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Stakeholders realize that accounting educators must focus more on the broader skills necessary to help students become self-regulated learners so they may effectively cope with changes in technology and regulations in the field (Wyer, 1993). Recognizing the need for change in accounting education, the Accounting Education Change Commission (AECC) (1992), and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) (1999) encourage accounting educators to provide active learning opportunities and to integrate the creative use of technology into the curriculum, particularly in introductory accounting courses (AECC, 1992; Saunders & Christopher, 2003). These pronouncements acknowledge the impact of technology on business operations and the need for accounting professionals to become more proficient in the effective use of technology. However, they do not provide specific recommendations on how accounting educators should meet these initiatives.
In spite of the recommendations from the AECC (1992) and the AICPA (1999), accounting faculty members remain resistant to innovative teaching and learning strategies that encourage students to actively participate in their own learning and to the effective use of technologies in the delivery of subject content. Saunders and Christopher (2003) found in a survey of 106 accounting chairpersons from mostly AACSB accredited institutions that few accounting programs require students to attend a laboratory session (15.1%), few require completion of a simulation (20%), and approximately one half (54.3%) require completion of a computer assignment as part of an introductory accounting course.
Also, in an effort to determine which technologies had widespread application among accounting educators, Ahadiat (2008) analyzed data collected from 288 respondents from across the country. The participants were randomly selected from the 2004-2005 Accounting Faculty Directory (Hasselback, 2004). He found the most popular applications of technology in accounting education were email for communication with colleagues (90.2%), the Internet for information retrieval (90%), word processing for student assignments (88%), spreadsheets for grades (86%), presentation software (71%), and data analysis software for personal use (54%).