‘Small teaching’ ideas to improve online learning

Editor: Annette Nellen, Esq., CPA, CGMA

The COVID-19 pandemic magnified the use of online education in colleges and universities. The National Center for Education Statistics reported that in fall 2020, 75% of undergraduate students took an online course. In 2022, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) published a report titled “Are Attitudes Changing Toward Online Learning?” that demonstrated a positive shift in attitudes among students and employers toward online courses. Business colleges increased the number of fully online programs between the 2019–2020 and 2020–2021 school years as fully online MBA programs increased 22%, and doctoral programs offered fully online increased from seven to 47.

In the same report, the AACSB emphasized that interaction among students and between students and the instructor is an important component of learning. This expectation holds regardless of the size of the class or whether it is offered online. Even though universities have returned to in-person classes after the height of the pandemic, they continue to offer online courses and programs. The same AACSB report showed that although the majority of students prefer business programs to be delivered primarily in person, the online classroom remains a viable and attractive option for many students.

The pandemic also increased the importance of online options for accounting continuing professional education (CPE). Accounting firms of all sizes began to increase the amount of training conducted online. State boards of accountancy welcome CPE online courses, but some have restrictions. For example, the Arkansas State Board of Public Accountancy Rule 13 regarding CPE requires at least 20% of continuing education be in a group format, which includes internet and videoconferencing if the process permits learners to interact with the instructor and other participants during the session. Interactive webinars are considered group programs, while noninteractive internet courses are not. The California Board of Accountancy maintains similar standards in its general course requirements. The requirements state that providers of webcast courses must monitor attendance throughout the program, use a live instructor, and allow participants to send questions and comments and receive answers during the program.

Given this increase in online instruction in both the educational and professional environments of accounting, instructors can benefit from ways to make it more effective, engaging, and interactive. Teaching online courses requires unique skills and techniques that differ from in-person courses. This column presents ideas from the book Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science in Online Classes by Flower Darby and James M. Lang ( Jossey-Bass 2019) that have been implemented successfully in accounting courses. This book expands on the book Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons From the Science of Learning by Lang ( Jossey-Bass 2016, 2d ed. 2021).

The small teaching approach translates research findings into small, incremental changes instructors can implement to have a positive impact on student learning. The basic premise is to present changes that are not too daunting and that can be incorporated easily. These small changes can be introduced over several terms and do not need to be included all at once. Many of the techniques also apply to online professional training.

Suggestions from Small Teaching Online

The specific ideas and suggestions for online learning are presented in three general categories taken from the organization of Small Teaching Online: (1) designing for learning, (2) teaching humans, and (3) motivating online students (p. ix). While the book includes dozens of small teaching tips, the items below represent a selection of items most applicable to online teaching in the areas of accounting and taxation. Examples and context are added to show an adaptation to accounting and taxation. Page numbers for each of the selected items are noted for readers who want to use the book to explore topics in greater depth.

Designing for learning

Semester-long courses and one-hour continuing education courses both benefit from clear learning goals and a careful plan to achieve the goals. Some small techniques that keep those goals in front of the students can be implemented.

Clarify the purpose of classwork and assessments (pp. 13–17): Instructors intentionally select and sequence the course assignments to benefit students. In the online environment, instructors must also purposely communicate the rationale for the class activities and assignments. When a class is in person, this type of explanation often occurs informally. Since online learning offers fewer such opportunities, instructors can deliberately begin assignments by sharing the purpose of the assignment and detailed instructions to complete the work.

One engaging method of explaining the purpose of an assignment is to ask local professionals to demonstrate how they use the topics that will be covered; a short introductory video can be prepared for this purpose. The videos do not have to be of professional quality; in fact, a video shot on a cellphone works great and appears more relatable.

Break down large tasks into smaller ones (pp. 32–35): Research related to student writing shows that feedback during the process improves the final outcome and aids learning. Large, semester-long assignments should be broken into segments throughout the semester.

Providing timely feedback along the way improves the quality of work and makes for easier grading. When instructors receive multiple submissions throughout the term, they can make small corrections to students’ work and clarify the overall assignment instructions and goals when needed. For group projects, the first mini-assignment could be a group formation exercise where participants introduce themselves during a Zoom meeting, assign roles for the project, and sign a responsibility statement.

Summarize discussion boards regularly (pp. 41–43): Online discussion boards provide a useful outlet for students to engage with the topics and each other. However, discussions can overwhelm students and often lack focus. One approach to keep discussion boards relevant and useful is for the instructor to write or record a summary of the important points in the discussion at the end of each module. This also creates an opportunity to recognize students who made exemplary contributions to the discussion. Instructors of one-hour continuing education courses can use a chat feature or follow-up emails to summarize key points.

Create short, three- to five-minute mini-lecture videos (pp. 52–56): Online courses gravitate toward heavy use of text. One way to combat this problem is to incorporate more video content. As mentioned, research indicates that the videos do not need to be professionally edited to be effective; however, the videos should be closed captioned to make them accessible for more users. Plus, the library of videos can be used for future courses and increased over time, especially if instructors are careful not to include date-specific information. Narration over a slideshow is often a useful option if learners need to take long pauses to work on a problem or reread information on the screen.

Use existing media content (pp. 61–63): While videos from the instructor build connections and show engagement, a presenter can also find other resources to illustrate a point. These can be clips from shows or movies or instructional videos that are readily available on platforms such as YouTube. Learners often benefit from viewing other approaches to master the topics.

