Below is a list of frequently asked questions and responses for our undergraduate model. We provide many responses in video form. If your question is not answered below, please contact us and we will promptly assist you.

 

How do I get started? Is there a guide that can help me implement this model?

Yes. We wrote an easy-to-use guide that will take you through each aspect of the course. It contains useful resources such as a syllabus and exam review documents. Please click here to access this document.

 

Does a textbook accompany the CDs?

No. The CDs are completely comprehensive with over 50 hours of video and audio (in the first course) and require NO textbook supplementation. However, we do provide a 250-page PDF document called the Learning Resources Packet (click here to view this document). This free document is contained on the CDs and contains all class notes, practice exams, homework, and other useful information for students. Students can print this document from the CDs at any time. At BYU, they print this document and provide it to students at their printing costs as a service. We recommend to students that as they watch the CDs they take notes on this printed document. Note: When you decide to use the CDs for your course, you may freely copy this document and provide it to your students; however, we only ask that you sell the document for the price of printing. If your university bookstore is to provide the document then a reasonable markup is allowed.

Should I use a textbook from another publisher in conjunction with the CDs?

The CDs are a stand-alone product and need no textbook supplementation— they are complete textbook replacement. However, if a student wishes to reference a textbook in connection with their studies they may certainly do so. For those students we suggest they use the “Accounting Concepts and Applications”, by Albrehct, Stice, Stice, and Swain from Thomson South-Western. We reference page numbers from this book in our syllabus so students who wish to read on a given topic may do so.

What specific topics are covered in each of the two courses?

Please click here to view this information

How fast can a student go through the CDs?

Sometimes instructors want to use our CDs for a “speed course” in which students move through the CDs in a very short amount of time. While we do not typically recommend moving through the CDs at this pace, situations arise when this type of course may be appropriate. For instance, sometimes instructors use this technique for graduate students who already took an undergraduate accounting course and just need a quick refresher before starting an MBA program.

Obviously, the answer to this question depends on the student’s course load and other factors. Such as, will the instructor assess the students after every lesson with a quiz? Will the instructor give students exams? Will the students just be going through the material and gleaning whatever they can with little or no assessment? Obviously, students will require a proportionate amount of study time depending on the assessment’s degree of difficulty.

The fastest we have heard of graduate students going through the CDs was at Utah State University in which they went through the CDs in about eight days. On occasion, we have undergraduate students who need to move quickly through the material for various reasons and they can typically finish in about three weeks. In our spring and summer terms students move through the CDs in about 7-8 weeks (on average, these spring or summer-term students have this course and one other 3-credit course). Our normal semester course is 16 weeks.

Click here to access the CD Time Table to view the length of each lesson.

How long is each lesson on both CD sets?

The average student listens to the CD lectures at two times the normal rate. Students can achieve these rates by using the integrated Variable Speed Playback (VSP) module. Therefore, at two times the original rate, an hour lecture only takes 30 minutes in real time. Click here to access a page that shows the time totals for each lesson in both CD sets. These time totals represent the original recorded rate and not the VSP modified rate. So for example, lesson 8 in CD Set 1 takes 2 hours 31 minutes and 34 seconds in real time. When a student watches this same lesson with the VSP module set to two times the original rate then they could watch this lesson in approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes.

What are the costs involved in adopting your CDs and model?

Virtually all schools will find the costs associated with implementing this model are very low— often zero. The only direct costs are for the CD sets themselves, which are sold to your students through our website for $109. Therefore, the school itself does not incur any costs in the acquisition of the CDs or the Value-Added model. The CDs are sold to a school on a site license basis (see below).

We provide everything else free of charge that will be needed to properly setup your course, including consultation services, exams, quizzes, technical support, etc.

What are the terms of your site license and why is it set up like that?

The basic terms of our site license are as follows: every student who takes the course and chooses to use our CDs must purchase a new CD set. Due to new built-in security features, students who purchase used CDs from past students of this course will discover they do not work. The CD sets will only work properly when the student purchases them new.

