the experience of deep learning by accounting students in a university accounting course

378 Pages·2011·8.18 MB·English

THE EXPERIENCE OF DEEP LEARNING BY ACCOUNTING
STUDENTS IN A UNIVERSITY ACCOUNTING COURSE
By
Martin Craig Turner
A thesis
Submitted to the Victoria University of Wellington
in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in Accounting
Victoria University of Wellington
2011

Abstract
Higher education in accounting faces a challenge to shift its emphasis from
reproducing technical knowledge to developing personal capabilities such as
critical thinking, creative thinking, problem-solving, communication and
teamwork. The educational psychology literature suggests students will not
make the cognitive effort to develop personal capabilities unless they frrst
experience a deep approach to learning; and the experience of high-level
relevance structure, high-level conception of learning and intrinsic
motivation strongly support deep learning. This study examines how
accounting students can be supported to experience high-level relevance
structure, high-level conception of learning, intrinsic motivation and deep
learning in the context of a university accounting course.
Phenomenography is used to study the experience of learning of students in
a third year undergraduate accounting course into which an integrated set of
interventions involving Assessment, Teamwork, Teacher-Student
Relationship and Instruction was introduced. An assignment in five stages
and five session preparation assignments, supplemented with a focus group
and surveys of students, identified and captured the ways students
experience key aspects of how they learn. A key fmding of this study is that
it is possible to transform the design and delivery of a single university
course to support a large proportion of students to experience change in how
they learn accounting (and, in particular, to experience deep learning)
through the careful adaptation of education theory. An implication of this
study is the need to support students to experience change in how they learn
in frrst year courses to enable them to develop personal capabilities in their
later university studies.
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank each of the 81 students who studied Financial
Statement Analysis in 2008 at Victoria University of Wellington. I
appreciate each one of you - and have been privileged to be your teacher
and to also research each of your individual journeys in learning how to
analyse firms.
My special thanks to Rachel Baskerville and Tom Angelo. You have
been wonderful supervisors. Thank you for your support, encouragement
and for coming with me on this journey. I will always remember and value
the help each of you has given me.
My thanks also to my wife, Margie, and my three children Mark, Claire
and Paul. Each of you have been supportive and appreciative of my desire
to pursue one of my dreams, of which this study is an important stepping
stone ... to support a meaningful transformation of the experience of
learning for students at university.
Martin Turner
February 201 I
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Contents
Page
Abstract i
Acknowledgements ii
1. Introduction and Accounting Education Literature Review 1
1.1. Research Question and Theoretical Model 2
1.2. Interventions to Support Personal Capabilities 14
1.3. How Accounting Students Approach their Learning 18
1.4. Overview 28
2. Literature Review: Interdisciplinary Research 33
2.1. Key Theoretical Concepts 34
2.2. Conception of Learning and Motivation 44
2.3. Interdisciplinary Research 51
3. Research Method 59
3 .1. Research Method and Interventions 59
3.2. Measures of Students' Perceptions 74
4. Challenging Previous Ways of Experiencing Relevance
Structure and Conception of Learning 83
4.1. Previous Relevance Structures 85
4.2. Challenging Previous Relevance Structures 93
4.3. Creating Awareness 100
4.4. Implications for Conception of Learning 106
5. Experience of Intrinsic Motivation and the Assignment 116
5.1. Supporting Intrinsic Motivation 117
5.2. Response to Assessed Learning Tasks 125
5.3. Response to Increasing Challenges 133
5.4. Experience oflntrinsic Motivation 141
6. Further Interventions to Support the Experience of Intrinsic Motivation 149
6.1. Session Preparation Assignments (SPAs) 150
6.2. Relating to Others 158
6.3. Teacher-Student Relationship and Awareness 165
6.4. Interactions with Intrinsic Motivation 173
7. Deep Approach to Learning 180
7.1. Adjusting to Deep Learning 181
7.2. Experience ofDeep Learning 190
7.3. Constructing Knowledge 196
7.4. Design of the Assessed Learning Tasks 202
8. Challenges of Deep Learning 211
8.1. Relationships With Others 213
8.2. Confidence to Make Judgements 221
8.3. Ongoing Challenges 228
8.4. Two Key Internal Relations and Deep Learning 234
9. Findings and Conclusions 242
9.1. Key Findings 243
9.2. Implications for Accounting Education 257
9.3. Institutional Context 261
9.4. Future Research 263
References 268
Appendices
I. SPAs and Assignment 286
2. Discussion Board 31 0
3. Identifiers of Accounting Students and Distribution ofNumber 311
ofNarratives From Each Student
4. Data Analysis of 10 Reflective Assignments Using N-Vivo 314
5. Instruction to Support Accounting Students to Develop Awareness 315
about Conception of Learning
6. Surveys and Questionnaires 319
Figures
Figure 1.1 How University Students Learn in a University Course 6
Figure 1.2 Interventions to Support Accounting Studerts to Change the
Way They Experience Learning in Accounting 9
Figure 4.1 Variation in Ways of Experiencing Relevan::e Structure and
Deep Learning 84
Figure 5.1 Interventions to Support Accounting Students to Experience
Intrinsic Motivation 117
Figure 6.1 Interventions to Support Accounting Students to Experience
Intrinsic Motivation 150
Figure 6.2 Pre-Course Survey: How Often Do You Read Before Lectures
in Your Previous Accounting Courses? 155
Figure 7.1 Interventions to Support Accounting Students to Change the
Way They Experience Learning Accounting 181
Figure 7.2 Initial Experience of Deep Learning 188
Figure 8.1 Interventions to Support Accounting Students to Change the
Way They Experience Learning Accounting 212
Figure 9.1 Initial Experience of Deep Learning 245
Figure 9.2 Interventions to Support Accounting Students to Change the
Way They Experience Learning Accounting 248
Tables
Table 2.1 Characteristic Features of a Student Adopting a Deep
Approach to their Learning 36
Table 2.2 Characteristic Features of a Student Adopting a Surface
Approach to the Learning 36
Table 2.3 Conceptions of Learning 39
Table 3.1 Response Rates and Timing: Assignment, SPAs, CIQs,
AEQ and Student Surveys 80