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Using Team Rewards and Individual Assessment to Incentivize Collaboration in Team Projects
Prasart Jongjaroenkamol, Singapore Management University, Singapore
ABSTRACT
Team projects are commonly used in higher education across different disciplines to promote cooperation among students. However, achieving this objective can be challenging. To address this issue, educators have explored various strategies, such as implementing peer evaluation or having periodic consultations with teams. In this paper, I present a novel approach to team assessment that combines team rewards with individual assessment. In this assessment, each team member independently takes a quiz, and the team's score is determined by the average performance of its members. Consequently, the team reward becomes intricately tied to the individual learning outcomes of all team members. This study offers an exemplary implementation of the proposed assessment scheme within an undergraduate management accounting class and reports students’ perceptions of this assessment approach.
Keywords: Team Projects, Group Projects, Assessment, Cooperative Learning
Self-Guided Application in the Data Analytics Curriculum
Orrin Swift, Lamar University – Beaumont, TX, United States
Marina Yordanova Ruseva, Lamar University – Beaumont, TX, United States
ABSTRACT
Over the past two decades, the accounting profession has experienced steadily increasing demand for college graduates with data analytics skills. Universities have responded in kind by creating analytics courses for their accounting tracks. In our view, a weakness of current available textbooks on this subject matter is that textbook content generally employs guided learning with step-by-step instructions to completion. We have developed a self-guided application that allows students to develop and practice data analytics skills with minimal instruction. We find that students perceive the application as a learning supplement to the skills developed in the course, that the model employed is useful for data analysts, and that oral communication skills are valuable for data analysts.
Keywords: Accounting curriculum; data analytics skills; survey; accounting analytics; SEC EDGAR
Lessons Learned from the Design of a Business Analytics Minor: What’s in it for Accounting and Other Majors?
Richard T. Grenci, John Carroll University, Ohio, USA
ABSTRACT
Motivated by the idea that existing analytics courses can help to fulfill the needs of accounting and other business programs, this paper reviews relevant definitions, literature, and curricula to frame the content and coursework of undergraduate business analytics (BA) minor programs. Business analytics goes beyond business statistics - it refers to a broader set of concepts concerning data-driven decision-making and the technical and analytical skills needed to access and interpret data to gain business insights. In addition, business analytics differs from data science - it employs tools that are accessible to business users, aiming to supplement business skills with analytical skills. From a process perspective, it covers techniques ranging from data acquisition to visualization and reporting, and includes descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics methods. In sum, it is more than just analytics skills or software tools inserted into classes; and as such, it can provide for a holistic supplement to accounting curricula or for any business major.
Keywords: Business analytics, analytics minor, data science, business education, accounting curricula
Fostering Active Learning: The Effects of Using the Socrative App in Undergraduate Advanced Accounting Classes
Chenchen Huang, Frostburg State University, Maryland, USA
Kiersten P. Bradley, Frostburg State University, Maryland, USA
Qiongyao Zhang, Robert Morris University, Pennsylvania, USA
ABSTRACT
This research investigates the impacts of using an App-based engagement and interaction approach in in-person teaching undergraduate-level Advanced Accounting classes. We utilized a quasi-experimental design in testing the impacts of using the Socrative App. The results show some improvements in student learning assessment results. Students who used the Socrative App also rated their experience positively in a student satisfaction survey.
Keywords: active learning, the Socrative App, Advanced Accounting, student satisfaction
Current Events Fact or Fiction: Strategies for Promoting Awareness of Causes and Mitigation of Misinformation on Facebook Among University Students
Shetia C. Butler Lamar, Savannah State University, GA, USA
Michelle Kuralt, Columbus State University, GA USA
Carolyn Zidor-Guerrier, Columbus State University, GA USA
ABSTRACT
Recent literature explores the challenge of educating in a digital misinformation age (Parker, 2023). While current events are often used to engage business students in dialog relevant to practice and the business environment, some sources that are highly regarded and widely used by students do not provide reliable information. For example, social media sites like Facebook have been regarded among users as a reliable source of information. However, recent news on the spread of misinformation on social media has exposed these media outlets for being a platform for predators who seek to spread misleading content that helps them to gain unwarranted credibility and name recognition by establishing trusting relationships with users, promoting their own political ideologies, and framing messages in a manner that promotes rapid dissemination (Feng et al, 2022).
Researchers suggest that Facebook communities, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, have the potential to offer opportunities for participation in cognitive activities that compensate for the lack of social participation (Ebardo et al, 2022). Research also suggests that Facebook is a “fertile environment” for the spread of fake news (Khan et al, 2023). This paper seeks to promote understanding of how misinformation is spread as it relates specifically to business education on Facebook, the causes and mitigation techniques university students and faculty can use to avoid being susceptible to false information.
Keywords: social media, disinformation, misinformation, Facebook, fact-checking, conspiracy theories
Using Time Value of Money Calculations to Evaluate Financial Goals:
A Simple Case for an Introductory Finance Course
Chris Brune,
Frank D. Hickingbotham School of Business, Ouachita Baptist University, Arkansas, USA
Dana Dixon
Frank D. Hickingbotham School of Business, Ouachita Baptist University, Arkansas, USA
ABSTRACT
An introductory undergraduate personal finance class frequently includes a discussion of the importance of personal financial goals. Unfortunately, the evaluation of multiple, simultaneous long-term goals can be difficult to simulate in a classroom setting. This paper introduces a case that successfully blends time value of money calculations with a review of personal financial statements to simulate a simple financial plan for a mock client.
