This teaching and learning object consists of 7 YouTube videos that coincide with Chapter 1 of the 9th edition of the Needles and Powers Financial Accounting textbook. Each video is 4-5 minutes in length. Accounting Basics video titles include: 1) Where did accounting come from? 2) Accounting Equation, 3) Assets, 4) Liabilities, 5) StockholdersÂ’ Equity, 6) Expanded Accounting Equation, and 7) Financial Statements.
Type of Material:
Video lectures
Recommended Uses:
Individual modules could be assigned as homework or reviewed in class
Technical Requirements:
Firefox browser is recommended. Also need a video player, Ipod, or MP3 player.
Identify Major Learning Goals:
To introduce the accounting equation, define elementary terms, introduce the basic financial statements and explain relationships amoung them.
Target Student Population:
High school or sophomore level introductory financial accounting courses.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:
Very basic math.
Content Quality
Rating:
Strengths:
Most of the videos present concepts in a clear and concise fashion. Content is also current and relevant. In addition, most of the videos are self-contained and include a sufficient amount of information. The transitions from video to video are well done with concepts integrated and summarized effectively. The ship analogy in the first video is very nice, although a few additional points need to be made (see below). Finally, the equity comparisons for corporations, partnerships, and sole proprietorships in the 5th video is an excellent inclusion.
Concerns:
Video #1:
Regarding the ship analogy, the ship itself is an asset and this point is not made.
The discussion of the return to shareholders is not explained clearly (i.e., they own the resources on the ship after it returns home, which is hopefully worth more than the assets that the ship left with).
Before discussing the accounting equation, the need for recording the impact of financial events has been omitted, including how a company acquires assets.
Video #3
The discussions of prepaid assets and long-lived assets should include some commentary on how they represent potential value.
Some discussion on how a business creates an accounts receivable should be included.
Video #5
The discussion of accounts payable is a little weak. Reference is made to a company using their "credit card" to create an accounts payable. Some reference as to how credit is arranged with a supplier should be explained.
No mention of accrued expenses is included.
Video #6
The discussion of revenues and expenses for the expanded accounting equation is somewhat unclear.
When discussing the balance sheet and the income statement, the module indicates revenues and expenses which appear in the income statement, do not appear in the balance sheet. The statement may be somewhat misleading to the novice learner in that when nettted to derive net income or loss, they do impact stockholders' equity in the form of retained earnings. Perhaps indicating the explicit revenue and expense accounts do not appear on the balance sheet would be better.
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool
Rating:
Strengths:
The learning objectives are clear and reinforced progressively. A strong connection exists between the content for each video. The logical flow of information from video to video is excellent. Each video builds on content presented in a prior video to demonstrate relationships among the concepts. These videos would be excellent for visual learners and a great supplement for an online course. The author also makes use of referent anchoring quite nicely to help students relate to new concepts. In addition, the author uses rhetorical questioning impressively.
Concerns:
The quality of content issues acknowledged somewhat reduce the effectiveness of these videos as a stand-alone teaching and learning tool. Some context is needed to make the points noted. Potential effectiveness could be improved by having a series of exercises built into the learning object to test users' understanding of the concepts.
Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty
Rating:
Strengths:
The videos are easy to use. No instructions are necessary. The author displays an energy and excitement for the topic. Excellent voice inflections, story telling abilities, and rhetorical questioning are employed to grasp the viewer's attention. Each video has been intentionally kept short, putting theory into practice, to capitalize on the attention span of the typical learner. In terms of functionality, the videos can be paused at any point. They can be rewound to any point and repeated from that point as well.
Concerns:
The sound quality could be improved. Some segments pick up static noise. For example in the first video, the sound of the marker on the paper is a bit distracting. Overall, the videos seem a bit dark too.
Creative Commons:
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