Accounting and Finance Students' Perceptions of Online Learning in a Mature Online Teaching Environment

Introduction And Literature Review

While there is certainly a lot of similarity in online education across disciplines, especially at a macro-level, there is a lot of variation at the mid- and micro-levels (in the business disciplines see Arbaugh et al., 2009; Arbaugh, 2013, Arbaugh, 2014), as well as across programmatic contexts (Rovai & Downey, 2010).

This article focuses on five issues that have been extensively examined in the literature, but have gotten scant attention in the accounting and finance education literature.

Reasons for online education. Convenience and flexibility are overwhelmingly the reasons reported as most important in studies reporting on the motives for students talking online courses. For example, in describing undergraduate students’ drive toward online learning, Chow and Croxton (2017, 20) reported “that students covet it for its convenience”. In a master’s level program, Kowalski and Dolph (2014) point to convenience and flexibility as the overwhelmingly most important considerations for students. Convenience and flexibility are also the primary considerations for students in international settings (Muthuprasad et al., 2021), minority students (Yeboah & Smith, 2016), and even students living on campus (Pastore & Carr-Chellum, 2009). Business students seem to be particularly eager to take online classes because of the convenience and flexibility (Nonis & Fenner, 2012; Lee, Stringer, & Du, 2017). Other reasons are significant contributors as well; Zhang et al. (2020, 38) found that 28% of the students like the style of teaching in online courses, and that scheduling was a significant factor for 29%. Van Wart et al. (2020, 3-4) report that “even when students say they prefer face-to-face classes to online, many enroll in online classes and re-enroll in the future if the experience meets minimum expectations.”

Face to face preference. In a study with relatively typical findings regarding face-to-face versus online preferences, a study with 8,000 participants found that “Students rated on-campus courses significantly higher than online courses in Communication, Faculty/Student Interaction, Grading, Course Outcomes, and Overall Evaluation; effect sizes were large” (Young & Duncan, 2014, 70). Nonetheless, there are numerous contravening findings. Tanner, Noser, and Totaro (2009) found that although business students had some reservations, they were far more likely to take and be satisfied with online courses than was reported by faculty. Wells, De Lange, and Fieger (2008) had similar findings, even though they noted student diffidence in actively participating. In a mature finance and accounting setting, one study noted that blended courses provided the greatest satisfaction, followed by fully online, with face-to-face classes lagging behind significantly (Wiechowski & Washburn, 2014). With regard to student satisfaction, it would appear that business students are far more likely to be favorable to online and blended classes than other disciplines.