Keywords: finance education, financial goals, personal finance, time value of money
Egg-tastic Evidence: A Gamified Experiential Learning Activity for Evidence-Based Business Courses
Drake Mullens, Tarleton State University
Stella Shen, University of Texas-Tyler
ABSTRACT
Evidence-based decision-making is increasingly common in higher education business programs and business courses. Despite the increase in evidence-based decision-making courses, limited experiential learning exercises are available and no gamified activities could be located. Experiential learning is associated with increased learning, competency development, equity, achievement, engagement, and satisfaction while traditional pedagogies are argued not to meet the needs of a new generation of students. To fill the notable void of gamified exercises for evidence-based courses, this work introduces an adaptation of the classic egg drop exercise with gamified elements. In the gamified experiential exercise, learners navigate the acquisition of resources in a competitive auction, the construction of an egg delivery device, the test of their assembled devices, and the pitch to secure a lucrative egg delivery contract while applying evidence-based decision-making in each phase.
Keywords: gamification; active learning, decision-making
Sustainable, Plant-Based Food Supply Chains: A Teaching Resource
Girish Shambu, Canisius University, Buffalo, New York, USA
ABSTRACT
A video-based teaching resource on plant-based food supply chains was developed in order to address three aims: (1) produce a mission-driven response to the “Inspirational Paradigm” document developed by a consortium of Jesuit business schools; (2) help target UN Sustainable Development Goals endorsed by the 2020 AACSB business accreditation standards; and (3) introduce basic concepts of sustainability in a management course, while grounding these concepts in a case study that contrasts less sustainable supply chains (meat and dairy) with more sustainable ones (plant-based food). Student responses to the teaching resource were strongly favorable.
Keywords: sustainability, supply chains, plant-based food, Jesuit education
Teaching Quantitative Aspects of Sustainability to Business School Students Using Spreadsheet Optimization
Arsalan Paleshi, York College of Pennsylvania - York, Pennsylvania, USA
Mohammed Raja, York College of Pennsylvania - York, Pennsylvania, USA
Matt Shatzkin, York College of Pennsylvania - York, Pennsylvania, USA
ABSTRACT
As sustainability issues in business become more pressing, the need for undergraduate students to understand sustainability and its aspects has grown. At the same time, there exists a variety of ways in which sustainability has been approached and taught within undergraduate education. While qualitative approaches have been used in business school courses, this paper takes a quantitative approach using a spreadsheet optimization method to address aspects of sustainability–people, profit and planet–to undergraduate business students. Students involved with this approach indicated an increased appreciation and understanding of the key aspects of sustainability, as well as confidence in using Excel Solver to build and solve an optimization model that incorporates these aspects into a production and logistics network.
Keywords: Sustainability, Excel Solver, Business Education, Linear Programming, 3Ps (Profit, Planet and People), Spreadsheet Optimization
Using Classic Films as Laboratories for Evaluating Ethical Dilemmas Beyond the Classroom: Take Two on ‘Lights, Camera, Action!’
Marshall J. Horton, Ouachita Baptist University
Bryan T. McKinney, Ouachita Baptist University
Abstract: Assigning appropriate films for undergraduate business ethics students to watch and report can help students find conflicts of interest and ethical dilemmas in different environments.
Keywords: business ethics, film, dilemmas, conflicts of authority, copyright law, mission-appropriate, active learning
An Experiential Exercise for Estimates and the Scale of Operations
Kimberly M. Green
University of West Georgia, Carrollton, GA, USA
ABSTRACT
This article presents an experiential learning exercise that guides students in calculating estimates of the scale of operations related to the production and delivery of a simple product. The estimates of scale are calculations related to size, such as quantities or capacity. The context is business operations activity such as materials handling and transportation. Students take measurements of a product to estimate the quantity of the main component material. That quantity is used in generating estimates and assumptions about the scale of operations requirements such as storage space and transportation capacity. Students experience how estimates and assumptions can be generated to support decision-making. They experience how constraints and bottlenecks can be difficult to imagine but that building a frame of reference for scale can help. This exercise supports number literacy and builds skills in estimation and modelling of a problem context that are associated with creative problem-solving.
Keywords: experiential learning, number literacy, estimates, scale of operations, problem-solving
A Comparison of Alumni to Undergraduate Student Mentoring Programs at Top-Ranked Business Schools
James P. Borden, Villanova University, Villanova, PA USA
Stephen L. Liedtka, Villanova University, Villanova, PA USA
ABSTRACT
Much has been written about the benefits of mentoring for both the mentors and the mentees, as well as the organizations involved. There are a variety of mentoring relationships available to undergraduate business students – peer to peer, faculty to student, graduate student to undergraduate student, and alumni to student. This paper provides a synopsis of alumni to undergraduate student peer mentoring programs at the majority of the top-ranked business schools. Four key points of distinction among the programs are documented and discussed.
Keywords: mentoring, undergraduates, alumni, business schools, points of distinction
Real-World Ready Decision Making: Authentic Learning in Cost Accounting
Dee Ann Ellingson, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND, USA
Jane M. Weiss, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND, USA
ABSTRACT
The use of real-world ready skill activities in accounting curriculum bridges the gap between the learning of content and the integration or application to real-life problem-solving contexts. This paper describes a problem-based-learning activity that establishes an authentic learning environment where students master competencies in accounting, quantitative methods, and technology and provide an opportunity to practice the real-world ready skill of management decision making. Specifically, the case requires students to analyze data in Excel, apply the quantitative methods of learning curve and regression, and make management decisions with the results.
Keywords: problem-based learning, regression, learning curve, decision making, Excel, technology
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