To read this content please select one of the options below:

The effect of a change in teaching structure on student performance

Kevin M. Baird (Division of Economic and Financial Studies, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia)
Venkateshwaran Narayanan (Faculty of Law and Management, School of Accounting, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia)

Asian Review of Accounting

ISSN: 1321-7348

Article publication date: 20 July 2010

2265

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of a change in teaching structure in improving the performance of students in an introductory management accounting subject at an Australian institution. The change in structure involved a shift in the balance between lecture and tutorial face‐to‐face contact hours with increased emphasis being placed on tutorials in an attempt to enhance the benefits of cooperative learning.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper evaluates the success of the new approach by comparing the performance of students across the two teaching structures. Specifically, the paper compares the performance of students on exam questions covering five key management accounting topics.

Findings

The results revealed that the new teaching structure (a two‐hour workshop‐based tutorial and a one‐hour lecture each week) improved student examination results significantly in comparison to the previous “traditional” approach.

Practical implications

This paper demonstrates the benefits of teaching and learning conducted in a small class size setting with the use of cooperative learning. Such an approach could be adopted more widely in the teaching and learning of accounting to enhance the generic and analytic skills of students.

Originality/value

This paper provides empirical evidence to support largely normative claims that cooperative learning when combined with greater focus on small class teaching can improve student performance.

Keywords

Citation

Baird, K.M. and Narayanan, V. (2010), "The effect of a change in teaching structure on student performance", Asian Review of Accounting, Vol. 18 No. 2, pp. 148-161. https://doi.org/10.1108/13217341011059408

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2010, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Related articles