The ACCY 111 Experience Dr Philip Colquhoun Professor Kevin Holmes Professor Kevin Simpkins School of Accounting and Commercial Law A presentation to AKO Victoria 2011 Research funded by VUW teaching and learning grant 2010

The problem Pass rate consistently remained relatively low over number of years Despite number of recent interventions ◦ More tutorials ◦ Specialised tutorials ◦ Introduction of on-line tests ◦ Variety of teaching staff ◦ Variety of assessment schemes Looking to make changes to increase pass rate – but need to be informed by what is the problem.

The problem – pass rate 1996 to 2010 People – students in ACCY 111 ◦ Enrolled 18,799 ◦ Failed 33.2% (6,249) In dollars (we are accountants!) ◦ Approximately $33 million in revenue from ACCY 111 ◦ Approximately $11 million relate to students that failed ACCY 111  (based on a 15 point course at 2011 rates)

The problem - Societal waste Funding ◦ Student funded ◦ Student debt ◦ Government expenditure Personal cost ◦ Time ◦ Self esteem

The project Two parts Statistical study of 2009 ACCY 111 cohort ◦ What are the factors that impact on student performance. Structured interviews of ACCY 111 students in second trimester ◦ Students’ perceptions and self reporting of behaviour related to ACCY 111. …. a selection of the insights …

From statistical study Almost ¾ of the variability in pass grades can be explained by ◦ NCEA results ◦ Mid-trimester test ◦ Tutorial attendance ◦ Use of online test and revision package

From statistical study NCEA – level three NECA performance is reflected in better performance in ACCY 111 if NECA performance includes: ◦ 21 excellence credits, or ◦ 34 merit credits, or ◦ 28 achieved credits in accounting But… below these levels … those that had some NCEA credits performed worse than those without any credits. Implications ◦ Have we got the university (or degree) entry level right? ◦ Are there skills that some students fail to obtain via school and we don’t seek to remedy this – rather continue to support performance below ability and/or failure. ◦ NCEA – unit specification and “achieve is enough” versus less specified requirements at ACCY 111.

From statistical study Internal course work All important ◦ Tutorial attendance ◦ Online work  especially shorter and more frequent use was better Implications ◦ Opportunities provided, but not taken up by students  Something wrong with how we provide them or  Students are lazy/busy

From statistical study Choice of major Accounting and economic majors do better Implications ◦ Accounting and economic students are brighter therefore this is self-evident, or ◦ ACCY 111 has a strong focus on economic worldview/thinking patterns and therefore bias to those inclined to that worldview.

From statistical study Ethnicity Compared to NZ European/Pakeha all other groups performed worse, African, Chinese and Other Pacific Peoples groups being statistically significant Implications ◦ Preparation and/or institutional factors. ◦ Accepting that business and accounting are cultural artifacts are we assuming too much in our teaching.

From interviews Reported time spent per week ◦ Expected at start of course = 6 hours ◦ Reported = 7.7 hours ◦ Reported for other courses = 7.9 hours Expected grade ◦ At start B+ ◦ At end B

From interviews Usefulness ◦ 4 out of 5  Very useful  (1-5 Likert scale) Perceived difficulty ◦ Week 1 = 2.8 ◦ Week 6 = 3.6  Got more difficult  (Liket scale 1 easy – 5 difficult)

From interviews Summary ◦ They think it very useful, ◦ Perceived difficultly increases during course, ◦ Grade expectation drops ◦ And they work longer on other courses Implications ◦ Being difficult or useful may not help with student motivation!

Where we are heading New course proposed for ◦ On-line assessment  More and worth significant part of final grade ◦ Tutorials  More student discussion – less content focus(?)  Tutor selection/management

Still unclear What can we do about students coming in with poor NCEA results? ◦ What is the(ir) problem? How much understanding of commerce do students entering the BCA degree come with ? How to increase participation in course components (e.g. online and tutorials)? ◦ At moment providing more but perhaps only used by those that don’t need it. ◦ Measuring cost/ benefits of further interventions. How university wide are these issues?