1. School of Accountancy Effective Learning Strategies I Introducing Accounting: Classroom Application of the Pathways Commission Vision Melissa P. Larson Brigham Young University Melissa_larson@byu.edu

2. School of Accountancy ACC 200: Principles of Accounting Required class for all business majors Required for other majors across campus (public relations, construction management, dietetics) Fulfills a general education requirement Over 1,000 students a semester Class is scheduled 2X a week for 75 min each session Financial Topics 2/3 and Management Topics 1/3 1 Day of Tax Accounting What do they think of Accounting Day 1?

3. School of Accountancy Take out a blank sheet of paper and draw a picture of what you think of when you think of Accounting

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5. Numbers, Math, Alone, Boring

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9. Taxes

10. School of Accountancy Worker Bee

11. School of Accountancy STRESSSTRESS

13. Impossible?

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15. Objective: To attract the best and brightest students into the profession AND to break down stereotypical mentalities about accounting that students bring into the classroom. To create a meaningful experience to a diverse student body. This is also a challenge!

16. School of Accountancy A widely held perception of accounting is that it’s the process of “bean counting.” 16 Word Cloud was created with taxedo.com and used under the Creative Commons License.

17. School of Accountancy Through this view, the public perceives accounting as a mechanical, black- or-white, right-or- wrong process. 17 This work is by The Pathways Commission and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

18. School of Accountancy 18 This work is by The Pathways Commission and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

19. School of Accountancy Reality is that accounting plays a critical role in supporting a prosperous society. 19 Word Cloud was created with taxedo.com and used under the Creative Commons License.

20. School of Accountancy Typical Week Tuesday: Students do not come to class—they use that time to watch software, do homework and learn the mechanics of accounting (there is some black and white here) An accounting lab is available to help students Thursday: The students come to class and we build on what they learned through group case work and and discussion. With each topic, we discuss the judgment that is required.

21. School of Accountancy Take out a blank sheet of paper and draw a picture of what you think of when you think of Accounting

22. School of Accountancy Smiling faces!

23. School of Accountancy Debits on the left, Credits on the right

24. School of Accountancy Business Processes

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27. Decision Making, Judgment

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30. We can’t change every perception….but we can try!

31. School of Accountancy Course Evaluation Comments “I really enjoyed this class. While I probably will not major in accounting, I know that the things I’ve learned will be very beneficial to my life going forward. Great class!” “I am a public relations major graduating this semester and frankly think I would have switched my major had I taken this a few semesters ago. I will (and have) recommend this class to anyone at BYU whether it is required or not.”

32. School of Accountancy “I went into this class scared for my life. I am a hard worker, but this class still intimidated me (I am not a business major but this class is required for my major which is communications). I cannot say that I LOVED accounting, or that by the end of the semester I wanted to take acc310, but I can honestly say this has been an amazingly beneficial class. You have given me basic accounting and life knowledge. I have seen how this can apply to my major an why it is important for ANYONE to know. The life lessons and applications I can/use are already endless, especially in the business world. I had to work my tail off to get the grade I am currently getting and it has been extremely rewarding”

33. School of Accountancy “I am not a fan of accounting, but I have learned a lot from this class. My eyes have been opened to the accounting world.” “I really enjoyed this class—it made we want to like accounting! Unfortunately I think I’m not cut out for it, but it definitely helped me to appreciate and respect the field. I always enjoyed class and and feel that what I learned is important life knowledge.” “I didn’t think I would like accounting, but I ended up loving this class.”

34. School of Accountancy “I loved this course. I use to say that being an accountant would be the worst job I could ever imagine—Professor Larson actually made me consider it! I am so excited to be using these skills in real life. Very useful course.” “Incredible course that I believe should be required for any student to graduate from BYU.” “Accounting, a subject I dreaded to take, is something fun that I enjoyed and looked forward to going to every week!”

35. School of Accountancy Questions?