Use video to model question analysis
Ms Wendy Fleet, a Launceston-based Lecturer and Teaching Fellow, has developed a video that models the process of analysing an accounting essay question. The video has been included in a series called Thinking like an Accountant, part of the Accounting Communication Matters website. The video was embedded in one of the first year units in the Masters of Professional Accounting, a program with a high proportion of international students. The video was produced by Kevin Lyall and Beverly Goldfarb from the TSBE, together with Richard Barker from the Faculty of Arts.
Peta Statham interviewed Wendy to find out more about the video project and to ask her advice about creating videos for teaching purposes.
Q |
Wendy, tell us a little about the rationale behind this video series. | |
A |
The idea was to get students engaged with the analysis of [an essay] question. We were trying to get students to think like an accountant, to think about how a professional would approach question analysis. | |
Q |
You approached staff at Deloitte (Launceston) to star in the video. Tell us a little more about this. | |
A |
I sent an essay question to a contact at Deloitte for his feedback. He replied, ‘Oh, we talked about this over lunch’ and described the discussion they’d had. It struck me that what he described was exactly the sort of thing I wanted my students to see: a bunch of accountants sitting around a table analysing the question and sharing their thoughts about the topic. So we filmed his team sitting around a table at their offices. They discussed the topic, and broke it down into steps for the students. It was completely unscripted – they just did what they would naturally do. One of the best things was that they all kept referring to the Accounting Standards. That was great because we often have trouble getting students into the habit of referring to the Standards! | |
Q |
You chose to film professionals, rather than finding actors and following a script. Why was that? | |
A |
It was really the process of thinking like an accountant that we wanted to model, and who better to do that than actual accountants. However, if it was a case study or a story that we had wanted to capture, I think it would be appropriate to use actors, perhaps even our own students. If you were to do that it would really be a process of working with Heads of Schools [e.g. Performing Arts] to see if they’re interested. In my experience, people are usually generous with their time, interested and helpful if they understand what it is you’re doing and why you’re trying to do it. Although the students and I benefit initially, in the longer term it helps the industry because communication, and written communication in particular, have been highlighted as a problem for accounting graduates for many years. | |
Q |
Once you had the videos created, how did you embed them within your teaching? | |
A |
The first thing I did was to cut the video up into component parts. I then embedded the videos on a website amongst some reflective questions. So, the idea is that you watch a bit and then you have a question to think about. But the website alone is not enough – students are not going to go there voluntarily. So the videos became part of the scaffolding for written communication skills within the unit. To help students with their writing we had tutorial exercises that included watching some of the videos. The aim was to lead the students towards developing a research plan for their essay. In tangent with this, the Student Learning team (from the Student Centre) ran writing workshops. In essence, this video was just one component of the scaffolding that supports the essay-writing task. | |
Q |
Have you been happy with the results? | |
A |
I don’t think the video was utilised as much as it could have been. The evaluations that I conducted suggested that the videos were too long. I originally broke the video up into 10 minute slots, followed by questions, but I think I probably want to break the video up into smaller chunks in future. One of the other problems is that our students don’t like writing, so they try to avoid it. One of the difficulties is trying to enforce that writing is an important part of the accounting profession. It [the videos] made an impact on at least one person: for the first time, the top essay mark was gained by an International student. It was clear that the student had modelled their essay writing process based on what they had seen in the video series. | |
Q |
What advice would you give to other staff who are considering using video in their teaching? | |
A |
Have a clear vision, shared by all the people involved, of what you want to achieve at the end of the process. Also, you can’t just stop with the video. The students have to have a reason to go to the video, or any resource for that matter. It is not enough to have the information there. We have the resources but we have to provide the students with the reason to go to those resources, tell them how to get there, and provide advice about what to do with the resources when they get there. |
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