Computer conferencing for accounting instruction

Journal of Accounting Vol. 3, No. I Spring I985

COMPUTER

Education

CONFERENCING FOR ACCOUNTING INSTRUCTION Myles Stern WAYNE

STATE

UNIVERSITY

Absrract: Computer conferencing was used as a pedagogical device in an accounting information systems course. This article explains the nature of computer conferencing in general, illustrates the specific software package used, and describes the instructional setting and the actual applications of conferencing in the course. An evaluation is made of the conferencing experience, delineating the effective aspects, explaining how other aspects might be improved, and summarizing student reactions. Finally, the future of computer conferencing is considered and recommendations are given for making good use of this technique.

The recent explosion of low-cost personal and business microcomputers has led accounting practitioners and educators to seek effective ways to integrate computers into the accounting curriculum. One tool with great potential is computer conferencing.

The Nature of Computer Conferencing Computer conferencing is the use of communicating computer equipment to permit three or more people to conduct a discussion. Participants in a computer conference need not contact the central computer simultaneously. Instead, information entered into the conference by a participant is stored in the computer and forwarded to other participants when they next access the conference. The freedom “conferees” have to use the conference at their convenience is an important advantage of conferencing over other communication methods. Rudimentaryconferencing requires only that participants have timesharing terminals available and can read and write shared text files. Specialized software can facilitate conferencing by tracking each participant’s activity in the conference, making access to new information easier, and presenting conference material in a convenient and attractive format. Exhibit 1 identifies several conferencing packages that are in current use. CONFER.-The software system used in this example is “CONFER II” [Advertel, 19831. Generally called “CONFER” by its developer and users, this software runs only on IBM-compatible mainframe computers with the MTS (“Michigan Terminal System”) operating system developed at the University of Michigan. CONFER has undergone several years of development and is

being used at three of the universities which have installed MTS to conduct well over 150 conferences with over 3000 participants. Conferences have from very few (3-10) to over 600 participants, but typically involve 40-50 people [Parnes, 19841. Most CONFER use comprises large, “public” conferences (such as a conference available to all users of the university’s computer system and addressing topics of general interest) and conferences supported by small (say 5-35 members) organizations to permit people who are geographically dispersed to keep in touch with each other and the organization’s activities. Instructional use of CONFER has been modest but steadily increasing. CONFER has grown to be a large software package with many components. To the conference participant, its major features are (1) a “mail” facility for private, two-way communication; (2) bulletins that any participant may broadcast to all other participants; (3) agenda topics (or “items”), each comprising text entered by a particular conference participant; and (4) responses by several participants to each agenda item. A conference “organizer” is responsible for establishing the data files used by the conference, permitting access by designated individuals, and providing overall organization of the topics being discussed. These and other features of CONFER are described in further detail by Heydinger [ 19781.

A Sample Session Using CONFER # $source acct:foru~ # RUN CNFR:CONFER T=5 PAR=ACCT: FORUM # Execution begins CONFER II (04/83) - designed by Robert Parnes Trademark: Advertel Communication Systems CONFERence

for ACCT:FORUM

Ralph Bookkeeper,

Organizer

New Participants Dave Richards 3 13-524-7487 Z123:MF Undergraduate accounting major working part-time CPA firm Ralph

Bookkeeper

for a local

Effective: Aug08/ 83 Expires: SeptOl / 83 Applications for the November 1983 CPA examination are now available in the Department of Accounting office, 200 Business Building. New responses 12 21

on items: 25 40

New Messages: New item: 42

3-5

41

71

To help the reader understand how conferencing works, a sample session will be presented for a fictional conference open to all accounting students and faculty. Within the example, words typed by the user appear in italics. All other words are displayed by the system. Upon entering the conference, the user automatically receives a summary of all new activity. Any current but as yet unseen bulletins are also displayed. In this example, since the user last accessed the conference, one new participant (“Dave Richards”) has joined and the conference organizer (“Ralph Bookkeeper”) has “broadcast” a bulletin. Moreover, new discussion responses have been entered under five agenda items, three new private messages have been received, and a new agenda item has been added: Here the user asks to see the new agenda DO NEXT?

