Accounting @ Macquarie |
Design & implementation
ACCG 399 is currently delivered twice a year, over a 13-week semester, with an average student cohort of between 600-700.
The portfolio has been designed around a three-stage learning cycle that replaces a more ‘traditional’ tutorial programme, commonly found in accounting courses. The three-stage learning cycle is built upon the notion of ‘Think-Act-Reflect’ – where the learning environment has been re-envisioned for the student.
During the ‘think’ phase a student is required to engage in a thought activity prior to attending their tutorial. An illustrative example is where a student is asked to reflect back on their overall learning experience in accounting, thinking about the meaning of accounting, accountability and an accountant and engage in a reflective pre-discussion thought activity with the assistance of probing questions. These questions include, for example, ‘what is it that you perceive, see, feel and think about each of these three concepts?’ ‘what have you learned up until this point?’, ‘can you describe some of the things you have enjoyed?’, ‘can you describe some of the things you have found difficult, struggled with or were just really confusing?’, ‘why you have struggled with these aspects and how they made you feel?’, ‘things that you would still like to discover?’, ‘how you might approach your learning in accounting differently in the future?’
The portfolio has been designed around a three-stage learning cycle that replaces a more ‘traditional’ tutorial programme, commonly found in accounting courses. The three-stage learning cycle is built upon the notion of ‘Think-Act-Reflect’ – where the learning environment has been re-envisioned for the student.
During the ‘think’ phase a student is required to engage in a thought activity prior to attending their tutorial. An illustrative example is where a student is asked to reflect back on their overall learning experience in accounting, thinking about the meaning of accounting, accountability and an accountant and engage in a reflective pre-discussion thought activity with the assistance of probing questions. These questions include, for example, ‘what is it that you perceive, see, feel and think about each of these three concepts?’ ‘what have you learned up until this point?’, ‘can you describe some of the things you have enjoyed?’, ‘can you describe some of the things you have found difficult, struggled with or were just really confusing?’, ‘why you have struggled with these aspects and how they made you feel?’, ‘things that you would still like to discover?’, ‘how you might approach your learning in accounting differently in the future?’
Students then attend a tutorial during the ‘act’ phase where they engage in both individual and group activities and discussion. Continuing the above illustrative example, students engage in the creation of a photographic image collage, constructed from students conceptions of accounting and their relation to images located within various lifestyle magazines. Student collages are then discussed in small groups and through a tutor-facilitated discussion relating to an accounting context. Students are encouraged at this point to discuss as a group key points and images raised and whether this is how they had viewed accounting, accountability and an accountant, or not!
The final phase, requires students to ‘reflect’ where they engage in a post-thought activity requiring them to synthesis their learning and express areas for further development. This is then captured through the writing up of activities, discussion and captured artefacts. For the illustrative example above, students are required to create a consensus across their reflections and peer discussions focused around key questions to assist thought and further reflection. These questions include, ‘how did you find your experience of this tutorial activity, in general?’, ‘how did it make you feel when completing this activity?’, ‘can you describe how you visualised (saw) accounting, based on the images you sourced?’, ‘looking back on your written description outlined in your Thought Activity and think about this in comparison with your collage image. Has your perspective changed or developed in any way since then, if so can you describe this?’