Teaching humans

As presented in the book, this category can be thought of as building a community of learning. Creating a sense of community may be even more challenging in the online environment than in person. However, the effort pays off in both a better experience and increased learning. Students need more than text and videos; they also benefit from interaction with their instructor and peers.

Build opportunities for student interactions (pp. 81–86): Research shows that peer-to-peer interaction fosters deeper learning. Requiring this type of interaction starts at the beginning and can be continued throughout the course. Open the course with an introductory discussion board where students can share information about themselves. Keep the board open throughout the semester so students can ask questions of each other and share ideas. Allow students to subscribe to the discussion so they will know when other students post to it. Shorter sessions can incorporate a brief icebreaker at the beginning of synchronous presentations.

Share appropriate personal information (pp. 90–92): Teachers can help create a sense of community for students by revealing their own personalities. This presence, both professionally and socially, benefits learners. There are many ways to do this, and adding one each session starts the process. At the beginning of the session, share information in a video introducing the course. Be sure to include fun facts, including hobbies and adventures. Incorporate your interests into relevant exercises. For example, an interest in volunteering with a local charity can lead to an assignment that evaluates the tax effects of charitable giving. This can be translated into a discussion of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (Division T of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, P.L. 117-328). Breakout groups (synchronous or asynchronous) can develop scenarios that explain the act’s changes to required minimum distributions and rules for qualified charitable distributions.

Use virtual office hours creatively (pp. 119–121): A quick conversation can make more progress than repeated emails. Many online courses are asynchronous, allowing students to complete work at a convenient time. However, instructors can provide opportunities for synchronous interaction with some flexibility. These short interactions can be invaluable in establishing presence. Simply asking students to stop by during online office hours often results in no students attending.

Require learners to check in for a short conversation offered for multiple periods, using an online signup tool. The check-in discussions can be facilitated by sending links for sessions that use any videoconferencing software (e.g., Zoom, Microsoft Teams, etc.). This smaller synchronous interaction will enhance a sense of community and encourage students to ask questions on current assignments or topics, especially if more than one student is present.

Record audio or video comments on submitted work (pp. 123–126): Research shows that students have positive perceptions of audio feedback and find it to be personal and detailed. A recording captures tone and nuance that are lost in written text. Feedback includes emphasis and enthusiasm when vocal tones and facial expressions are part of the message. Audio or video comments work particularly well for group assignments where more feedback is needed to address all members. Start and end the comments with positive feedback, with suggestions for improvement in the middle.

Motivating online students

Research on how students’ emotions affect their motivation for learning suggests that two elements improve motivation: control and value. Control represents the extent to which students have control over the activities and the outcomes that matter to them. Value is defined as the degree to which course activities have meaning or worth to the students. This framework gives a starting point to find some small changes that can increase student motivation.

Present multiple topics and allow students to select into a group based on the topic (pp. 162– 168): The effective use of discussion groups has been discussed as a small teaching idea. Allowing students to select among topics provides them additional control. As they select topics of interest to them, perceived value increases. Teachers can provide questions from the entire module content, or they can provide articles or readings and allow students to select the readings and discussion group topic. Further, instructors can allow students to respond to the discussion questions using either text or video to provide them additional control. Even shorter webinars can use online breakout rooms for topics of interest.

Help students connect to the material by connecting it to what they already know (pp. 185–187): Learning is fostered when students connect concepts to other material from the course and to their own experiences. Instructors can increase motivation and deeper learning by helping students identify these connections. One way to promote connecting is through an introductory quiz or assignment that probes what students already know about the topic. This can be done in a course or even for a specific module or online webinar in the case of professional training. An opening set of questions to activate prior knowledge increases motivation to continue learning.

A second way to promote connections is to ask students to apply new concepts to an event, company, or organization that is familiar to them; however, instructors should emphasize that participants should not violate company, organization, or client confidentiality rules. For example, after a discussion of tax fraud, students can apply lessons learned to an actual case familiar to them (with confidential and identifying information removed). Students should then reply to each other and add insight or analysis, such as pointing out other fraud red flags not identified in the original post.

Provide the framework but not everything (pp. 187–188): Research indicates that students completing open spaces in an outline provided by the instructor performed better than those given an entire outline. A partial outline shows the organization of the ideas but requires engagement and connection from the learner. Providing a partial outline helps students stay focused during presentations.

Ask students to connect course material to outside materials and current events (pp. 191–193): Prior to the assignment, include a current video clip or news articles on a current tax law change, such as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, P.L. 117-169. Then, provide information on a hypothetical client and ask participants to identify possible tax credits and deductions for that client.

Incremental improvements, enhanced learning

Moving forward, accounting students and professionals will increasingly be asked to participate in online learning. This column presents small teaching ideas to improve the online learning experience. The goal of small teaching is to find incremental improvements that can be added to enhance learning. Starting small means selecting one or two items to implement first and then building from there. Instructors will find what works for their material and continue to modify and include additional ideas that work for their audience.

Contributors

Tracy S. Manly, CPA, Ph.D., M.Acc., is provost and a professor of accounting at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Mo. Constance A. McKnight, CPA, Ph.D., M.Acc., is an associate professor of accounting at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, Ark. Annette Nellen, Esq., CPA, CGMA, is a professor in the Department of Accounting and Finance at San José State University in San José, Calif., and is a past chair of the AICPA Tax Executive Committee. For more information about this column, contact thetaxadviser@aicpa.org.