'Small teaching' ideas to improve online learning.

• Author: Manly, Tracy S.

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...