Experiential Learning – A Case Study of the Use of Computerised Stock Market Trading Simulation in Finance Education

Abstract

Finance is a popular programme of study in UK higher education despite it being a challenging subject that requires students to understand and apply complex and abstract mathematical models and academic theories. Educational simulation is an active learning method found to be useful in enhancing students’ learning experience, but there has been limited pedagogic research attention on its use in finance education within the UK. This paper, utilising an on-line survey, provides a snapshot of the current usage of finance-related simulations across the 97 UK universities offering finance programmes. The paper also reports the findings of a case study that offers insights into the effectiveness of introducing computerised simulation into a postgraduate finance course from both a student and tutor perspective. It highlights an enhancing learning experience for students through concrete experience and reflective observation, increasing their understanding of difficult and complex finance concepts.     

The Impact of Computer-Assisted Learning on Academic Grades: An Assessment of Students' Perceptions

Abstract

This study examines student perceptions of the usefulness of Computer-Assisted Learning (CAL) packages in learning accounting concepts in terms of the influence on academic performance. Various additional factors affecting academic performance [such as gender, prior studies of accounting, and computer systems, together with entry background] are incorporated in the development of a multiple regression model, together with perceptions of CAL. The study uses a sample of 280 second-year undergraduate accounting students from an Australian university to test the model. In contrast to prior studies (e.g. Lane and Porch, 2002, Accounting Education: an international journal, 11(3), pp. 217–233), this study showed that positive perceptions of the usefulness of CAL significantly influenced performance. Additionally, it was found that international students, many of whom enter university at the second year level having obtained advanced standing credits, had significantly poorer performance than local students. The findings show that gender, prior studies of accounting and computing systems were not significant influences on academic performance. Overall, the results have implications for accounting educators utilising CAL in courses as a means of improving students' understanding of accounting concepts and academic performance.     

The influence of self-efficacy beliefs and prior learning on performance

This research examines self-efficacy beliefs and prior learning of accounting students to determine how useful these variables are for predicting academic success in accounting courses. Self-efficacy beliefs are the confidence one has in the ability to perform certain tasks or skills (Bandura, 1997). As Bandura (1977) argued, the results here showed that confidence in one's ability to succeed is the most powerful predictor of academic success. This research provides pathways for increased student success by indicating that a focus on enhancing student self-efficacy will lead to higher achievement. The implications of this research for accounting education practice is discussed.     

Performance in first year university accounting: Quantifying the advantage of secondary school accounting

Considerable research has been conducted into the relation between students' level of previous accounting knowledge and their subsequent performance in first year university-level accounting. This study considers variables for academic performance and previous accounting knowledge in an attempt to quantify the advantage that high school accounting gives students entering tertiary business courses. The results indicate that for students entering tertiary courses with similar academic ability, i.e., obtained the same entrance score, the first year tertiary accounting result obtained by a student who studied accounting previously is between one and two grades higher than that of a student who did not study accounting at high school.     

An intelligent tutoring system for the accounting cycle: Enhancing textbook homework with artificial intelligence

This paper describes an electronic tutoring system, developed using principles of artificial intelligence (AI), to help students learn the accounting cycle. Unlike other educational technologies, the tutoring system provides instruction and feedback that is tailored to each individual student and addresses not only problem-solving outcomes but also problem-solving processes. To assess the effectiveness of the tutoring system, we administered a pre-test and then required students in a sophomore accounting course to use either the tutoring system or their textbook as a reference when journalizing transactions for a homework assignment. We then administered a post-test. A pre-post analysis showed that the tutor group’s test performance increased approximately 27% points, whereas the textbook group’s test performance improved by only 8% points. Implications of these findings for instructors and researchers are discussed.     

Performance in Accountancy Courses

This paper seeks to determine whether student performance differs in what can be termed ‘academic’ and ‘professional’ undergraduate courses. The results indicate that student performance is lower in courses that are required to meet the academic requirements of the Accountancy profession than in other courses offered by the Department. Whilst this result was to be expected, the surprising result of the study was that ACA Accountancy courses experienced higher failure rates ACA Commercial Law courses.     

The Employment Landscape for Accounting Graduates and Work Experience Relevance

This study outlines the results of a survey undertaken at an Australian university in 2007 and examines the factors that are associated with an undergraduate accounting student obtaining a job offer. Undertaking relevant part‐time work, academic performance and social (extra‐curricular) activities are significant factors leading to job offers prior to graduation. Our study also identifies a high level of part‐time work currently undertaken by full‐time students, confirming the trend identified in other studies. Interestingly, this high level of part‐time work was not found to negatively affect students’ academic performance.     

