Good vs. Bad Online Content
for Learning
Continuing Professional Education
Session
American Accounting Association
Atlanta, Georgia
August 11, 2001
“Creating and Teaching
Accounting Courses in an Online Environment”
Robert J. Walsh
Marist College
School of Management
Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
These transparencies are
available at:
www.academic.marist.edu/faculty/walsh
Overview of Typical Features
in On-line Course
1) Lecture Notes
2) Problems/Examples
3) Email
4) Electronic Bulletin Board
5) Testing Devices
6) Chat Sessions
Difficult versus Really Difficult
Lecture notes, problems, testing are
difficult
Chat sessions and bulletin boards are
really difficult
Difficult…..
Lecture notes - write it once, then
again, then again…
Give numerous examples, each
building upon one another
There are NO dumb looks
More on Lecture notes -
- Instructors almost never cover the entire textbook,
so be VERY explicit on what should be read and
understood and what should not be in each chapter.
Typically this can be put in the syllabus, and then
reinforced by use of a weekly email and/or electronic
calendar.
- Point out what problems should be done and
understood well, and what definitions should be
memorized and applied, versus just memorized.
How do you answer the student that says “I want
to do more problems at the back of each
chapter?”
- If at all possible, select a textbook with an solutions
manual (or a partial solutions manual) which can be
accessed electronic - OR - scan the answers into a
web page - OR - be prepared for a much more
difficult job teaching on-line.
More Difficult….

Testing – How often?
– How do I know that the student is “really” the
student?
– Should I have the students do computations
(fractions,etc.)? Are they required to show their
work?
– How much should I resort to multiple choice
testing?
Now for Really Difficult…
Course Communication Particularly Between Students
…and if you ask students after taking
an on-line course: “what is the one
thing that you missed from a regular
on-campus course?”
….classroom interaction, particularly
with other students
Drawbacks for Instructor

The course takes more time than a course
on-campus, and any additional features in
the communication part of the course take
even more time.
 The course may have more students than a
course on-campus.
 The instructor may not feel comfortable
using computers, or the Internet, or
communcating on-line.
Drawbacks for Students
(same as on-campus, almost!)

Some students may be shy.
 Others may say too much.
 Some students may be non-native English
speakers and/or writers.
 Others may not be assertive enough to break
into discussions.
 Some may think they do not have anything
important to say.
Communication Skills
1) Cited as important, even in the
introductory accounting courses, and
may become even more critical in an
evolving business environment;
2) Builds critical thinking skills;
3) Knowledge of accounting is
unimportant if the individual is
unable to communicate this
knowledge.
Communication in the On-line
Course

Important socially - students miss the oncampus interaction
 Important instructionally - students need to
learn to synthesize and communicate
answers to others.
Students and Instructors

For students, begin with a set of ground
rules for students, which is particularly
useful for those students who have not
previously experienced an on-line course.
 For the instructor, begin thinking about the
ways in which you want to use the
communication tools
– how much focus do I want students to have?
– what goals should they have?
– what is my role?
Create Ground Rules for
Students

Not a writing exercise - it is a dialogue.
 Elaboration on only one or two ideas in a
single bulletin board posting or “chat lines.”
 Make sure students think first, especially
before posting to the bulletin board.
 Require students to check back to bulletin
boards with 24/48 hours.
What are Some Broad
Considerations for On-line
Instructor to Remember?

Focus - it is more difficult to bring a chat
session, and particularly a stream of bulletin
board posting, back into focus.
– Consider the design of the question - what are
the possible answers?
– Consider the possibility of other student
responses.
– Consider dividing one question in two or three
different questions.
Another Broad Consideration

Goals - what do you want the student or
students to learn from this chat session or
stream of bulletin board postings?
– Knowledge?
– Analysis?
– Application?
– Synthesis?
Other thought

Instructors’ Role - how often do you, as
the instructor, want to post comments and
feedback?
– Often? Perhaps the students will feel “overly
monitored”… and also, remember students like
and miss the student-to-student interaction in a
on-campus course.
– Seldom? How much learning will really take
place?
Specific examples for chat
session use

