Kim Watty

Deakin University · School of Accounting, Economics and Finance

This study explores the efficacy of vodcasting, as one of the advanced means of lecture recording, and discussion forums using retrospective engagement analytics data and performance outcome data on 1,172 unique students. The results provide partial support for the research hypotheses, particularly for international students, with learner engagemen...

The use of online rubrics to evidence students learning outcome is a crucial theme for many higher educational institutions. Moreover, one of the driving forces behind the popularity of online rubrics is the binding requirement by Universities to provide evidence of student learning outcome to National quality assurance agencies (AQF, TEQSA) and in...

While teaching auditing using cases is regarded as an effective approach, spatial separation of students and teachers in online contexts can restrict the application of case teaching. This study examines an undergraduate auditing course implemented to address this challenge by integrating case teaching with ePortfolio assessment. Students’ written...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the overall perceptions of accounting academics from Japan and Australia about global convergence of accounting education; and their beliefs about the contextual factors affecting the goal of global convergence. Design/methodology/approach The sample of this research was collected via a questio...

This paper represents a major stage of data collection and reporting on an Australian Office for Learning and Teaching Innovation and Development grant investigating the adoption of ePortfolios for developing and assessing professional capabilities in Australian undergraduate business education. Assessing desired capabilities with and through ePort...

Purpose The purpose of this exploratory study is to investigate the generic skills developed during the undergraduate degree from the perspectives of final year undergraduates and graduate employers. Design/methodology/approach The list of generic skills tested in this study was contextualised to Sri Lanka and developed based on prior studies. Dat...

While technology affords new opportunities and benefits for educators in their teaching practice, a significant number of faculty are resistant to adopting new technologies. Unprompted, 93% of faculty interviewed in the Australian study to be discussed in this paper pointed to accounting educator resistance as a key barrier to technology adoption a...

While research surrounding ePortfolios abounds, few studies make explicit the pedagogical underpinnings of their use. Some suggest that the decision to use new technologies, like ePortfolios, is often made in ignorance of pedagogic evidence. Developed over the course of a two-year national study on the implementation of ePortfolios, this paper argu...

Reliable, consistent assessment process that produces comparable assessment grades between assessors and institutions is a core activity and an ongoing challenge with which universities have failed to come to terms. In this paper, we report results from an experiment that tests the impact of an intervention designed to reduce grader variability and...

This project was led jointly by Phil Hancock and Mark Freeman, together with a project team comprising highly regarded colleagues from the accounting discipline. The project was commissioned by the Australian Business Deans Council as a follow on project from the establishment of the national accounting learning standards for bachelor and coursewor...

This conceptual framework proposes a multi-level, multi-dimensional course alignment model to implement a contextualised constructive alignment of rubric design that authentically evidences and assesses learning outcomes. By embedding quality control mechanisms at each level for each dimension, this model facilitates the development of an aligned c...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the accounting education systems in three countries – Australia, Japan and Sri Lanka – to inform the development and testing (by application) of a Global Model of Accounting Education. Design/methodology/approach – An action research methodology is applied with a case study and model development ap...

This paper investigates the effectiveness (measured using assignment and examination performance) of an assessment design incorporating formative feedback through summative tutorial-based assessments to improve student performance, in a second-year Finance course at an Australian university. Data was collected for students who were enrolled in an u...

This paper summarizes the views, obtained via a survey instrument created by the authors and reported in studies by Stout and Wygal, of 22 accounting educator teaching exemplars from Australia. Each of these individuals has been cited for teaching excellence through receipt of one or more formal teaching awards. The paper responds to calls in Austr...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the generic skills that are important for the career success of accounting graduates in Sri Lanka from the perspectives of university educators and employers. Design/methodology/approach – Bui and Porter's (2010) expectation-performance gap framework was modified to match with the context of th...

Evidencing student achievement of standards is a growing imperative worldwide. Key stakeholders (including current and prospective students, government, regulators and employers) want confidence that threshold learning standards in an accounting degree have been assured. Australia’s new higher education regulatory environment requires that student...

Undergraduate accounting students in Australian universities are dissatisfied with the feedback that they currently receive. Recent evidence from the Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ, a national survey of Australian university graduates) suggests that the accounting discipline ranks poorly on assessment feedback when compared to other disciplin...

The introduction of International Education Standards (IES) signals a clear move by the International Accounting Education Standards Board (IAESB) to ensure high quality standards in professional accounting education at a global level. This study investigated how IES are perceived and valued by member bodies and academics in three counties: Austral...

A feature of Australian Higher Education over the last 10 years has been the increased numbers of international students. This feature has been perceived to have great potential for enhanced learning for all students – both international and domestic. Yet, student surveys and research clearly indicate that there is very little interaction occurring...

In 2010 the Australian government commissioned the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) to undertake a national project to facilitate disciplinary development of threshold learning standards. The aim was to lay the foundation for all higher education providers to demonstrate to the new national higher education regulator, the Tertiary Ed...

