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TEACHING ACCOUNTING AND USING COMPUTERS

Early on, computers became available in education, but the task faced by most educators was to program the
computers so that they could be used for instructional purposes. Thus, for large segments of the educational
spectrum, computers were looked upon as inappropriate tools for classroom use: "I don’t have enough time
now to teach my students accounting/typing/reading/math/physics/history much less teach them how to operate
a computer!"

Happily, in the last few years a significant amount of proprietary software (computer programs) has become
available to alleviate many of the problems experienced in the early use of computers in education. Today a
teacher with no experience in computer Operation can teach MORF
accounting/typing/reading/math/physics/history in the same amount of time previously used for classroom
instruction! For those many skeptics who, at first blush, reject that statement out of hand, let me recite the
experiences we have had at Midland College in introducing microcomputers into our accounting classes.

Background

Students enroll in our Bookkeeping and Principles of Accounting courses (approximately 250 - 300 students
per semester) for two principal reasons: (1) academic - for the accounting requirement in pursuit of an
undergraduate degree or for a leveling course for students seeking a graduate degree in Business
Administration, and (2) vocational - for skill development which can quickly be utilized in the workplace. A
major instructional change—using computers to teach accounting—had to serve both groups equally well. We
believed it would!

In accounting, as in many disciplines, doing is learning! The instructor can lecture about certain techniques;
but until the students actually perform the work, they rarely grasp the significance of what it is they are doing.
The subtle interrelationships escape unnoticed and unrealized. Thus, in bookkeeping and in the first part of the
Principles of Accounting course, paper and pencil are emphasized.

Utilizing the Computer

Because a good foundation is essential in accounting, Midland College utilizes a Computer Assisted
Instruction (tutorial) package; students use it (1) to supplement lectures, homework, and practice set; (2) to help
master the principles taught in the classroom; and (3) to test themselves on their understanding of those
principles. This is accomplished in the accounting laboratory and through student independent study. If an
instructor wishes, additional work can be left for the student to complete on the computer, and the computer
can grade the work. Otherwise, it is a private experience between student and computer, and only the student is —
aware of the results. Because most students find working with the computer to be exciting, less boring, and
faster than using printed material, they are more likely to use this systein and learn more than they would with
traditional materials.

Beginning bookkeeping and accounting courses should and do stress basic rules, definitions, and simple
problems. The tutorial utilized by Midland College emphasizes these areas. The student is given a problem,
such as keeping the accounting equation in balance. After the student answers the question, he is immediately
told if the answer selected is correct or incorrect. If an incorrect answer is selected, the student is given the
correct answer and fold why it is correct! Students benefit from immediate feedback—-reinforcement of correct ,
answers, correction and explanation of incorrect answers.

Other software is available for teaching payroll, accounts receivable, accounts payable, and practice set work
for all the various levels cf accounting. We hope eventually to include a short computer practice set in addition —
to the manual practice set we now use in the Bookkeeping and Principles of Accounting I courses.

Most instructors would probably agree that acquiring a knowledge of principles and techniques ‘s most
important in a beginning accounting course. Acquired knowledge can quite easily be observed as a student ©
formulates a journal entry and calculates the numbers for that entry. But after a student has been taught the

Kon Community College Leadership Program, The University of Texas at Austin, EDB 348, Austin, Texas 78712