The accounting program changes in progress at the University of North Texas (UNT) include three distinct elements, a Professional Learning Core (LCORE), a Professional Business Foundation (BFOUND), and redesigned accounting courses (RACCT). LCORE includes from 72 to 87 hours of general education and relies heavily on the UNT Classic Learning Core (CLC) developed by the College of Arts and Sciences faculty. The CLC is nationally recognized as a model curriculum integrating the various arts and science disciplines around central learning themes—virtue, civility, reason, and accountability, and for its horizontal and vertical integration of the various disciplines into a coherent curriculum.

The grant-supported program is a five-year educational program. Although the agreement with the AECC provided for only two groups of entrants to the program, to date the Department has four groups of entrants and expects to continue the program beyond the period covered by the AECC grant.

The Department’s goals for the program are as follows:

• improve the knowledge base provided, especially with respect to general education and in understanding the way accounting relates to other disciplines.
• enhance communication skills—reading, writing, speaking and listening.
• improve interpersonal skills and the capacity to work as a member of a team.
• upgrade competence in the use of abstract logic and the exercise of critical thinking.
• stimulate sensitivity to professional and social responsibilities.
• intensify the desire for continued learning.

CLC instructors integrate general education courses by using the central learning themes of virtue, civility and reason and through the use of a common set of classic books. To these three original themes, a fourth theme, accountability, has been added as a result of cooperative efforts of CLC and LCORE. CLC instructors meet regularly throughout the year and at a 40-hour seminar at the end of each academic year. Accounting instructors have joined these meetings for the past three years, and at the most recent 40-hour seminar accountants presented half of the program. All RACCT courses continue the central themes of virtue, civility, reason, and accountability.

The BFOUND includes two basic accounting courses and one systems course that are dramatically different from traditional courses. The two basic courses introduce the whole discipline of accounting—financial, auditing, systems, managerial, and taxation—and cover the uses of accounting information in all types of organizations, including not-for-profit and international organizations. These courses are also structured to utilize varied pedagogical approaches and to introduce students to teamwork.

The third accounting course is a systems course that covers collection, organization, and summarization of data with emphasis on the use of the computer. In the most recent iteration of the course, the instructor used courseware developed at Arizona State University as a significant portion of the course content. The courseware covers financial accounting topics in a simulated business operation, and enables students to learn double-entry bookkeeping in the process. Eventually, the courseware will be used as a stand-alone that students will complete prior to taking the systems course, thus permitting coverage of additional material in systems.

Clusters of business and related subjects are scheduled during the four semesters that make up years three and four of the program. Each cluster includes an accounting course. For example, the managerial cluster includes accounting, production, organization behavior, marketing, and psychology. Instructors of the accounting courses coordinate the clusters.

Bringing the targeted results of the cluster courses to fruition is a stiff challenge. Textbooks suited to the integrated approach are not available, and alternate material is not easy to find or develop. Instructors must cope with changing course content, locating suitable materials, and establishing links to the content of related subjects all at the same time. In addition, they want to vary the methods of instruction, engage in team-building, and use team assignments. Instructors who have offered courses are convinced that they are moving in the right direction, and that they have made significant progress. These courses are likely to change significantly through each of several iterations.

As part of the PLC effort the Department, in cooperation with two other units at the University (The Center for the Study of Work Teams and The Center for Instructional Services), developed a training video entitled “Effective Team Building.” The purpose of the video is to assist instructors who have little or no background in team building with the task of using team assignments in their classes. The video lasts for approximately 70 minutes and contains the following modules:

• Goals and Roles
• Communication Skills
• Conflict Resolution, and
• Team Development

Copies of the film are available for the cost of reproduction from the University’s Center for Educational Technology in Accounting (CETA). Interested parties should write to CETA, University of North Texas, P.O. Box 13677, Denton, Texas 76203-6677.

The Department recently initiated an effort to transfer benefits of the PLC Program to its other programs. Budget cuts at the University make this effort both more difficult and more important.