At a Glance
Institution:
University of Saskatchewan
Instructor:
Brandy Mackintosh
Course Name:
Introductory Financial Accounting
Course Material in Use:
Phillips, Fundamentals of Financial Accounting, 7ce
Resource in Use:
Connect + SmartBook
Course Type:
Face-to-face
Integration:
Sakai
Course Enrollment:
540 students total per academic year
Professor Brandy Mackintosh believes accounting is a subject that is best learned by doing. She constantly stresses the importance of practice and the role it plays in becoming successful on accounting assignments and exams to students in her Introductory Financial Accounting course. However, assigning practice questions was sometimes frustrating because of the length of time it took to mark assignments and the delay in getting feedback to students.
“Connect allows for less time spent grading these questions as the system does it for you. This instant feedback also allows students to see where they went wrong immediately so they can keep up with new material.”
Professor Mackintosh decided to implement Connect in her Introductory Financial Accounting course to give students access to instant feedback to ensure students don’t fall behind. She uses SmartBook to prepare students for upcoming chapters and help facilitate conversation in the classroom, allowing students to keep current with topics using the refresh option.
Professor Mackintosh uses Connect with SmartBook in her course. She assigns SmartBook modules and Connect assignments, worth a total of 13% of total students’ grades. Some marks are assigned to before-class SmartBook readings in order to prepare students for in-class discussions, while she also allocates marks to after-class homework assignments to encourage practice of course concepts. Requiring students to complete material in advance has allowed her to increase the level of difficulty or “ramp up” the discussion because they have the basic material already to go above and beyond what could be possible in class before.
“Setting up the Connect assignments was very easy and user friendly. Anytime I had questions on how to do something, either the on-line support helped or I was able to email my McGraw Hill Account Managers for easy and quick solutions.”
After using Connect and SmartBook assignments, Professor Mackintosh has found that students are more prepared for in-class quizzes and exams than prior to using Connect. In particular, she has found that the General Ledger questions are a great way for students to see how systems work in the real world. Not only are students more prepared, but class averages have increased due to the completion of on-line assignments and the instant feedback that comes with it.
“Students really like the instant feedback and feel that it’s a great way to improve on areas they may be struggling with.”
Brandy Mackintosh is an Assistant Professor at the University of Saskatchewan’s Edwards School of Business, where she teaches Introductory and Intermediate Financial Accounting. She has also taught advanced Financial Accounting, External Auditing, and Advanced Financial Reporting at the graduate level. Brandy has won Teaching Excellence Awards, as well as a case writing award at CAAA.
I would suggest colleagues take the time to understand how the programs work. If students come to their instructors with questions and they don’t know how to answer them, then students lose faith in the process and program and don’t feel that there is as much benefit. Also, I recommend the use of the McGraw Hill support staff when needed, as they are very quick and reliable.