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A Course in Information
Systems Assurance: Collaborative Discovery Learning Online Many auditors believe that the assurance services of the future will encompass a wider range of activities than traditional financial and operational auditing (Internal Auditor 1996; AICPA 1997; Elliott 1997). This belief is manifest in the profession’s exhortations to faculty to inculcate problem-solving skills, teamwork and a lifelong learning orientation in students (AECC 1990). The uncertainty about what specific services will be relevant in the future precludes faculty from knowing which specific assurance approaches in which domains they should incorporate in their courses. One answer to the question of what to teach concerning assurance services is to prepare students for anything they might encounter rather than just the types of auditing engagements that are common now. Relevant to the content of a course in information systems assurance, the anything that students might encounter covers a broad range, e.g., using computer-assisted audit techniques to provide assurance for the results reported by any information system, assuring the continuous reliability of any information system by evaluating its processes and assuring the continuing adequacy of access control for any information system. The masters-level Information Systems Assurance course at Georgia State University has been redeveloped to meet students’ need to be able to work in teams to provide assurance services in new contexts. The course poses learning to solve problems as discovery learning, in which students learn to recognize a problem, characterize what a solution would look like, search for relevant information, develop a solution strategy and execute the solution strategy (Anzai and Simon 1979; Kulkarni and Simon 1988; Dunbar 1993; Norman and Spohrer 1996; Brandt 1997; Sabelli 1998; Schank 1998). Similarly, students learn to engage in teamwork by working collaboratively in teams toward team objectives (Okada and Simon 1997). This article explains the implementation of the course (syllabus at http://www.gsu.edu/~accafb/ac863.htm). WHAT STUDENTS DO Before each class, students prepare their approaches to meeting an assurance need that is represented by a description of an organizational context. Depending on the class, students prepare a list of risks and control weaknesses, an evaluation of internal control, an audit plan, or an implementation of an audit plan. There are resource materials for each class that help students develop their understanding of the assurance need, the extant professional guidance pertaining to it, and existing techniques and strategies. All the materials are available online on the web. Students convert the materials they develop to web pages, which they load on the class server. To join a class session, students start a web browser, enter the URL for the platform software (WebCT), give their userids and passwords, and open a presentation window and a discussion window. Using the presentation window lets students view (and copy) the materials that any student or the instructor has prepared for that class. Using the discussion window lets students and the instructor converse through their keyboards and screens. The discussion scrolls continuously as participants enter their comments. The presentation window and the discussion window appear on screen together. During a class session, students have the opportunity to ask questions about the resource materials. Once such questions have been answered, students present their approaches to the day’s assurance need and discuss the relative merits of different aspects of different ones. During or after a class session, a group solution to that day’s assurance need can be created and loaded on the server. All class discussions are logged, and the log is made available to students. The existence of the logs makes note taking during class unnecessary; instead, students, knowing that details are being recorded, can devote all their energy to participating in class. Having a log of class discussions also permits students that could not join a class session to catch up completely. The platform software also supports email and an online bulletin board for students and the instructor to communicate with each other. Examinations are administered online, and students can access their scores and question solutions online. WHAT COLLABORATIVE DISCOVERY LEARNING ONLINE ACHIEVES The rationale for the course as collaborative discovery learning is to prepare students for work environments in which new problems are the norm and in which groups of professionals work together to solve them (Schrage 1990; Brown and Duguid 1991, 1998; Nonaka 1994; Macdonald 1995; Vega and Lacey 1996; Leidner and Fuller 1997; Raelin 1997). In this environment, it is more important to help students learn how to find or create knowledge as they need it rather than to teach them only what they need to know now. The online course facilitates discovery learning in that the knowledge students need to solve specific problems is available to them online, through materials prepared expressly for that purpose and through web pages prepared by others. The online course facilitates collaborative learning in that online discussion and access to web pages permits students to develop solutions to problems interactively and to retain those solutions for reuse later. Online access to all source and assignment materials permits all information to be more available, which increases the likelihood that relevant information can be brought to bear on problem solving. With online access, the performance limitation is no longer what one remembers but how well one can understand the problem space and match information to aspects of the problem. Having machine-readable (and thus machine-searchable) access to the work of others—students and professionals—makes a collaborative learning environment possible. The online course makes it easier for professional guests to participate in classes. Information systems assurance is a course for which there is a ready supply of interested accountants and auditors willing to enrich students’ learning by sharing their experiences and counsel. Having online classes makes it easier for them to join a class and make relevant materials about the accounting profession and business and their organizations available to students. With respect to measurable performance differences, there was no significant difference (analysis of variance, adjusted for student GPA) between the final exam scores on equivalent objective questions of students in the first online section (Fall, 1997) and in the last traditional section (Winter, 1997). This outcome is consistent with the online students having mastered as many “facts” and their application as traditional students. Similarly, there was no difference between student performance on subjectively graded exam questions, which required students to develop audit plans for auditing a specific information system. Students were pleasantly surprised by the richness of their online discussions and the diversity of viewpoints that emerged. The aspects students liked best about the online course were the choice they had of where to be during class sessions and the existence of the discussion logs that freed them from taking notes. Non-native English speakers were especially glad to have access to discussion logs. Independent of the course content, students have been happy that they had the opportunity to learn to work with others on the net. In addition
to allowing students to benefit from collaborative discovery
learning, the online course has other potential benefits. Because
students do not have to be together physically, the course is
accessible to those working or living elsewhere, temporarily or
permanently. Professionals can take the course regardless of their
work locations, and students can take the course even if it is not
available from their home institutions. The online course also
helps students learn to function in a workplace in which
professionals collaborate with electronic tools to achieve team
objectives but rarely see each other due to time or distance
constraints (Zigurs and Kozar 1994; Barua et al. 1995; Brown et
al. 1998). These students will be ready to participate in the “temporary,
self-managed gathering[s] of diverse individuals engaged in a
common task” (Malone and Laubacher, 146) that has been
proposed as the model for knowledge work in the future (Laubacher
et al. 1997). REFERENCES Accounting
Education Change Commission (AECC). 1990. Objectives of education
for accountants: Position statement number one. Issues in
Accounting Education 5 (2): 307–312. |