Activity at the HEA-funded workshop 'Using technology-based media to engage and support students in the disciplines of Finance, Accounting and Economics' The workshop presented a variety of innovative approaches, which use technology, to engage and support learning in business disciplines that students find particularly challenging. Delegates had the opportunity to share and evaluate good practice in implementing and developing online teaching resources and to reflect on how to develop their own teaching practice, using technologies available in most institutions. This presentation is part of a related blog post that provides an overview of the event: http://bit.ly/1o1WfHU For further details of the HEA's work on active and experiential learning in the Social Sciences, please see: http://bit.ly/17NwgKX

1. The Open University: Using technology-based media in teaching in accounting,
finance and economics
9 April 2014
You’ve heard about a number of different technologies used in teaching accounting, finance
and economics. Developing technology-enhanced learning is not likely to be a
straightforward like-for-like transfer from the physical classroom to an online space.
A 2009 JISC report noted that there were four approaches used in designing online learning,
each providing different benefits for the learning experience:
Approaches to learning
Perspective Assumptions Associated pedagogy
The associative
perspective
Learning as acquiring competence
Learners acquire competence by building
associations between different concepts.
Learners gain skills by building progressively
complex actions from component skills.
 Focus on competences
 Routines of organized activity
 Progressive difficulty
 Clear goals and feedback
 Individualized pathways matched
to the individual's prior
performance
The constructivist
perspective (individual
focus)
Learning as achieving understanding
Learners actively construct new ideas by
building and testing hypotheses
 Interactive environments for
knowledge building
 Activities that encourage
experimentation and discovery
 Support for reflection and
evaluation
The constructivist
perspective (social focus)
Learning as achieving understanding
Learners actively construct new ideas
through collaboration activities and/or
dialogue
 Interactive environments for
knowledge building
 Activities that encourage
collaboration and shared
expression of ideas
 Support for reflection, peer
review and evaluation
The situative perspective
Learning as social practice
Learners develop their identities through
participation in specific communities and
practices.
 Participation in social practices of
enquiry and learning
 Support for development of
learning skills
 Dialogue to facilitate the
development of learning
relationships
Source: Jisc (2009)
These categories can be helpful for understanding how you might incorporate technology
into your teaching approaches, and the benefits and challenges associated with each.
Talk with the other delegates on your table about the different technological tools you have
heard about today using the questions below as a guide for discussion. Identify and agree
on three main points from the discussion. We will finish the day with a short plenary session
to share your points with the rest of the group.
 What do you see as the key benefits in using technology-enhanced learning in
teaching accounting, finance and economics (for students, for educators)?
 What approaches or tools do you already use? How might you incorporate some of
the ideas seen today in your own teaching practice?
 What challenges do you face in using these types of technologies? These could be in
terms of your individual teaching or in terms of possible institutional barriers.
 What would you like to learn more about?