Using Social Constructivist Strategies on Online Accounting Education

【Abstract】Although there are many theories to explain the phenomenon of learning， Vygotskys social constructivism is found to be the most supported method. Online accounting programs are generally cheaper and will offer you flexibility in personal schedule. The application of social constructivism on online accounting teaching will be analyzed. Social constructivism strategies expand the ways of online accounting teaching methods， adding new insight to online accounting education.

【Key words】social constructivism； online accounting teaching； Vygotsky； teaching methods

1. Introduction

Due to the examination system of accounting， especially the regular annual inspection system， accounting career advancement is often contingent. The traditional further education of accounting has many limitations， and it can not meet the need of accountant training. Fortunately， with the popularity of the internet， it is possible to carry out the further education of network accounting. According to incompletely statistics， the current number of students taking at least online accounting courses reached 19 million as of spring 2016. At the same time， relevant learning theory must be explored to improve online accounting courses. The use of the constructivist model as a framework for understanding knowledge acquisition and learning has been well documented （Dantonio & Beisenherz， 2001； Holly， Adelman， Mueller， & Legg， 2005）. This article is intended to probe into the application of social contructivist strategies to distance education in accounting， which will provide the enlightenment to the online accounting courses.

2. Applying Social Constructivist Strategies on Online Accounting Education

First and foremost， learning happens in the interaction with society. Social contructivism attaches importance to learning situations as they believe that learning is inherently social and embedded in a particular cultural setting（Cobb & Bowers， 1999）. It is of great significance to develop a relevant， interactive and meaningful teaching situations for accounting students.The traditional blackboard lecture， or face-to-face leaning environment offer accounting student an interactive structure for student learning. On the contrary， the online accounting one-way leaning process in some sense. Accounting students tend to have a sense of audience through this new learning method. Therefore， online accounting courses are supposed to offer access for educators and learners to interact， such as email， questions and answers， after-class homework， etc. In this way， students can receive educators timely and effective feedback. They can feel their progress， which will stimulate their learning motivation. They can celebrate their capabilities advance and quickly grasp the relevant knowledge. Meanwhile， the educators can monitor students progress and give help， and encouragement where and when it is needed. Thus， the traditional face-to-face classroom is integrated with online course in the instruction of social constructivism. When students are immersed in such a blended and diverse learning environment， they can take the advantage social tradition classroom as well as the benefits of online teaching.endprint

Another alternative suggestion for online accounting education is designing the authentic task and learning environment to reflect the complexity of the environment they should be able to function in at the end of learning. Authentic activity refers to hands-on， minds-on activities that are also socioculturally relevant and tied to the everyday life of the learner. Considering as one of the backbone course in the accounting curriculum， accounting practice course need a lot of individual exercises on the accountant training platform. The exercises become a crucial part for students to absorb and retain account knowledge. These exercises should not be complex or simplified. Students should be given multiple， interacting exercises with multiple solutions as possible. There exists no only one way to get the conclusion， and each solution may arrive in different directions.

Conclusion

Change can be difficult， though， the world of online education seem overwhelming. That being said， it becomes essential that both educators and learners go on investigate effective learning theories to find their feet for distance education. Social constructivism provides a theoretical base which different strategies can be value and applied. More specifically， due to the nature of accounting course， social constructivism strategies integrate traditional classroom advantages and online education benefits.

References：

[1]Cobb，P，&Bowers，J.（1999）.Cogitive and situated learning：Perspectives in theory and practice.Educational Researcher，28（2），4-15.

[2]White，R.（2006）.Promoting spiritual formation in distance education.Christian Education Journal，3（2）.303-315.

作者簡(jiǎn)介：劉鑫睿（1994-），女，河南周口人，碩士研究生在讀，主要研究方向：認(rèn)知語(yǔ)用學(xué)，教育心理學(xué)。endprint