Learning Logs: Incorporating Writing to Learn Assignments into Accounting Courses

• In Event: Innovations in Teaching

Abstract

The writing across the curriculum movement advocates using Writing to Learn (WTL) assignments to facilitate learning. The basic premise of WTL assignments is that students learn concepts better when they write about them. This article discusses the pedagogical theories relating to WTL that were used to design and implement learning logs in an introductory financial accounting course. Learning logs are two-page papers requiring students to interpret and apply accounting concepts. One learning log assignment requires students to prepare a whistle blower letter reporting a fraud they have observed to their supervisor. Other learning log assignments are based on current events such as a dividend announcement by Apple. This paper describes student learning goals, presents learning log assignments, provides sample student responses, and includes a discussion of classroom experience. Student survey responses indicate learning logs promoted learning outcomes and that student attitudes toward writing improved significantly. While the WTL examples in the article focus on topics covered in the introductory financial accounting course, the WTL strategies presented and discussed in this article can be incorporated into any class in the accounting sequence.

Author

• Stephanie Dehning Grimm, University of St Thomas - Minneapolis