Volume XXXIV, No. 15 | May 4, 2012

Transforming the Accounting Classroom Into a Laboratory

As faculty and administrators, we can agree that student learning is our goal; and we must do what it takes to engage students while they are members of our learning environments.

So how do we “catch,” or engage, the 21st-century learner? Studies reveal that engaging the modern student includes transcending the boundaries of traditional pedagogy where professors use only chalk, board, and textbooks. While not compromising academic rigor, we must make the concepts and learning come alive. We can do this by transforming the accounting classroom into an accounting laboratory.

This transformation requires moving away from lecture and reliance on textbooks as course drivers to a more laboratory, or hands-on, approach to teaching accounting concepts. In an effort to examine innovative ways of teaching and collaborative education, Georgia Piedmont Technical College’s (GPTC) Starnes Center Retrofit Project was born.

The project is a living laboratory for our accounting, automated systems, heating ventilation and air conditioning, drafting, and engineering students. Student labor will be used to retrofit the Center and provide learning experiences. The accounting student is chief accountant for a hypothetical company, Control Systems Incorporated, which specializes in retrofitting older buildings for energy efficiency. The student is tasked with forming a limited liability corporation (LLC), setting up the chart of accounts, and making business decisions as they relate to pricing, hiring, and other operating activities. The student is also gaining exposure to other disciplines such as automated systems, heating ventilation and air conditioning, drafting, and engineering.

As a result of this project, accounting students will:

• Exhibit critical thinking skills
• Apply financial and managerial accounting techniques to various transactions in various accounting situations
• Display sound judgment when making decisions, seeking information, and facing unusual situations
• Demonstrate acceptable written, oral, and non-verbal communication skills
• Display a working knowledge of the project, and
• Display a working knowledge of other disciplines and their responsibilities as they relate to the project.

Finally, accounting faculty must deliberately begin revising their methodology and curricula to include rigorous inquiry and reflective analysis to help develop students’ ability to relate to and use knowledge for solving real-world problems.

Susan E. Wright, Instructor, Accounting

For further information, contact the author at Georgia Piedmont Technical College, 495 N. Indian Creek Drive, Clarkston, GA 30021. Email Author.