Sharpen Your Teaching Skills Sessions

Presented on Friday and Saturday at the meeting, sessions in this track will feature presentations by educators from across the country sharing valuable teaching tips that you can put to use immediately in your classes

April 27

1:45 pm - 3:25 pm
Session 2.01: Intermediate Accounting I - Intervention and Student Success
Presenters: L. Craig Foltin, Cleveland State University, Heidi H. Meier, Cleveland State University, Peter J. Poznanski, Cleveland State University, Jan Rose, Cleveland State University
Each semester, accounting educators ask how we can help Intermediate Accounting I (Intermediate) students succeed. After reviewing statistics on the number of students withdrawing or failing Intermediate, we set out to find out WHY students are not succeeding and WHAT we can do to improve their performance. This past Fall, we embarked on the following investigation. We explored issues our students experience and tried remedial approaches to enhance their performance and change this outcome. We view this strategy as imperative not just to ensure student success, but for the viability of our accounting program, and key to our assessment of learning. Our investigation included: Administering a pre-test to help identify Intermediate students in need of remediation; examining contributing success factors (grades from Introduction to Accounting (Intro), time lapse between Intro and Intermediate, where Intro was taken, increased workload and difficulty, etc.); and developed several interventions for students entering Intermediate including in-person workshops, online tutorials, and video lectures with the purpose to "intervene" to help them be better prepared and succeed. This session will be a discussion of factors considered for success, the remediation we offered and its impact, and the future of these efforts across the Intro and Intermediate curriculum.

3:55 pm - 5:35 pm
Session 3.01: An Introduction to Writing Database Queries for Accounting Majors
Presenter: R. Drew Sellers, Kent State University
Employers increasingly expect entry level accountant or auditors to be able to extract and summarize data from multiple sources. Our accounting students will benefit from developing basic database query writing skills. You don't need to be a techie to help your students learn how to write useful database queries. We will review a set of self-contained materials that we use with Kent State accounting students to provide our students with hands-on practice with structured query language, SQL. This module can fit within many different courses in your accounting curriculum, e.g. an AIS class, auditing, an accounting analytics class, etc. Materials to be reviewed include; text (pdf), instructor slides, sample MS Access databases, example queries and assignments.

April 28

9:05 am - 10:45 am
Session 4.01: Using Design Thinking to Create a Pleasing, but Challenging, Innovative Accounting Class
Presenter: Marsha M. Huber, Youngstown State University
This session is designed to help you redesign your classes using design thinking techniques. Bring a syllabus, and we will work on revitalizing your accounting class. First, we will use a technique called "ADD-SUBTRACT-MULTIPLY-DIVIDE" where we will examine what you do in the class. Second, we will use the technique called "ROSE, BUD, THORN" to evaluate your course assignments. Third, we will use EMPATHY to review the requirements in your class given the student's viewpoint and self-determination theory, introducing you to the "FLEXCLASS" idea. Finally, we will conclude by creating NEW interventions that help move students toward developing the skill sets they need to succeed as professional accountants.

11:15 am - 12:30 pm
Session 5.01: A New Way to View, Approach and Teach a Tax Research Course
Presenters: Doron Narotzki, The University of Akron, Melanie McCoskey, The University of Akron
The Tax Research course is a fundamental and critical course for every tax student, no matter if the student is a seasoned tax professional with years of experience or an incoming first year associate. The goal of this course is to challenge the student and show him or her that no matter what the tax issue is, there is an answer out there. Vital answers to those issues may be found in the Internal Revenue Code, Treasury Regulation, court cases, IRS documents, or perhaps in a combination of sources. There are many Tax Research textbooks, all written by experienced tax professors and practitioners who bring years of experience and attempt to provide students with instruction on how to conduct a thorough tax research project and where to look.