item:

items new

12:25 Augl l/83 7 lines 2 responses Item 42 Patti Greene WHAT EXPERIENCE COUNTS TOWARD THE MICHIGAN? For some time, I have been under rience with a CPA firm would qualify gan. The other day, a friend said other qualify. Does anyone know exactly used to satisfy CPA requirements?

CPA

IN

the impression that only expefor becoming a CPA in Michikinds of experience would also what other experience can be

After displaying the text of the item, CONFER automatically displays any responses that have already been entered, and then gives the user a chance to respond. The “end-of-file” character terminates the user’s response:

2 Discussion responses 1) Roberta Smith: I believe qualifies. _____

working

for the IRS as a field auditor

2) David Loomis: Perhaps one of the accounting faculty members would enter an *item* outlining the experience requirements. RESPOND, FORGET, OR PASS: respond GIVE YOUR DISCUSSION RESPONSE Would experience with the Auditor General .for the City of Detroit qualify? Next the user asks to see all new responses on “old” agenda items. In this instance, the user decides not to respond and “passes” by merely pressing the carriage return:

DO NEXT?

responses new

Item 12 12:47 Jun07/ 83 18 lines Peter Smith SHOULD THERE BE AN ADVANCED

I2 responses COST COURSE?

2 New discussion responses 11) David Loomis: Corporate accountants will probably increase their use of computers greatly over the next few years. Today, many of them are using spreadsheet programs like VisiCalc for all sorts of applications. _____ 12) Rebecca Gold: We ran some spreadsheet-type in 513. RESPOND,

FORGET,

OR PASS:
applications

last term

return>

After looking at new responses to some additional agenda items (not shown in this example), the user leaves CONFER with a “STOP” command:

DO NEXT? stop You are leaving ACCT:FORUM. Thanks for looking in! # Execution terminated A Case Example Computer conferences are used in “Data Base Systems,” an elective course offered by the Accounting Department within the MBA program. This course enrolls primarily graduate business students; its prerequisites include the core curriculum of the MBA program and knowledge of a computer programming language. The course meets one evening each week and focuses on techniques for developing logical descriptions of business data bases. While many students in the course have had considerable experience with business data processing, few are proficient in computer programming or operations. Nearly all the students are employed full time, and many have access to timesharing terminals at work. The typical student is motivated to use the system because of a general interest in the application of information systems technology to business decision-making. (Since the course is an elective one, few students enroll who lack such an interest). The manner in which the conference is made part of the course also motivates student involvement. Modes of use.-The computer conference is integrated into the course by awarding credit for participation, making it the timeliest way to obtain information on changes in course assignments, encouraging students who ask individual questions to enter them into the conference as agenda topics, and

73

providing prompt replies from the instructor to inquiries students make through the conference. Participation credit is awarded for each student’s activity in entering one or more agenda topics into the conference, managing the on-going conversation about those topics throughout the term, and responding to topics entered by others. Credit for such conference activity is quite analogous to credit for “class participation” in the traditional sense, but the computer conference furnishes the instructor with documentation for each student’s activity. The conference is used to send bulletins simultaneously to all students announcing changes in course assignments or meetings schedule, availability of library readings, and so forth. Students are advised to access the conference regularly in order to receive these bulletins. As described earlier, CONFER tracks each participant’s activity in the conference and displays only those bulletins that the participant has not yet seen. Further, the sender can specify an effective period for the announcement; participants will not see, in such a case, untimely information. Private, two-way communication is supported and provides the range of features commonly associated with “electronic mail”: (1) sending and receiving messages and replies, (2) “broadcasting” announcements to all participants in the conference or a specified subset of them, (3) archiving old messages, and (4) posting and recalling-automatically on a designated date-an individual’s personal reminders. Students have ready access to the instructor without having either to telephone or drive to campus. Moreover, student and instructor do not have to be available at the same moment; “telephone tag,” where two people return each other’s calls several times before making contact, is therefore avoided. The message feature of the conference also permits students to communicate with each other. While bulletins and private messages are useful features, the main function of the conference is the entering and discussion of agenda items. The author of the item prepares the text and introduces it into the conference. The author may specify several other agenda items to which the new one is related. If not performed by the author, this task will be accomplished by the conference organizer. After entry of the text, the instructor places the topic into the appropriate agenda category and other conference participants begin expressing their opinions. The author of the item and the instructor should follow the discussion and try to keep it on track, by making suitable responses of their own. Evaluation