We created the terms of this license for a few reasons. Unlike a textbook, our software requires our programming staff to be constantly modifying our code so it remains compatible with current technology. For instance, Microsoft regularly modifies or upgrades elements of their software, which on several occasions has caused our software to work improperly. In these cases, our staff must rewrite our code to remedy the problem.

If students resold their CD packs to the campus bookstore then the CD sets would circulate for several years. In turn, students would buy CD packs that were no longer compatible with current technology. This would create a technical support nightmare for the school, the students, and our technical support team.

We want students and instructors to have a great experience with the CDs and this new teaching model. The only way to ensure the CDs work well is to require the students to obtain a new CD set every term.

You can direct your student here to read more about our site license.

We have a different kind of student than you do at BYU. Will the CDs and the Value-Added approach work for us?

The nature of the CDs allow any kind of student to adapt to the CDs. Please also see the following video for more information. Please click here to the play video clip.

Do the CDs use a business approach and are debits and credits used?

The CDs teach debits and credits. Please also see the following video for more information. Please click here to the play video clip.

 

How does the BYU approach address the development of skills as recommended by the Albrecht Saks mononograph?

We believe the skills outlined in this monograph are better accomplished in upper-division courses when class sizes are smaller and more specialized. This also makes sense when one considers the numerous other goals that should be accomplished in the introductory courses. There is simply not enough time to accomplish everything in the first course. We believe centering on recruitment, application-based work, and teachings of the basics are most important for the first courses. Please also see the following video for more information. Please click here to the play video clip.

Can I use the CDs even if we don’t change our content coverage?

Yes. However, we strongly recommend the reconfiguration of this content to include both financial and managerial topics in each course. We cannot overstate the benefits your program will receive due to this change. Nevertheless, if you choose not to reconfigure this content then CDs are still an excellent teaching tool. For example, instructors often find that the financial content on the first CD set often covers all the necessary topics for their financial principles course. However, if you must have certain topics covered in your financial principles course or managerial course that are found on the first and second CD sets, then please contact us and we can discuss some solutions.

If we want to use the CDs, are we forced to use both sets for two successive courses?

Not at all. If you choose to adopt our CDs into your program, you are not forced to adopt both sets for both courses. While we strongly suggest the use of both sets in succession, many schools have great success with using CD Set 1 for the first course and then using a more traditional approach for the second course. In fact, here at BYU we used CD Set 1 in our first course for many years before we developed CD Set 2 for our second course. Therefore, you should not feel if you are not able to implement both CD sets that you should scrap the entire project. Both or one set will serve your program greatly.

How does the BYU approach help inspire the good students, who are often neglected, to major in accounting?

We have provided this answer in video form. Please click here to the play video clip.

Can you explain more about the value-added content in the first course?

We have provided this answer in video form. Please click here to the play video clip.

Do you have examples of how you perform the eight required lectures in the first course?

Yes we do. We have video recorded each of the eight sessions and they are included in each set of the Introduction to Accounting CDs (CD Set 1). However, these eight sessions are locked and invisible to users unless they enter in a password. We password protect these sessions for various reasons. The main reason is we want our students to come to the live sessions to interact with the instructor and guest lecturer. Please contact us and we can provide you with this password.

We have a small faculty. I am not sure we could adequately conduct the eight required lectures?

This really is not an issue. You can use the any faculty you have or use experts from your community. Please also see the following video for more information. Please click here to the play video clip.

 

How do you use the Value-Added approach in the second course?

We have provided this answer in video form. Please click here to the play video clip.

 

What resources are available to help us implement the value-added content into the course?

Please see the implementation document for this information. Please also see the following video for more information. Please click here to the play video clip.

 

Does this approach require more or less teacher time?

Please see the following video for more information. Please click here to the play video clip.

Can this model be used effectively in large or small classroom settings?

Yes. The size of the class really makes no difference. Please also see the following video for more information. Please click here to the play video clip.

Can this approach help better utilize our department resources in times of budget cuts?

Yes. The CDs and model can reduce facility costs and the necessity of hiring additional adjunct professors. Please also see the following video for more information. Please click here to the play video clip.

How do you do deal with transfer students who have already taken a financial principles course at another school?

