Learning preferences in accounting education: a focus on the role of visualization

PurposeIn accounting education studies, there is increasing interest in using teaching visual tools and contents. However, research about the pedagogical benefits of visual in education is still limited. This paper aims to contribute to the debate by providing evidence on the extent to which the visual represents a relevant learning preference of accounting students.Design/methodology/approachThe paper adopted the visual, aural, read/write, and kinesthetic questionnaire as a tested means to study the learning preferences of accounting students. The empirical study is based on a survey conducted with undergraduate and postgraduate accounting students.FindingsThe results show that visualization appears to be the less-relevant learning preference of students. This result is not in line with the emergent discussion in accounting education literature, which examines how visual tools can improve the presentation of accounting information. This opens the debate about the potential use of visual tools in teaching accounting. Besides, gender and origin of students (national vs international) appeared as relevant factors in explaining a greater visual learning preference.Originality/valueThis paper attempts to contribute to the accounting literature by providing evidence on the extent to which the visual represents the relevant learning preferences of accounting students. In addition, given that most of the literature on students’ learning preferences are based on Anglo-Saxon contexts, the authors provide evidence from a Latin country.

[1]  Rose R. Kocinski.  The effect of knowledge of one's learning style by freshman nursing students on student achievement , 1984 .

[2]  R. Taffler,et al.  Improving the Communication Function of Published Accounting Statements , 1984 .

[3]  G. Morgan.  Accounting as reality construction: Towards a new epistemology for accounting practice , 1988 .

[4]  M. Jones,et al.  The Use and Abuse of Graphs in Annual Reports: Theoretical Framework and Empirical Study , 1992 .

[5]  Neil D. Fleming,et al.  Not Another Inventory, Rather a Catalyst for Reflection , 1992 .

[6]  Paul D. Kimmel.  A framework for incorporating critical thinking into accounting education , 1995 .

[7]  Richard Taffler,et al.  Improving the communication of accounting information through cartoon graphics , 1996 .

[8]  D. L. Flesher,et al.  Pictures and the bottom line: The television epistemology of U.S. annual reports☆ , 1996 .

[9]  Terry L. Holcomb,et al.  A strategic plan for educational technology in accounting , 1996 .

[10]  M. Jones,et al.  A Comparitive Study of the Use of Financial Graphs in the Corporate Annual Reports of Major U.S. and U.K. Companies , 1997 .

[11]  P. Booth,et al.  The quality of learning in accounting education: the impact of approaches to learning on academic performance , 1999 .

[12]  L. Curry.  Cognitive and learning styles in medical education. , 1999, Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges.

[13]  S. Carr,et al.  From Strategic Plan to Practical Realities: Developing and Implementing a Zero‐Based Accounting Curriculum , 1999 .

[14]  Sanithia C. Boyd,et al.  Changes in Accounting Education: Improving Principles Content for Better Understanding , 2000 .

[15]  U. Lucas.  WORLDS APART: STUDENTS' EXPERIENCES OF LEARNING INTRODUCTORY ACCOUNTING☆ , 2000 .

[16]  M. Cho,et al.  Designing Teaching and Assessment Methods for Diverse Student Populations , 2001 .

[17]  Teresa Larkin-Hein,et al.  Research on learning style: applications in the physics and engineering classrooms , 2001, IEEE Trans. Educ..

[18]  R. Dunn,et al.  Knowledge management and learning styles: prescriptions for future teachers , 2001 .

[19]  J. Giesen,et al.  Mathematics Anxiety and Learning Styles: What Is the Relationship in Elementary Preservice Teachers? , 2002 .

[20]  Lynda Thomas,et al.  Learning styles and performance in the introductory programming sequence , 2002, SIGCSE '02.

[21]  R. Bloom.  Accounting Education: Charting the Course through a Perilous Future , 2002 .

[22]  L. Thomas,et al.  Learning styles and performance in the introductory programming sequence , 2002, SIGCSE.

[23]  J. Goldman,et al.  Constructivist Pedagogies of Interactivity on a CD ROM to Enhance Academic Learning at a Tertiary Institution , 2002 .

[24]  ThomasLynda,et al.  Learning styles and performance in the introductory programming sequence , 2002 .

[25]  Kouider Mokhtari,et al.  ARE STUDENTS' LEARNING STYLES DISCIPLINE SPECIFIC? , 2003 .

[26]  William A. Drago,et al.  Vark preferred learning styles and online education , 2004 .

[27]  J. Courtis.  Colour as visual rhetoric in financial reporting , 2004 .

[28]  D. Kilroy.  Problem based learning , 2004, Emergency Medicine Journal.

[29]  S. Straja,et al.  Student learning preferences and teaching implications. , 2004, Journal of dental education.

[30]  M. Lovelace.  Meta-Analysis of Experimental Research Based on the Dunn and Dunn Model , 2005 .

[31]  R. Felder,et al.  Understanding Student Differences , 2005 .

[32]  B. Jackling.  Analysis of the Learning Context, Perceptions of the Learning Environment and Approaches to Learning Accounting: A Longitudinal Study , 2005 .

[33]  S. Mcchlery,et al.  Teaching styles versus learning styles in the accounting sciences in the United Kingdom and South Africa: a comparative analysis , 2006 .

[34]  S. Jessee,et al.  Matching student personality types and learning preferences to teaching methodologies. , 2006, Journal of dental education.