Early Birds versus Just-in-Timers: The effect of procrastination on academic performance of accounting students

This study investigates the effect of procrastination on academic performance. Prior research has often relied upon self-reported measures of procrastination, which are only weakly correlated with actual procrastination. We use the start and submission of a set of online homework problems as two objective, direct measures of student procrastination and the grade on the assignments as a measure of performance. In our study, there were a number of potential benefits to submitting online assignments ‘just-in-time’. Thus, there was a direct benefit to procrastination, which students had to weigh against potential drawbacks. With a sample size larger than those previously reported in the literature, we find that for both procrastination measures, task procrastination is associated with lower task performance. To ensure that our results are not just an association between performance and student quality, we test for the association between task procrastination and task performance, while controlling for student quality. We find that even after controlling for student quality, task procrastination is associated with lower task performance.     

Goal‐efficacy framework: an examination of domestic and international accounting students' academic performance

This study considers the psychological influences on academic performance using a goal‐efficacy framework. Data were gathered using a survey questionnaire (N = 375). The paper is motivated by a repeated high failure rate for a second‐year core accounting unit and anecdotal evidence that international students perform poorly in comparison with domestic students. The results demonstrate the role of self‐regulated learning strategy as a mediating variable for goal orientation and academic performance. While the analyses suggest no significant differences between domestic and international students with respect to the main psychological variables and academic performance, further analyses reveal that four specific factors of the main psychological variables are significantly different between domestic and international students.     

Student performance in tertiary-level accounting: an international student focus

The present paper provides empirical evidence regarding the academic performance of university students studying accounting. In particular, the effect of student origin is investigated by comparing the accounting performance of resident and international students. The present study controls for a number of other key variables, including ability, anxiety, work experience in accounting, accounting study prior to university and enrolment status. The question of whether international student performance improves over time through an acculturation effect is also investigated. Bivariate analyses revealed higher anxiety and lower general ability for international vis‐à‐vis resident students yet no significant difference in accounting performance between the two groups. After controlling for key variables, an association was observed between student origin and accounting performance with superior performance reported for the international student cohort. Statistically significant relationships were also observed between accounting performance and ability, anxiety, employment experience in accounting, enrolment status and accounting study prior to university. An acculturation effect was not clearly evidenced.     

Why are first‐year accounting studies inclusive?

This study is motivated by the increasing diversity among first‐year accounting students and the increasing number of first‐year accounting students whose majors are not in accounting related areas in UK universities. The main contribution of this study is that it uses student data over four consecutive academic years from a first‐year accounting course at a UK university to provide empirical evidence in support of the theoretical framework proposed by Rankin et al. (2003). Our results show the effects of metacognitive knowledge and content knowledge on academic performance as well as highlighting the inclusiveness of the first‐year accounting course. For instance, regardless of the choices of secondary subjects, students who have good prior academic achievement are the best performers on the first‐year accounting course. The influence of content knowledge on academic performance is strongly felt when the assessments of the course changed from a 100 per cent final exam to a combination of mid‐term coursework and a final exam. The results suggest that well‐designed mid‐term coursework is academically beneficial to accounting students, especially non‐native English‐speaking students.     

The relation of student engagement and other admission metrics to Master of Accounting student performance

This paper examines whether the use of student engagement (SE) information as part of the admissions process can help us to predict student academic success in Master of Accounting (MAC) programs. The association of SE, undergraduate grade point average (UGPA), and Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) score to academic performance was tested using 890 MAC students enrolled at a large southern US university between 2004 and 2014. We find that SE is a strong predictor of student success in the MAC program, after controlling for GMAT score and UGPA. The results of this study support the use of SE attributes or characteristics by MAC Admission Committees when determining which students to admit into their programs.     

Accounting “Boot Camp”

This study examines the effectiveness of a program designed to set appropriate student expectations and motivate students to put forth the necessary effort to succeed in intermediate accounting and other upper-division accounting courses. At a mid-sized public university in the Western US many students enrolled in Intermediate Accounting I (their first upper-division course) struggle with the rigor and academic demands of this course, resulting in failure rates of 30–45%. In many cases, students new to upper-division courses appear to lack a commitment to, or awareness of, the effort needed for success in the accounting program. The faculty implemented an accounting “Boot Camp” to prepare new accounting majors for the expectations of the program. This paper details the implementation of the Boot Camp and reviews its effectiveness by comparing the performance of attendees with the performance of non-attendees. After controlling for other contributing factors, the evidence suggests that attendees outperform their non-attending peers in Intermediate Accounting I. This relatively low-cost intervention should be attractive to faculty concerned about the common problem of students failing and then retaking intermediate accounting.     

Impact of a Flexible Evaluation System on Effort and Timing of Study

This paper examines results of a flexible grading system that allows each student to influence the weight allocated to each performance measure. We construct a stylized model to determine students' optimal responses. Our analytical model predicts different optimal strategies for students with varying academic abilities: a frontloading strategy for those with high academic ability and a gambling strategy for others. We test the model using data gathered from several sections of an Intermediate Accounting course offered by a Canadian university. We find that most students did make decisions that were consistent with our analytical model. Our results suggest that the flexible evaluation system does not uniformly motivate students of differing abilities and does not encourage most students to maintain effort uniformly throughout the semester.     