We still maintain one small managerial section that handles these students. Please also see the following video for more information. Please click here to the play video clip.

 

How do you keep students motivated to move through the material?

The secret to keeping students moving through the course at a good pace is to schedule online quizzes every 2-4 days. We tell the students through the syllabus when specific quizzes are due. The student then is motivated to watch the CDs and learn the content that will be covered on the next given quiz. While simple in nature, this procedure keeps virtually every student on pace.

How do you handle students who don’t have access to a computer?

Because more students own computers these days, this problem is fading at many universities. However, to accommodate any student who does not have a computer or desires to study on campus, we installed the accounting software on our lab computers around campus. By contacting us, we can help you do the same. Please also see the following video for more information. Please click here to the play video clip.

 

Does the teacher really matter given this new approach?

The personality and dedication of the instructor can make all the difference in this course. The instructor is still very vital to the success of this course. Please also see the following video for more information. Please click here to the play video clip.

Will our students see Norm as the teacher given the use of the CDs rather than our own faculty?

No, that is not our experience. Please also see the following video for more information. Please click here to the play video clip.

How do we deal with the change in the curriculum when we move to the separate financial/managerial approach?

We have provided this answer in video form. Please click here to the play video clip.

What are the keys to success given this new approach?

Please read the implementation guide. This guide will help you be successful. Please also see the following video for more information. Please click here to the play video clip.

What are some of the potential hurdles associated with this new approach and how do we overcome them?

Please see the implementation guide (Possible Pitfalls and Important Notes section) for this information. Please also see the following video for more information. Please click here to the play video clip.

Is the implementation process really that important for the success of the course?

Yes. We cannot emphasis this point enough. Much of the success of this course is predicated upon an effective implementation process. A majority of that process will occur on the first day of class when you introduce this course to your students. Because this first day of orientation is so important, we have made a DVD that demonstrates how to properly introduce this model and CDs to your students. Please contact us here to have this DVD shipped to you.

What difficulties could my students encounter as they attempt to run the CDs on their personal computers?

We designed our software to be very user friendly for students. The students should not encounter any problems as they install and use the CDs. However, if they encounter any difficulty, they can email us or call our toll free number and receive technical assistance. We have an excellent track record with our technical support team and can often solve problems within five minutes. In addition, we know students often study late in the evening and therefore we often have someone available to answer calls even after our set business hours of 9am to 6pm MST. Students can often get technical assistance until 11pm MST.

I am not very skilled with computers and this model seems very technical. Is this going to be a problem?

Not at all. Your computer skill level has very little to do with the success of this course. We designed our software packages to be very user friendly, even for novice users. We want you as the instructor to be able to focus completely on the content of the course while never needing to answer students’ technical computer questions. Our technical team can resolve technical issues for your students via email or our toll free phone number. In most cases, we can resolve technical issues in less than five minutes. In addition, our technical team will work with your university’s IT staff to install our software in your campus computer labs. You simply will never need to deal with a technical issue; we will handle everything.

How do you handle assessment (grading) in the class?

We provide three exams and 25 online quizzes. We also have a few assignments we give to our students. Please also see the following video for more information. Please click here to the play video clip.

How do you deal with the problem of cheating on online quizzes?

There is really no way to prevent online cheating completely. However, we employ a few techniques to minimize the problem. We discuss this issue in more detail in the implementation guide. Please also see the following video for more information. Please click here to the play video clip.

How do you administer the exams?

We provide the exams in a testing center. Please also see the following video for more information. Please click here to the play video clip.

Do you collect and grade the homework?

We do not. However, we do not object to other schools who choose to require the submission of homework. Please also see the following video for more information. Please click here to the play video clip.

Can I preview your course website?

Yes. However, the website displays the actual quizzes we use in the course, and therefore we cannot publicly display the login information. Please email us directly at info@accountingcds.com and request to look at the site. Please send this email using your university email account, including your name and school. This helps us make sure we are sending the login information to faculty and instructors only.

Do I have to use Blackboard, WebCT or some other website tools to use the BYU approach?