[35]  A. Zapalska,et al.  Learning styles and online education , 2006 .

[36]  Thomas F. Hawk,et al.  Using Learning Style Instruments to Enhance Student Learning , 2007 .

[37]  Z. Baykan,et al.  Learning styles of first-year medical students attending Erciyes University in Kayseri, Turkey. , 2007, Advances in physiology education.

[38]  B. Jackling,et al.  Approaches to learning accounting: a cross‐cultural study , 2007 .

[39]  The Case for Accounting Education Research , 2008 .

[40]  M. Mrayyan,et al.  Problem-based learning (PBL): assessing students' learning preferences using VARK. , 2008, Nurse education today.

[41]  L. Parker,et al.  Bean counters or bright young things?: Towards the visual study of identity construction among professional accountants , 2009 .

[42]  L. Parker.  Photo‐elicitation: an ethno‐historical accounting and management research prospect , 2009 .

[43]  R. Slack,et al.  Face work in annual reports: a study of the management of encounter through annual reports, informed by Levinas and Bauman , 2009 .

[44]  Social networks versus technical networks: How different social interaction patterns effect information system utilization in the organizations? , 2009 .

[45]  Jane Davison,et al.  Imag[in]ing accounting and accountability , 2009 .

[46]  P. Quattrone.  Books to be practiced: Memory, the power of the visual, and the success of accounting , 2009 .

[47]  William N. Dilla,et al.  Interactive Data Visualization: New Directions for Accounting Information Systems Research , 2010, J. Inf. Syst..

[48]  Dodging Dysfunctional Dynamics In Power Exchange , 2010 .

[49]  Marilla D. Svinicki,et al.  Attempted Validation of the Scores of the VARK: Learning Styles Inventory With Multitrait–Multimethod Confirmatory Factor Analysis Models , 2010 .

[50]  L. Fonseca,et al.  Conceptions of Learning and Approaches to Learning—A Phenomenographic Study of a Group of Overseas Accounting Students from Sri Lanka , 2010 .

[51]  Rossitsa Yalamova.  Simple Heuristic Approach To Introduction Of The Black-Scholes Model , 2010 .

[52]  Jane Davison.  Barthesian perspectives on accounting communication and visual images of professional accountancy , 2011 .

[53]  Azizur Rahman,et al.  Nexus of learning style with satisfaction and success of accounting students: a cross-cultural study at an Australian university , 2011 .

[54]  Amy M. Hageman,et al.  Using journal entries to teach partnership tax: An illustrative case , 2012 .

[55]  C. Rodrigo,et al.  Learning styles and approaches to learning among medical undergraduates and postgraduates , 2013, BMC medical education.

[56]  Steven Dellaportas,et al.  Students’ perceptions on using iPods in accounting education: a mobile‐learning experience , 2013 .

[57]  John Dumay,et al.  Construction of research articles in the leading interdisciplinary accounting journals , 2013 .

[58]  Kyndra V. Middleton,et al.  Examining the Relationship Between Learning Style Preferences and Attitudes Toward Mathematics Among Students in Higher Education , 2013 .

[59]  Zane L. Swanson.  HYPERBOLIC BROWSER FOR ERP ACCOUNTING SYSTEM PEDAGOGY AND CURRICULUM MANAGEMENT , 2014 .

[60]  P. Paranitharan,et al.  Beyond autopsies : treading new horizons , 2014 .

[61]  Bernhard Hirsch,et al.  Visualisation of data in management accounting reports: How supplementary graphs improve every-day management judgments , 2015 .

[62]  Cristiano Busco,et al.  Exploring how the balanced scorecard engages and unfolds , 2014 .

[63]  Joshua Sauerwein,et al.  Exploring Culture-Specific Learning Styles in Accounting Education. , 2015 .

[64]  Jane Davison.  Visualising accounting: an interdisciplinary review and synthesis , 2015 .

[65]  K. Barac,et al.  Factors influencing students’ learning approaches in auditing , 2016 .

[66]  Lesley J. Stainbank,et al.  Teaching and learning: Current and future challenges facing accounting academics, academics, and the development of an agenda for future research , 2016 .

[67]  T. Kern,et al.  CreActive Accounting Education: Visioning Future-Oriented Accounting Programs through a Reflective Unlearning of Current Practice , 2016 .

[68]  Delfina Gomes,et al.  Insights into learning profiles and learning outcomes within introductory accounting , 2017 .

[69]  Clement C. Chen,et al.  The Association between Students' Style of Learning Preferences, Social Presence, Collaborative Learning and Learning Outcomes. , 2018 .

[70]  M. Marrone,et al.  Digital storytelling and visual metaphor in lectures: a study of student engagement , 2018 .

[71]  M. Wynder.  Visualising accounting concepts: insights from Cognitive Load Theory for English as a Second Language students , 2018 .

[72]  Nicholas McGuigan,et al.  Visual metaphor and visual tools in accounting education , 2018, Accounting Education.

[73]  J. Osgerby,et al.  Accounting students perceptions of using visual metaphor as part of personal development planning: an exploratory case study , 2018, Accounting Education.

[74]  Wade H. Goodridge,et al.  The development of a learning dashboard for lecturers: A case study on a student-centered e-learning environment , 2018 .

[75]  Fiona H. Rohde,et al.  Interactive data visualisation for accounting information: a three-fit perspective , 2018, Behav. Inf. Technol..