‘Untying the Accountancy Knot’
Project Team:
Frances Boylan, Pauline Rooney, Fionnghuala Kelly, Learning and Technology Team; Jennifer
McConnell, DIT Disability Office; Alice Luby, School of Marketing; Rebecca Maughan; Dan
Shanahan, School of Accounting and Finance; Daniel King, Tony Kiely, School of Hospitality
Management and Tourism
The Problem with Accountancy
•Experience indicates that many students have difficulty with Accountancy
•Some students view Accountancy as “old”, “dusty”, and “uninteresting”, this results
in lack of student engagement and involvement in learning, consequently many
student tend to underperform.
•Research also suggests that some students cannot assimilate financial data
because of the presence of an inherent disability.
Solution to this Problem
To develop a set of e-learning tools for use as support within any financial accounting
or business studies module. These tools must work for the challenged student, and
must also be acceptable to those who teach it.
The Project Team Approach
•Overall aim is to develop some interactive learning exercises that
will make teaching and learning Accountancy enjoyable and fun
•Adaptation of a cross-faculty collaborative approach to this task
•Learning tool would acknowledge disability requirements,
accountancy teaching and learning, technology design and research
requirements
•Incorporation of student involvement and feedback
Solution Scenarios
Some Interested Cohorts
It is envisaged that the tutorials will enhance
accessibility and engagement for all students, by
ensuring a wider variety of e-learning resources
which cater for multiple learning styles
This project will particularly identify improve the
usability and accessibility of the tutorials for
dyslexic students.
Students, Lecturers, Heads of School
The Teaching and Learning Centre, DIT
Administration, DIT Disability Office, DIT
Retention Office, The Media
DIT Access Office
Figure 1: Book Keeping Introduction
Figure 2: Book Keeping Flash Game
Future Work
•Roll out and evaluation of initial e-learning modules in 2009
•Continuation of work on a full set of computer assisted financial accounting learning tools
•On completion, to make these learning tools available to any parties within DIT who express an
interest in e-learning activities
•To make research findings available to colleagues throughout DIT and externally
•To participate in DIT Learning and Teaching Showcase & 2009 EdTech Conference.
•Submit a paper for the IAFA (Irish Accounting and Finance Association) annual conference in
May 2009