of Instructional

Conferencing

During the first semester of conferencing, bulletins and private communications were often used and appreciated by students and the instructor. Frequently, the instructor was able to alert the class to corrections to course materials, new supplementary readings, and other last-minute developments. One special use of private communications occurred when the instructor was absent while students were writing application programs that used a data

base management system. No formal class meeting was held that week, but the instructor regularly checked the conference activity. Students who had questions or problems could contact the instructor and explain exactly what they needed to know. In some cases, a student gave the instructor access to program files. The instructor reviewed the coding and, through the conference, sent a reply to the student suggesting what might be done next. The instructor encouraged class members to use public agenda items for such questions and answers, allowing students to benefit from each other’s experiences. The conference promoted course objectives by exposing the students to a “modern” systems application. By participating in a computer conference, students gained a better appreciation of both computer-based communications among people and interactive software. Less effective was the discussion of course topics through agenda items. Items entered by students were few, tended not to be well thought out, and elicited meager response from other students in the course. Items written by the instructor to present material not covered in class lectures effectively transmitted information to the students, but they too failed to generate much conversation. Three factors tended to reduce discussion of course topics in the conference. First, only general comments were made at the start of the term concerning credit for conference participation: having never previously used conferencing for instructional purposes, the instructor was unable to structure student participation in a specific way. Second, the small class size, approximately fifteen students, did not provide the “critical mass” needed for effective discussion in the absence of a specific requirement for participation. Third, the instructor could not commit the time that would have been required to generate more activity by entering more items for discussion himself. Improving effectiveness.-Based on the initial experience with instructional conferencing, certain changes were made when the course was next offered. Students were given a very specific assignment regarding the discussion of course topics through the conference. Each student received credit equal to 7.5% of the course grade based on participation, and was required to enter at least one agenda item during the term. The greater specificity of this assignment combined with a doubling of the class size (to 28 students) did, in the instructor’s opinion, enhance the effectiveness of the conference for discussion of course topics. Extensive and lively discussions occurred for several agenda items. In a subsequent term, computer conferencing was again used in the “Data Base Systems” course with very similar procedures, class size, and results. Student reactions.-At the end of each semester the students were asked to complete a brief questionnaire containing questions about their backgrounds, conference participation, and attitudes towards the instructional use of computer conferencing. Exhibit 2 summarizes the responses to the attitudinal questions. In general, the students had no strong opinions about the effectiveness of the conference within the course. They did feel that the CONFER