Finding a common definition of ‘quality’ in studies of quality and quality improvement in higher education institutions is very important. This study identifies the views of a key stakeholder group, academics, with reference to their beliefs (what is currently occurring) and their attitudes (what ought to be occurring) in relation to quality in the...

A stronger focus on student achievement of academic standards is inevitable with the brave new world of higher education nearly upon us. The perfect storm includes: expanding and widening participation, or 40/20 in short, to improve national productivity; demand driven funding for domestic undergraduates; a single national regulator that has strong...

Of the various reports released in 2010, two purport to examine the state of accounting education in Australia. These are Accounting Education at a Crossroad in 2010 and Challenges Facing Accounting Education in Australia. Both were released as collaborations of the leading academic organisation, the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia...

While designing group assessment for student learning outcomes is always difficult, the task is made more challenging in an interdisciplinary context. How much focus should be placed on assessment of discipline-specific knowledge, how much on the interdisciplinary knowledge that emerges as students work together in a non-linear, co-rational design...

In accounting education, most Student Approaches to Learning (SAL) research has investigated the relationship between students' performance and their approaches to learning. Relatively limited research has been conducted on how assessment practices influence the quality of students' learning from the students' perspective. This paper seeks to addre...

Using legitimacy theory this paper contrasts the values portrayed by public accounting firms via their recruitment practices and society's expectations of the responsibilities of a professional accountant. Society confers on organisations legitimacy when the value system of the organisation is congruent with the value system of the larger social sy...

This paper is a report on an Accounting Education Symposium held during the 2009 Annual Congress of the EAA in Tampere, Finland. This was the fourth occasion on which there has been an Accounting Education Symposium (or similar) within an EAA Annual Congress. Previous events were as follows: 2005 (Gotenburg, Sweden) EAA Accounting Educators' Foru...

In a previous article (Bellamy et al., 20035. Bellamy , S. , Morley , C. and Watty , K. 2003. Why business academics remain in Australian universities despite deteriorating working conditions and reduced job satisfaction: an intellectual puzzle.. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 25(1): 13–27. [Taylor & Francis Online]View all r...

Two studies of stakeholders in university education for accounting professionals in Australia provide evidence of a decline in the quality of accounting education as perceived by accounting academics. This decline may be linked to increasing enrolments of international students with poor English language skills. Some university lecturers indicate t...

How would you decide on the quality of a higher education institution? Would you (1) ask the academic registrar (or equivalent); (2) look up the most recent quality audit report; or (3) contact the teaching staff directly to discuss their perceptions about the quality of the services provided in their institution? While there is no one correct answ...

A number of changes have occurred in the higher education sector under the auspices of quality and quality improvement. Much of this change has resulted in a compliance-driven environment (more measures, more meetings, more form-filling and less time for the core activities of teaching and research). It is an environment that seeks to assure all an...

b>Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine and reflect on current assessment practice in a large undergraduate accounting programme delivered both in Australia and offshore, from the perspective of academics in their first semester at a “new-to-them” university. Design/methodology/approach – The changing higher education environment and...

b>Purpose – Increasingly, academics new to higher education find themselves in a “publish or perish” environment, with little if any formal or informal support structures. This is a situation that many academics have faced and lamented. The discussion in this paper emanates from the objective of seeking to change this environment. The mentoring pro...

Purpose To provide a view of quality in accounting education from the perspective of a critical stakeholder group – academic accountants. The identification of this view adds to the growing discussions around quality, and how it is assured in higher education. Design/methodology/approach Applying a framework for defining quality in higher educatio...

Previous research provides evidence of grassroots academics adopting a variety of behaviours in response to quality-led change initiatives in higher education. Although administrators may seek answers to the question ‘when will academics learn about quality?’, perhaps there is a need to address a more fundamental question: ‘How do academics conceiv...

In the last two decades, Australia's 38 universities have been subjected to profound changes affecting the working lives of their academic staff. That the working conditions of staff have deteriorated cannot be denied, while many studies have shown that job satisfaction has been affected adversely. Paradoxically, there is little evidence that acade...

ABSTRACT "Although quality has become the focus of attention, it's meaning is not always clear nor its usage consistent. Indeed, the notion of quality in higher education has no agreed technical meaning and its use usually involves a heavy contextual overlay of some political or educational position". A decade later this statement still rings true....

In Australia, the government has achieved its goal of mass education. The numbers prove it! Quality on the other hand is a more contentious concept and not so easily measured in quantitative terms. However, it seems that this has not deterred those 'directing the traffic' in higher education from using numbers as a measure of quality. Whether the c...

We examine responses by first year students from a survey administered in undergraduate accounting subjects at Australian Universities in 2008 to illustrate perceptions and preferences. We seek to highlight areas of interest comparing results to the literature on feedback. Several areas warrant further investigation and explanation.