much about Microsoft Excel, took a quick course in our computer labs.

I was so happy with their assignments that I decided to have the students do 20 percent of the midterm exam (the problems) at home on their computers. I was shocked at what most of my students turned in.

First, they solved the problems on paper by following the exhibits in the textbook. Most students attached the paperwork to the computer printouts. They did the calculations using pocket calculators.

Second, they transferred their work to spreadsheets with difficulty because spreadsheets are not word processing documents. Transposition errors occurred.

Third, they complained about how much time it took them to do the work—about three times longer than I expected. (My guess is they had a hard time reading their chicken scratch.)

I asked my students why they used manual approaches to solving the problems. “Because of the illustrations in the textbook,” they said. If the exhibits had been illustrated using spreadsheet examples, they would have followed them. They were not about to risk getting a lower grade by departing from their textbooks.

The exhibit that accompanies this article shows what I expected vs. what I got. It’s a portion of an ending-inventory calculation problem. I showed my students an example of what I wanted (cell range A4-E12). I’m showing you an example of what I got (cell range A16-F23). The students agreed that the problems could have been solved faster if spreadsheet examples had been in the textbook. One of my students suggested that sample formulas and functions (rows G & H) should be included in the exhibits.

A lot of improvements have been made to textbooks that are used for the first course in accounting. They fall short, however, when it comes to illustrating the technology used in business. The publishers tell me that faculty won’t adopt books that depart from manual accounting. Are the publishers right? Email your answer to me.