75

software was easy to use. Exhibit 3 shows how the students reported having spent their time using the conference, with the reading of items and responses entered by others accounting for a majority of the conference use. The Future of Conferencing for Accounting Instruction Based partly on the experience with the “Data Base Systems” conference, some observations may be made regarding expanded use of conferencing in accounting instruction. This section highlights the ways in which conferencing may be of greatest value in teaching, identifies the costs of conducting a conference, and examines the implications of other developments in computerbased information systems and certain trends in higher education for instructional conferencing. Courses amenable to conferencing.-Although every course in which students and instructors are comfortable with and have convenient access to the computer system could probably benefit from announcements and private messages, the real issue of appropriate use of computer conferencing centers about agenda items for discussion of course topics. Heydinger reports that “. . . early evidence in course use indicates that ~onferen~in~ may be more useful for discussion topics in the humanities and social sciences” [p. 1493. Experience in the “Data Base Systems”course conference supports the notion that conferencing promotes more discussion of broad, conceptual topics than narrow techniques and procedures. When specific student questions on course assignments and use of the computer system were raised in agenda items, answers were obtained but little conversation ensued. Another consideration is the students’ familiarity with the computer system. In an advanced systems course, most students know how to use the campus computer system. These students need only a class lecture of perhaps thirty minutes on the use of the conferencing software, combined with some basic printed documentation, to begin. In other accounting courses, students may not have adequate skills and the effort required to make them proficient in the use of computer conferencing might not be justified. Convenient access to the computer is critical to full conference participation, Students must be able to use terminals or personal computers on campus, or at home or work over telephone lines. (Some students in the “Data Base Systems” course commented that inconvenience in using computer terminals seriously impeded their participation in the conference.) The instructor’s willingness and ability to organize the conference and to assist students also affects where in the accounting curriculum conferencing will bring the greatest returns. In courses where the instructor has already incorporated some use of computers, conferencing will be more readily embraced. Conferencing will be most beneficial where it fills a need that cannot easily be met by other means. Since the “Data Base Systems” class met only once a week, the conference reduced the communications void among students and the instructor. Had the course met several times each week. the conference

would probably have been less useful. In instructional settings where it is difficult for students to meet together or to arrange office consultations with the instructor, conferencing holds great promise. Costs of conferencing.-The costs of conducting a conference include time and effort expended by students and the instructor, as well as consumption of computer resources. The instructor must establish the conference, explain conferencing to the students, and supervise the discussion of agenda items. Students must learn a new software package and must spend time keeping current with the conference activity. Costs are incurred for computer processing, file storage, terminal usage, and perhaps fees for using a proprietary software package. Other developments in information systems.-Conferencing software is but one of many expanding capabilities of instructional computing. Other innovations can, in certain ways, be effectively joined with conferencing. For example, other software packages may serve as “inputs” to computer confefencing. Text editors may be used to prepare the text of agenda items, responses to those items, bulletins, or private messages. Statistics and graphics packages may be similarly employed. Software for computer-managed instruction (CMI) might be used to monitor student participation in the conference. Computer conferencing can enhance other instructional computing applications. One example was its use in a statistics course to provide an extended, on-line “help” facility for a computer-based statistical analysis package. Agenda items were entered by the instructor, each pertaining to a specific statistical routine or data management function. Conferencing may also be used for computer-assisted instruction (CAI), where individual lessons are structured as agenda items. The recent proliferation of inexpensive personal computers bodes we11for the future of instructional computer conferencing. Within the next several years, it will become cost-effective to require, as some schools are already doing, each student to have his or her own computer, capable of accessing the university’s system by telephone [Znterface Age, 19831. Before long, much of the printed material-supplementary readings, course syllabi, case studies, homework assignments, etc.-that is typically distributed in class will be made available electronically. In an environment of such expanded instructional computing, conferencing will likely become a convenient, and common, application. Conferencing and higher education trends.-The instructional use of computer conferencing is one method by which colleges and universities can respond to some of their most pressing challenges. Kerr and Heimerdinger [ 1982, p. 2981 have outlined conferencing’s potential for meeting the educational needs of a student population that is growing older. Conferencing could be effectively used with these students in credit and non-credit programs. Moreover, conferencing can increase the productivity of scarce faculty resources, while maintaining the quality of academic programs.