It is not absolutely necessary to use a course management tool like Blackboard (the CDs operate independently from any online management tool); however, we strongly recommend you do use one. If you plan to use our online quizzes, the easiest deployment method to your students is through an online course management tool like Blackboard or WebCT. If you do not have an online course management tool or if you do not want to use these tools, we can provide the quizzes through other means. For more information on this subject, please click here to watch a short video clip.

What resources are available to help us implement the value-added content into the course?

The best method for developing these value-added sessions is first to see exactly how we conduct these sessions here at BYU. Watching these sessions will give you a better idea of how you want to conduct your sessions. Therefore, we taped and produced all eight value-added lectures into the same format as the regular accounting lessons. Please contact us and we will make these sessions available to you.

In addition, we have all the readings that our students are required to read before attending these sessions. We will make these documents available to you as well.

What resources are available if we wish to implement this new approach?

We have provided this answer in video form. Please click here to the play video clip. Please also access the implementation guide for more assistance.

 

How do we access the CDs and other course materials?

Please contact us and we can make these materials available to you.

How do I get a copy of the course syllabus?

Please see the implementation guide by clicking here to access a sample syllabus.

Does this course function inside of Blackboard or WebCT?

No. Our software functions completely independent from any course management tool like Blackboard or WebCT. However, we do use Blackboard for online quizzes, to communicate with the students, and to post important documents such as class readings. While using an online course management tool is convenient and facilitates many course activities, these tools are not necessary for our CDs and teaching model to work properly.

What is Variable Speed Playback (VSP) technology and why is it important?

Please click here to learn more about this technology.

How is VSP technology used for students trying to learn English?

VSP technology is one of the most innovative and useful tools for language training. Students who are trying to learn English or who speak English as a second language can use VSP technology to slow the rate of the speech in the presentation. By slowing the speech, students can comfortably listen to the presentations and learn the correct pronunciation of difficult words. In time, they can gradually increase the rate of the speech to expand their skills in the language.

It seems like students will just set the VSP controller to the highest speed and run through the material without learning much. Is this true?

We had the same concern when we were considering implementing VSP technology into our course several years ago. We certainly did not want to give our students a tool that would only encourage them to run through material and not focus on the content.

As we implemented the technology, we found no qualitative or quantitative data indicating students were misusing this feature. In fact, our research indicates students are very responsible with VSP technology. In our research, we found that if students did not comprehend the material they would replay the last few seconds of the presentation and slow the VSP controller. VSP technology helps our students focus better on the content and be more efficient in their learning.

What is the range of speed of the VSP controller?

Our Integrated VSP controller allows students to play the presentations from .5 (half of normal speed) to 2.0 (twice the speed of normal). We also supply for older computers an external VSP controller (by “external” we mean the VSP engine resides outside of our main program interface; however, it works much the same as the integrated controller). This controller allows students to achieve playback rates from .3 to 2.5 times the normal speed. Students can choose to use either controller and can set each controller to anywhere in the above ranges by .1 increments.

What software did you use to develop this course?

We developed two custom applications called CourseStream Editor and CourseStream Player to produce and deliver our courses. We use the CourseStream Editor to synchronize the Flash graphics with the Windows video files. The CourseStream Player is our main software interface seen on our CDs that plays the audio and video content. We also use Macromedia Flash, and Windows Media tools to help develop our content.

 

Can other developers use this software to develop other courses besides accounting?

Yes. The CourseStream software line is not only for introductory accounting. Any developer could use our software to create a course in any subject. We do allow other developers to license our software to develop other courses.

 

Does BYU produce other CDs that teach other subjects?

While we teach hundreds of courses through our Independent Study program, our accounting course is the only course taught in this format. However, our statistics department has just completed a course that teaches introductory statistics in a somewhat similar format.

 

Can this course be completely streamed over the Internet or a local Intranet?

While our software does have the ability to stream the audio and video content from servers via the Internet or a local Intranet, the CDs are the best deployment option. The required amount of bandwidth for this course is immense and may cause problems due to bandwidth limitations of the Internet or your school’s local Intranet. The CDs are (at least for now given the current Internet and Intranet technology) the best method for delivery for this course.

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