Using technology to teach nontraditional students.

Over the past two decades, there has been a marked increase in the number of nontraditional students. These students are older, more mature and are generally not full-time. While they tend to have high motivation levels, their study skills may have eroded and the amount of time that they can spend on campus is often limited. This column discusses strategies for using technology to make these students more productive in a classroom environment. These strategies include employing technology to efficiently use class time, achieve active learning on homework assignments and allow for electronic office hours.

Characteristics of Nontraditional Students

Nontraditional students might best be described as older students, with a job and family responsibilities, and often entering accounting and tax programs on a part-time basis. These students demand a curriculum relevant to their careers and flexible as to attendance, deadlines and class time. In exchange, nontraditional students generally tend to be more motivated and produce high-quality work.

Nontraditional students also live off campus, commuting to school only for classes. Thus, they have less access to instructors during office hours. In addition, nearly all nontraditional students own or have access to computers and prefer not to come to campus to perform research. They are willing to purchase software normally available in the computer labs, but the cost must be reasonable. They also have more preconceived notions about the importance of using technology to enhance their learning skills.

Efficient Use of Class Time

One of the key ingredients to making nontraditional students successful learners is to make the best use of their time on campus. For the most part, they are motivated (both financially and psychologically) and tend to have a better grasp of real-world business exigencies. Thus, conducting a standard one-way lecture is typically a less fruitful method for delivering a lecture--especially when most of these students have a short attention span at the end of a long workday. Accordingly, posting lectures prior to class on a website can be quite beneficial. Class time is then better used for student motivation, active learning exercises and coordinated group case studies.

Using a website as a substitute for lectures also promotes a more effective learning environment for students, because it allows them to study when it is most convenient for them (e.g., less stressful, with fewer interruptions). While a detailed explanation of courseware development is beyond the scope of this column, the following brief descriptions include some of the techniques that promote a more prolific classroom experience.

Flash lectures. Macromedia's Flash MX[TM], for example, can be used as the architecture for building robust rich-media audio lectures. This software offers great support for video and other media formats; it also allows flexibility with databases. With this technology, educators could provide students with a 30-60 minute media-rich lecture before attending a class.

Java-scripted study guide. A web-based study guide using JavaScript, a client-side application that can be executed on a student's web browser, can also be very useful. Such a study guide can provide short highlights of the course material and can be generously laden with interactive multiple-choice questions remediated with user feedback. Client-side programming is used because the browser is located on the user's machine; time-consuming computations can be done efficiently at the PC level without a server connection or companion webpage (which can require precious bandwidth during peak operating times).

Active server page testing. To enhance the feedback process for both student and instructor, prior to each classroom meeting, a short multiple-choice examination can be completed as a requirement for attending the class. Such a program can be written using Microsoft's active server pages (ASP), with the scores recorded in a database file. By using ASP, the system can grade and record the examination immediately; the student receives an instantaneous critique of areas requiring additional attention. The scores can be used as part of the grading process or merely as an active learning technique.

Homework

Homework assignments are used for a variety of reasons in most undergraduate programs. Some assignments are made for grading purposes; some are made for extra credit and some are made as a form of "active learning." Regardless of the reason, one of the most common issues facing the nontraditional student is how he or she can obtain a copy of the solution manual. Typically, professors have insufficient numbers of solution manuals for checkout by students. In addition, if homework is a form of extra credit, how can an instructor be sure that students are making a concerted effort at attempting the homework, not just copying the answers from the solution manual? An example of a technology-based solution is to use a JavaScript program that resides on the class webpage, which maintains the integrity of the solution manual and enhances the active learning process.

Active learning occurs when students invest physical and mental energies in activities that help them make the material meaningful. Having students teach or explain information to themselves helps them learn much more effectively and comprehensively. Accordingly, this technology seeks to allow for self-evaluation, and critical analysis and reanalysis of selected homework questions. The payoff (motivation) for correctly answering three to four homework questions, is gaining access to the entire solution manual (online) for the assigned chapter of the reading assignment. The homework questions can be written to require exact answers or answers that fall within a prescribed range.

As an example, a homework problem asks: T is a single taxpayer who earns $300,000 in 2003 and pays 100% of the support of his father and cousin, who both live across town. What is the dollar amount of T's dependency exemptions for 2003? A complete answer requires that the student know the following:

* The number of qualifying exemptions;

* The dollar value of each exemption for 2003; and

* The procedure for phasing out the exemption.

The degree to which the professor targets a correct answer (based on the student's level) could vary from exact to a range that allows for ignoring the phase-out; choosing the wrong dollar values for dependents; or inadvertently including the cousin as a dependent. However, in all circumstances, a student must make a concerted effort to complete the homework and not randomly guess.

The approach outlined above can result in multiple benefits. The interactive nature of the tool promotes learning. In addition, giving students opportunities to practice answering questions and figuring out what they have done incorrectly also promotes understanding of the subject matter. Students often learn more by figuring out what they did incorrectly before looking at the answers than by simply comparing their initial response to that provided in the solution manual. This is a result more readily achievable by using technology.

Electronic Office Hours

Nontraditional students rarely use office hours. Their time on campus is usually limited to classes. Thus, they must make good use of the telephone, e-mail, web boards and online tutorials.

Answer all email the same day. Daffy attention to e-mail may enable a professor to exchange a series of e-mails with the same students within a few hours of the normal workday to give them the help needed. If the students need more help than an e-mail can provide, the professor can ask them to provide a number and time at which the professor can call them.

Ask direct questions. Students should be instructed to ask direct questions in e-mail, rather than for a general appraisal of their work (e.g., if their tax research is invalid).

Weekend responses. If there is a Monday deadline for an important assignment, students should be given a specific time during the weekend when the educator will check e-mail for questions. With long workdays and evening classes, weekends are often the only time that nontraditional students have for completing assignments. They appreciate not having to wait until Monday to get responses.

Message boards. Using message boards, such as WebBoard[R] Akiva, Inc., can be a useful form of feedback along with e-mail. With a web board, the instructor need answer a question only once. Students can also answer each other's questions. Message boards must be closely monitored to ensure that only appropriate messages are posted. When helping each other, students often just post their own work as a solution.

Conclusion

With a marked increase in the number of nontraditional students on campus, new techniques have to be developed to transform the learning environment. Because these students are generally older and part-time, traditional one-way lectures are not always the best method for facilitating scholarship. Additionally, nontraditional students desire to learn at times convenient to them. Thus, creative use of technology can be a very effective method for enhancing or obtaining these goals, including the efficient use of class time, using server-side technology in the active learning process and structuring electronic office hours.

These techniques also improve the professor's time used in scoring, tracking grades, providing answer keys and not having to answer the same questions over and over. While these techniques enhance a nontraditional student's learning experience, educators may find that they can enhance learning for traditional students as well.

FROM STEVEN C. THOMPSON, PH.D., CPA, PROFESSOR OF TAXATION, FLORIDA GULF COAST UNIVERSITY, FORT MYERS, FL