Accounting Education and Technology: A Study of the Long Term Effects

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of technology in the classroom on students’ performance; it serves as empirical evidence to answer the question whether or not technology is a value adding tool in the classroom. We investigate the change in performance of students in an entry level accounting course, comparing those who have been introduced to technology and those who took the class in a traditional setting, we focused our study on the different non-financial measures that provide us with the proper information to assess the decision whether or not investing in technology and bring it to the classroom will add value to our accounting programs, and eventually provide our student s with better tools and knowledge to take with them to the professional practice. This paper dissects three major areas that we believe should be looked at in the decision making process, first we study the students and their altitude toward using technology in the classroom through the change in performance throughout the class, second we looked at their background, utilizing the social and economic status variables and the accumulated grade point average prior to entering the class, last but not least, we investigate the environment provided by the institute to determine if it is proper and the right one for our students. Significantly technology impacted student performance throughout the course, the findings were as normal as previous literature suggested, where students who were exposed to technology overall performed better than those who were not exposed to technology.