First Day of Class Activities That Set the Tone for Learning

I recently transitioned to teaching a financial accounting course for first and second semester seniors majoring in finance.  I am sure you can hear the students muttering, “This course is a waste of time, plus, I already have a job lined up so why do I care?”  This transition also came with an increase of two hours to my daily commute.  I spent my newfound travel time listening to audiobooks, the first being Small Teaching by James Lang.  One thing I love about the book is the idea of changing one small thing instead of reinventing your entire course.  As I listened, I thought about my first day of class routine. Historically, I start the semester by walking through the syllabus, our canvas site, and previewing the course topics.  Instead of telling the students what we were going to cover, I wanted to try something a little more interactive.  I hoped with a change to the first day, I might reenergize these graduating seniors and open their eyes to how they can become better financial stewards after taking this course.

Backwards Design 

As I thought about day one, I fell down another rabbit hole and thought about a recent seminar on backwards design.  I decided to go back to my learnings objectives for this activity.  It sounds so simple, just go back to your learning objectives.  But, I am one that gets bogged down in getting through all the course material, and in accounting there is a lot.  Once I went back and reread the learning objectives for the course, I realized they all tied back to financial statements in some form or fashion.  I decided to focus on one learning objective in particular, “locate, interpret, and use information found in annual reports to analyze and compare companies’ financial performance,” to guide me in my quest for a new day-one experience.  

With a new sense of purpose, I got to work.  I landed on an assignment that would give these graduating seniors experience applying accounting knowledge to financial information.  Making this small change meant the class started and ended with financial statements, bringing the class full circle.  Even though I teach accounting, making one small change and using your learning objectives to inform that change will provide positive outcomes no matter the discipline or the course.  So, what exactly does the new day one look like?  

Building Excitement

The initial part of the first day of class activity requires students read an earnings announcement for a major retailer, in this case Target.  Students are then required to locate within the announcement three pieces of information that potential investors would find useful.  Individual students then post their information to Padlet, a digital bulletin board. Since it is the first day of class I ask for volunteers to discuss their posts.  During this conversation, I discuss how the knowledge gained in this course will help them be better users of financial statements.  This one small change leads to a dialogue on day one instead of a monologue from me about the course.  This dialogue on day one sets the expectation for the type of interactions we will have as a class for the remainder of the semester.      

Once the class has dissected Target’s earnings announcement, we examined a buy-side analyst report for Target. Analysts use financial information to set an earnings target and recommend whether to buy or sell Target stock.  This part of the exercise allows students to see for themselves what information the analyst relied upon to draw their conclusions.  Of course, I can tell the class that the objective of financial accounting is to provide information that is useful in decision making, but this exercise demonstrates this notion in real time.   

Since I use this exercise to set up the rest of the semester, I have to leave the class with a cliffhanger, which is adjusted diluted earnings per share.  Both articles mention the term, but it isn’t covered in their introductory financial accounting courses.  I point the term out in both articles and then I leave them hanging.  I tell them we will talk about adjusted earnings in two weeks, and we will save the diluted earnings per share discussion until the end of the semester.  In fact, I let them know it is the last topic we will cover.  Setting up the assignment this way means I will refer back to the first day of class multiple times during the semester.  The reference to the first day demonstrates the interconnectedness of the content and by revisiting the concept multiple times during the semester, it cements this knowledge in their long-term memory (Lang, p 63).    

Outcomes

My first day of class routine sets the tone for the entire semester by starting with the end in mind.  On day one we bring the real world into the classroom and observe how financial professionals use accounting information. During the semester we then work on building an accounting knowledge base that will serve students well after they leave the course and enter their post college lives. Although this works well in an accounting context, making one small change, revisiting learning objectives and bringing the course full circle will reinvigorate any course.

Angela Andrews, PhD, CPA is a clinical assistant professor of accounting at Indiana University.

References

Lang, James (2021). Small Teaching. Hoboken, NJ:  Jossey-Bass.