Co-creation in Accounting

Tonight’s ALT 2021 session was entitled “Creating a student led on-line inclusive community of learning and co-creation of programme content using digital technology” presented by Sue Evans, Ellen Spender, Tracey Williams and, Lesley Davies. Spender talked about the swift move to online teaching and learning of their accounting courses last year. They had the challenge of “creating a student-led online inclusive community of learning and individual learning experiences within large cohort groups.” Spender spoke about working on the confidence of students to speak in the course if they are first-time students at the university or reluctant to engage. They also evaluated access to technology and attempted to build a sense of community and belonging. Spender described the strategies used for both asynchronous and synchronous sessions. They created short videos (less than twenty minutes), group work, interactive games during synchronous sessions, and breakout room activities. I thought it was telling that they carved out time for socializing and creating friendships! Communication was vital, and Spender explained that they used short recorded messages instead of longer more detailed ones. The student feedback shared was very positive and mentioned the Kahoot live and teamwork.

Davies described “using VR to create an individual student led learning experience.” They created 360-degree videos for case studies. Students were the auditors and had an inventory sheet. Students worked in breakout rooms as an “audit team” working together to discuss findings. Evans developed a module for “creating a learning community and co-creation of module content.” They had about 185 students, and Evans wanted to build a student-led community to co-create content. Students reported appreciating the icebreaker time to build confidence and friendships. Students enjoyed co-creating content using Padlet. Some international students cited low confidence in communication skills as the reason why they didn’t participate as much. Evans used the Jisc digital capabilities survey, and one of the top four responses was more interactivity and collaboration in digital learning. Williams mentioned using the Curriculum Inclusivity Toolkit by Dr. Alys Einon-Waller from Swansea University. This instrument covers six domains:

  • Equalizing relationships between learners and teachers
  • Empowerment
  • Building community
  • Including the individual voice
  • Respecting diversity and personal experience
  • Challenging teaching and theory

This toolkit seems to be for instructors to use the questions to rethink their design of courses. One thought-provoking audience question was about how much instructor contributions are needed to encourage co-creation.

Laptop with hands on keyboard. Calculator and pens on desk.
How can we engage students in co-creation in large accounting courses? Photo by Kindel Media on Pexels.com