Make participation required.
 Student led chat session on some topic with
the instructor functioning only as a
moderator.
 Restricting conversation to only one topical
area.
Exhibit 1: Example of making participation required in the on-line chat session
Instructor>>ok, suppose I set up a corporation by contribution $10,000
cash to the company. What is the journal entry?
Student 1>>DR Cash $10k, CR Owners Equity $10k
Instructor>>correct
Instructor>>Now on a balance sheet, under assets, I would have
$10,000(for cash) and under liabilties and owner's equity or capital,I would have $0 liabilities and
$10,000 of capital (so assets =
liabilities + owner's equity)
Instructor>>ok, next, student 2. Suppose I provide a service and received $5000 cash for it. What is
the journal entry?
Student 2>>DR Cash $5k; CR Service Revenue $5k
Instructor>>correct
Instructor>>ok, next, Student 3, suppose I pay an employee $500 cash in wages for work he provides to
me. What is the journal entry?
Student 3>>DR Salary Expenses $500 CR Cash $500
Instructor>>correct
Using leader 1, leader 2 and student 8, student 9 and student 10 and the instructor
Leader 1>>ok, any questions tonight?
Student 8>>How important is it that we know the j/e’s for job
costing?
Leader 1>>for job order costing?
Student 8>>yes
Student 8>>I understand the concepts but I fear I will never
remember the flow ...
Instructor>>there is one important problem -- I had the solution
optically scanned at the bottom of the lecture notes for chapter 20.
If you know that, you should be ok as a start.
Leader 1>>i think it is important to understand that the cost never
get expensed until the inventory product is actually sold
Leader 2>>so by moving raw materials into work in process
Leader 2>>or wip into finished goods, you are merely switching an
asset for an asset
Leader 2>>only when you sell the inventory -- DR-- COGS, CR-Finished Goods, and that is when we recognize an expense
Student 9>>the j/e's DR - WIP CR - Manufacturing O/H doesn't
recognize an expense as the item is made?
Leader 1>>no -- WIP is an asset (a type of inventory)
Instructor>>Remember when you paid your factory employees, previously
you would DR--Wage Expense, Cr-- Cash -- but now you DR-- Manufacturing Overhead and Cr—Cash where MOH
is again a type of asset that gets put into inventory
Exhibit 3: Example of instruction restricted to only one topical area
Here is a chat session with the instructor and students 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. The discussion is
restricted only to the computation of depreciation methods. Notice that some students (3,4
and 5) wish to ask questions in other topical areas. By focusing the discussion on only one
area, however, students are able to answer the instructors’ questions more easily.
Instructor>>As an example, let's say we buy a truck for $30,000, with a 5 year useful life
and a $5000 salvage value. What is sl in first year?
Student 1>>$5k
Instructor>>ok, $5000 is correct. what about ddb for year 1?
Student 1>>.40X30k
Instructor>>($30,000)* 1/5 * 2 = $12,000
Student 2>>$10k
Student 2>>Oh, I forgot that ddb uses the whole amount
Student 3>>Why do I want to capitalize interest expense? Doesn't
it overstate my assets and owner's equity?
Student 4>>the expense would be less so net income would be higher
Specific examples for bulletin
board session

(Warning - Incorrect usage - one or two
answers - which is VERY common in
accounting courses.)
 Asking students to provide answers to
specific questions looking up different web
sites.
 Having “master students” monitoring
different forums.
Other specific examples

Asking students to integrate real-life
business experiences into accounting
concepts.

Having students posted questions from the
examination, and other students answer
their questions.

Exhibit 4: Example of incorrect usage of electronic bulletin board posting

Instructor – Question on depreciation.

“Suppose your company purchased a truck on January 1, 2000 for $30,000. It has a 5year useful life and no salvage value. How much depreciation expense does the
company recognize on December 31, 2000 (at the end of year one) assuming straightline depreciation?”

