Programmed Instruction in Elementary Accounting-Is It Successful?

Abstract This article presents information on the accounting curricula in the U.S. colleges. The faculty at the University of Delaware are constantly re examining what they are doing in order to determine if there are better ways of having the typical undergraduate program for accounting. In general, most faculty seemed to be favorably impressed with this new approach. In particular, the point was made that there was more class discussion than with other texts. There were some who did not like it, claiming that it was just too much trouble to teach from such a book. It was also claimed by those who disapproved of the text that the students found it much too difficult. One good method of judging the relative achievements would be to give common examinations. Since the topical sequence in the texts was not identical, assignment schedules had to be prepared which would have all students cover the same material at the same time. They decided to follow the chapter sequence of the standard text, tailoring the reading and problems in the programmed text to follow the same pattern. This meant that those students who would be using the programmed text would have to buy both volumes of the text for the first semester of work.