eAccounting – Development of a Dynamic Learning Management System (LMS)
In 1999, the Bologna-process was initiated by the European Commission to harmonize higher education within the European Union. The consecutive idea of eBologna comprises all initiatives that support the realization of a sustained pan-European higher education area – Virtual Learning Environments (VEL) that enable research as well as teaching independent of time and place. In the field of teaching, eBologna triggers comprehensive eLearning programs.
Among others, the University of Vienna dedicated its academic teaching strategies to the integration of eLearning features into the curricula and the corresponding didactic concepts. At its Faculty of Business and Economics, the so-called eAccounting project was designed as an integrating eLearning approach: Most of all, the established eAccounting platform integrates
i)
different curricula;
ii)
dissimilar levels of consecutive classes within each curriculum;
iii)
several subjects within the field of accounting;
iv)
students’ phases of attendance combined with both individual and collaborative learning in virtual learning environments;
v)
different testing tools;
vi)
barrier-free access and gender mainstreaming; and
vii)
multiple technical solutions due to Open Source software.
According to i), eAccounting covers all accounting lectures in the introductory study period of the three faculty’s baccalaureate curricula Business Administration, Economics, and Statistics, but can be also applied for all optional elective courses in other curricula at all 15 faculties and 3 centers of the University of Vienna. Further, an extension of eAccounting to advanced classes is possible at any time. ii) represents a special challenge for the overall concept as first-year students enroll with inhomogeneous accounting knowledge due to their (corresponding) high school graduation. However, not only this specialized knowledge, but also the massively varying language skills of the students – more than half of them being not native-language – have to be taken into consideration. Regarding to iii) accounting comprises the three major subjects: financial accounting, managerial accounting, and balance sheet analysis. These topics need to be interrelated across the corresponding classes as one comprehensive virtual class. Following aim iv), eAccounting represents a virtual, dynamic-interactive Learning Management System (LMS) which supports the phases of attendance, hence following the Blended Learning approach. Different online-features comprise, among others, the provision of content, dynamic self-tests, online tests for students’ grading, WIKIS, virtual dictionaries to support the non-native students, references, and communication platform. Further endeavors according to vi) shall ensure that all features are usable by everyone regardless of age, ability, or situation. At last vii), the eAccounting platform is embedded in the Open Source software Moodle to allow sustained development.