Student 1- $6,000
Student 2 - $6,000
Student 3- $6,000
Student 4 - $6,000
Student 5- $6,000
Student 6 - $6,000
Student 7- $6,000
Student 8- $6,000
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Exhibit 5: Asking students to provide examples of companies using specific rule in accounting
(and providing URLs)
Instructor – Project 3 for students 8, 9 and 10.
“Go to a website of a hotel chain (Hilton, Holiday Inn, etc.) Review their income statement for cost
of goods sold and report what you found. Then, go to financial statement footnotes. Tell me what
types of inventory items they listed and the method of inventory used. As always, do not use the
same company as a previous poster. Also, other students will receive one credit for making
constructive comments about your postings.”
Student 8- Hilton Hotels.
“Hilton Hotels (at www.hilton.com) does not report cost of goods sold directly. I went to their
footnotes (footnote 1) and it is reported that cost of goods sold was $63 million. It does not say in the
footnotes what this is for, but I think it is for things like towels, pillows, soap, furniture, etc.”
Student 23 – Comment to Student 8, Hilton Hotels
“Hilton Hotels cost of goods sold can only be for things that they intend for resale, like stuff in the
gift shop or food.”
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Instructor – Comment to Student 23
“That is correct, student 23. One credit for you.”
Student 28 – Comment to Student 8, Hilton Hotels
“Student 8 probably swipes the towels and pillows from Hilton. So in fact it is a cost of goods sold
to Hilton Hotel.”
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Exhibit 6: Example of master student group using the topic of responsibility accounting (note
that some responses have been shortened by the authors)
Instructor – Question for master students group for week 8
“Go to the annual report for 1999 for Ford Motor Company at their web site of www.ford.com.
Discuss the presentation of Ford’s operating results by each division. Label each division as a
responsibility center of revenue, cost, profit or investment. Then take questions as other students
might present.”
Master Student Group for week 8 – Answer to instructor’s initial question
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“Ford Motor Credit Corporation is a revenue center. The annual report reports only revenue for that division.
Its Hertz division is a profit center……….”
Student 13- Question for Master Student Group for week 8
“I think FMCC should have been reported as an investment center…..What do you think?”
Master Student Group for week 8 – Answer to Student 13
“We don’t think so. FMCC had no control over the level of investment they receive from their
parent, Ford Motor Company….”
Instructor – Reply to MSG 8/ Student 13
“I don’t think we really know that – discretion over level of investment, through just reading the
annual report, do we? Can anyone else in the class find this information for certain?”

Exhibit 7: Example of integration students’ real-life business experiences into instructor’s questions

Instructor – Question for Students 1, 2, and 3

“Ok, students 1, 2 and 3. I would like you each to provide an example of internal control at your place of work.”

Student 1- SAP R/3

“We use SAP R/3 at work. It is password protected and I can only use certain components of the system.”

Student 24 – Comment to Student 1

“We use SAP R/3 too, but anybody can logon to anyone else’s site.”

Instructor – Open question to students on Student 24 comments

“Does anyone else have this problem at work (with any computer system.) Does anyone see any problem with this?
List a few of the problems…..”
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Student 2 – Magnetic cards.

“At the place I work at, everyone wears a magnetic coded ID card. And certain areas of the building can only be
accessed with people scanning entrance doors to these areas.”
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Student 3- Verification of receipt of inventory

“My business authorizes only certain individuals to sign in for receipt of inventory items.”
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Exhibit 8: Student interaction on the electronic bulletin board by providing correct explanations to graded
examination answers

Student 1- M/C question #17

“For question 17, I answered c. The problem wanted to know the 12/31 adjusting entry for prepaid insurance, 1-year
policy, purchased on June 1 for $1200. I figured expense would be $700, so answer c.”

Student 2- Correct answer to #17

“The expense is $700, but answer c is crediting expense, not debiting it. Therefore, the answer is e (none of the
above.)”
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Student 3 – Correct answer to #17

“I took the same one… stupid mistakes kill me…”
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Student 4- Question #26

“ For question 26, I took “b.” For double declining balance, I thought you would take asset’s purchase price and
subtract salvage value and divide by the years of the asset’s useful life then times it by 2.”
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Student 5 —Correct answer to #26
“For double declining balance, you do not subtract salvage value – only the previously taken depreciation. In this
case, there was no depreciation previously taken since the asset was just purchased.”
Some other examples for
usage in bulletin boards and
chat sessions

Debating teams where students formulate
ideas and defend their position.
 “Jigsaw groups” where members break into
subgroups to discuss various parts of a
topic.
 “Mock trials” where students assume
various roles of individuals in a real world
setting.
Final Warning!

All of these may seem like great
ideas…BUT….
 Not all can be implemented into a single
course - you need to pick and chose,
consistent with your goals for the students
in the course, along with the amount of time
and effort you, the instructor, can put into
your on-line course.
Final Words…(as opposed to
“Final Warning”)

Limit your initial expectations
 Limit your initial implementation
 Do not be reluctant to make changes
semester-to-semester
 Start each semester with a non-graded
assignment (for bulletin boards)
These transparencies are
available at:
www.academic.marist.edu/faculty/walsh