Formative Survey Results

Starting at the end of the Fall Semester, 1993, the project team decided to introduce a set of formative survey methods involving three different "exit" assessment approaches:

  • Exit interviews
  • Exit focus groups
  • Exit questionnaires

The team's intent in using these three approaches was to give students the opportunity to provide detailed feedback on five specific aspects of AC 15 and AC 16 (examples of the exit interview and exit questionnaire instruments are included in the Appendix - focus group sessions addressed questions similar to those contained in those two instruments):

  • Active/discovery learning
  • Group work
  • Instructional techniques
  • Instructional materials
  • Mentor tasks

Results of these various exit assessment activities are shown for AC 15 and AC 16 in Tables VI.2 and VI.3, respectively. Copies of these tables are available via download using the "Download" buttons below.

    Table VI.1
    Table VI.2
    Table VI.3

Note: the tables are stored as Microsoft Word documents.

The exit feedback identified the following aspects of the new curricula that, from the students' perspective, were working:

AC 15:

  • Active learning - Various aspects of the active learning mode are working, including daily advance preparation (individual homework assignments), frequent instructor questions, in-class group work, and oral presentations.
  • Group activity - Collaborative learning activities are working.
  • Instructional materials and techniques - Various instructional materials and techniques are working, including the use of mentors, integration of computers, use of unstructured problems, the serial case (John the Painter), and analysis/essay exams, student course outline (SCO) and related overheads, and individual and group assignments.
  • Mentor activities - Mentor activities are working.

AC 16:

  • Active learning - Various aspects of the active learning mode are working, including daily advance preparation (individual homework assignments), frequent instructor questions, in-class group work, and individual written reports.
  • Group activity - Collaborative learning activities are working.
  • Instructional materials and techniques - Various instructional materials and techniques are working, including the use of mentors, integration of computers, use of unstructured problems, the progressive case (California Car Company), analysis/essay exams, simulations and the use of LEGOSR, and use of the Caterpillar annual report, the student course outline (SCO) and related overheads, individual and group assignments, and individual/group quizzes.
  • Mentor activities - Mentor activities are working.

As Tables VI.2 and VI.3 also indicate, however, some of the feedback at the end of particular semesters was negative. As a result of this negative feedback, the project team, at various points during the grant, made the following adjustments to the curricula for AC 15 and AC 16:

Active learning/discovery learning:

  • Significantly reduced the amount of small group work that had to be done outside of class
  • Introduced explicit criteria by which oral presentations would be evaluated
  • Increased the "marketing" effort extolling the benefits of discovery learning

Instructional materials:

  • Replaced the SLA text with a custom published text that contains materials tailored to individual and group assignments

Mentor tasks:

  • Provided more direction to mentors regarding ways in which they could assist students

Group Systems V experiment

At the end of the last semester of the grant (Spring, 1995), the project team decided to experiment with an alternative format for student focus groups, which involved the use of Group Systems V. This computer "groupware" allows 15 students (per course) to simultaneously and interactively address various facets of each course. The software allows students to "brainstorm" (e.g., what did you like most about AC 15?), to vote on issues (e.g., strongly agree ... strongly disagree), and to rank various aspects of the course in terms of "importance to learning." In general, the Group Systems V results for the Spring Semester, 1995 are consistent with results obtained through the other exit survey approaches. Interestingly, the Group Systems V approach provides a much "richer" set of student comments than obtained by any of the other formative survey approaches and therefore holds promise as an effective assessment alternative for the future.

A Group Systems V session was also held at the end of the Spring Semester, 1995, for all faculty who had taught AC 15 (five instructors participated) and AC 16 (four instructors participated) using the reengineered materials. Among other things, the instructors for each course were asked to rank order various instructional materials and techniques in terms of their relative importance to students in learning the materials. Tables VI. 4 and VI.5 show the results of this ranking exercise.

Table VI.4

Introduction to Accounting I
Instructor Ranking of Various Instructional Materials and Techniques
- Importance in Student Learning -

Items listed in descending order of importance:

    1. Use of the serial case (John the Painter)
    2. Individual homework assignments
    3. Individual/group quizzes
    4. Use of the personal computer
    5. Group assignments
    6. Student Course Outline
    7. Midterm exam
    8. Overhead transparencies
    9. Use of mentors
    10. Use of unstructured problems (individual and group assignments)
    11. Use of hands-on computer proficiency tests
    12. Textbook

Table VI.5

Introduction to Accounting II
Instructor Ranking of Various Instructional Materials and Techniques
- Importance in Student Learning -

Items listed in descending order of importance:

    1. Use of personal computer
    2. Individual homework assignments
    3. Student course outline
    4. Individual/group quizzes
    5. Overhead transparencies
    6. Use of in-class simulation and blocks
    7. Use of videos
    8. Midterm exam
    9. Use of the serial case (California Car Company)
    10. Use of Caterpillar Inc. annual report
    11. Group assignments
    12. Use of Mentors
    13. Use of unstructured problems (individual and group assignments)
    14. Use of hands-on computer proficiency tests
    15. Textbook

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