College students and credit card companies: Implications of attitudes

More knowledge and understanding is needed regarding the mechanisms influencing college student attitudes toward credit card companies and the behavior that students exhibit using credit cards. Prior literature in the area has been sparse. The current article is an attempt to fill the gap in existing literature. Using survey data, we try to find the determinants of college student attitude toward credit card companies and the responsible use of credit cards. Our findings indicate that a strong positive link exists between student attitude toward credit card companies and responsible credit behavior. Two distinct groups of students are identified – one with a positive attitude toward credit card companies and positive credit use behaviors; the other with the opposing attitude and behavior. Reward cards, payment behavior, number of credit cards, modes of acquisition, awareness about credit card policies, purpose for using credit cards, impulsiveness and certain student characteristics are all indicated as variables that help discriminate between the two different student groups. Our findings have implications for both higher education institutions and credit card firms.     

Determinants and consequences of student satisfaction in Australian Universities: Evidence from QILT Surveys

We examine the determinants and consequences of student satisfaction, measured by satisfaction scores reported in the QILT surveys from 2012 to 2017. We find that university-level profitability determines overall student satisfaction, where a positive relationship exists between student satisfaction and university performance. This association is more pronounced for Group of Eight (Go8) universities and those with higher academic expenditure. These findings have important implications for higher education providers as the Australian Government is contemplating the use of QILT student satisfaction in allocating public funding for higher education.     

Achievement Goal Theory: The Relationship of Accounting Students’ Goal Orientations with Self-efficacy,Anxiety, and Achievement

Abstract

Students’ goal orientations are examined using two major frameworks for learning: achievement goal theory (AGT) and students’ approaches to learning (SAL). Previous student success research is extended, by examining goal constructs from the AGT framework to determine if they help explain the learning process in accounting. Data were gathered using an established instrument and used to examine how mastery and performance goals are related to students’ academic expectations, achievement, self-efficacy, and test anxiety. Cluster analysis was used to identify four motivation groupings (multiple-goal, mastery, performance, and low motivation). Pairwise comparisons of groups, for expected grades, self-efficacy, anxiety, final exam grade, and course grade, identified differences among some of the clusters. Results suggest that a combination of mastery and performance goal motivations, rather than a singular perspective, may provide better outcomes related to course grades, while reducing dysfunctional outcomes. Based on the results, suggestions are provided to help instructors influence student success.     

A quasi-experimental assessment of interactive student response systems on student confidence,effort, and course performance

The interactive student response system (SRS), commonly referred to as ‘clickers,’ is an alternative learning method that has the potential to improve student course (i.e., quiz/examination) performance. Prior SRS studies both within accounting and other academic disciplines have found conflicting results as to its influence on student course performance. This quasi-experimental study re-examines the relationship between the use of an SRS and course performance. We also investigate how using SRS influences student confidence and time spent studying outside of class. Unlike prior SRS related studies, we tested both our SRS class and our control class (with no SRS) in the same academic semester with the same instructor to provide a higher degree of experimental control. Through doing so, we compared the benefit of immediate feedback achieved by SRS to the delayed feedback of traditional assessment formats. Higher in-class performance on multiple-choice quiz items was found for students using SRS versus those who did not use SRS; however, no significant differences in examination performance or overall course performance were noted between the two groups. Students using SRS reported being more confident in their abilities and spent less time preparing for the course outside of class, while maintaining similar overall course performance when compared to those who did not use the SRS. We conclude our study by providing areas of meaningful future research related to the use of SRS.     

Labor education,cash transfers and student development: Evidence from China

Based on China Education Panel Survey data, this study used the PSM-DID method to explore the relationship between labor education and cash transfers and analyzed the causal effect of its impact on student development. We found that labor education and cash transfers can significantly improve student academic performance and cognitive and noncognitive abilities. There was an obvious crowding in effect between labor education and cash transfers. Upon increasing investment in labor education and reducing cash transfers, students improved their academic performance and had better cognitive and noncognitive abilities. We suggest that the government, schools and families increase investment in labor education to achieve a better level of student development and reduce financial burdens.     

The impact of group formation in a cooperative learning environment

Research indicates that cooperative learning (CL) has the potential to increase accounting student satisfaction without impairing the learning of technical material (Lancaster, K., & Strand, C. (2001). Using the team-learning model in a managerial accounting class: An experiment in cooperative learning. Issues in Accounting Education, 16(4), 549–567). This study investigates whether instructor-formed heterogeneous groups produce a more effective CL environment than student self-selected groups by measuring individual academic performance and perceptions. Results indicate the presence of a treatment interaction, implying that the best group composition may not be the same for all students. In some circumstances, higher ability students had statistically higher performance in more homogeneous groups. Lower ability students did better (not significant) in heterogeneous groupings. The majority of students gave high ratings to the impact of CL on learning and development of team skills. Students were only mildly interested in increasing the time spent in groups, indicating that they value both traditional teaching methods and CL.