Conclusion Computer conferencing was an effective part of the “Data Base Systems” course. As computer use becomes integrated into more courses in the accounting curriculum, as universities develop campus computer networks and install software to support conferencing, and as more students obtain their own terminals and personal computers, the benefit-cost ratio for computer conferenting in accounting instruction will rise sharply. A substantial portion of the instruction in certain courses-where the subject matter is particularly amenable or students cannot readily meet together in a classroom-will be offered through conferencing. In many other courses, conferencing will be a useful adjunct to more traditional modes of teaching. By describing the use of computer conferencing in an actual instructional setting, this article should provide accounting educators with some insight into this exciting, new, instructional tool. Exhibit 1 Conferencing Software This table lists several software packages currently available for computer conferencing and the organizations that developed and/or support them. Confer Advertel Communications Systems, Inc. Forum University of British Columbia EIES New Jersey Institute of Technology COM University of Stockholm (Sweden) Notepad Infomedia Corp. (San Bruno, CA) Planet Institute for the Future Participate The Source and Participation Systems, Inc. (Winchester, MA) Exhibit 2 Student Attitudes toward Conferencing This scale was used for each of the following questions: (1) strongly agree, (2) agree, (3) neither agree nor disagree, (4) disagree, and (5) strongly disagree. Thirty-nine students (across two semesters) responded to each question. Std. Question

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Using the class computer conference was enjoyable. The time spent using the conference was too large compared to the benefits received. The conference was of little value to me in completing the ADBMS* assignments. The CONFER software was easy to use. If I had had more time available, I would have liked to have spent more time using the conference. Less weight in determining course grades should be placed on conference participation.

Mean ____

-

Dev.

2.69

1.28

2.64

1.25

2.33 1.97

1.20 0.90

2.67

I.32

2.41

1.23

7.

8. 9. 10. 1I. 12. 13. 14.

Having used the conference will help me to become more proficient in business uses of computers. Private messages were an effective part of the conference. f was a frequent participant in the conference. Reading items and responses did little to improve my understanding of the course material. Overall, the conference was a valuable part of this course. Preparing my own items and responses helped me to better understand the course material. Based on my experience in this course, computer conferencing is a good instructional tool. Computer conferencing could be used effectively in courses that do not have a heavy computer orientation.

*The ADBMS assignments used a data base management

Thirty-nine questions.

involved system.

writing application

2.

1.06

2.97 2.74

I .06 1.21

2.77

1.20

2.97

1.29

3.31

1.13

2.74

1.23

2.41

1.25

in a host language,

that

Exhibit 3 Time Spent Using the Conference students (across two semesters) answered each of the following

Question

1.

programs,

3.31

-

Mean

Estimate the total number ofhours you have spent so far this semester using our class conference. 9.41 Of the total time you spent using our computer conference, what percentage was devoted to each of the following activities? 5.51 a. Sending and receiving messages and bulletins 21.40 b. Preparing and entering your own items c. Reading items and responses entered by other 50.28 people d. Preparing and entering your own responses to 24.92 items entered by other people

Std. Dev. __

9.07

4.83 14.85

20.50 13.08

REFERENCES Advertel communication Systems, Inc. (1983),Tfre User’s Guide IO Confer ii, (2067 Ascot, Ann Arbor, MI 48103, 1983). Heydinger, R. B. (1979) “Computer Conferencing: Its Use as a Pedagogical Tool,” in F. Kierstead. J. Bowman, and C. Dede (eds.), Education Futures: Sourcebook [(World Future Society, 1979): 143-158. Intwfucr Age (19X3). “College is first to require Computer Literacy,” (January 1983): 8. Kerr, E. 8. and M. Heimerdinger( 1982). “Computerized Conferencingasan EducationalToo1.” EDUCOM ~~~i~~ti~,(Summer 1982): 27-29, 32.

79 Parnes, R. (1984), private communication, April 5, 1984. Welsch, L. A. (1982), “Using Electronic Mail as a Teaching Tool,” Co~~~~jeff~io~~ (February 1982): 105-108.

ofrke A CM