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Student Experiences of a Developmental Shift in Reflective Judgment in One Intermediate Accounting I Classroom: a Qualitative Study

Year: 2011
Type: article
Abstract: The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine how a shift from the instruction paradigm to the learning paradigm (Barr & Tagg, 1995) contributed to the development of students' reflective judgment.Barr and Tagg, scholars of teaching and learning, argued that a paradigm shift was needed in undergraduate instruction.Barr and Tagg offered an alternative to the lecture-based instruction paradigm, a paradigm they referred to as the learning paradigm.This study incorporated the learning paradigm into one Intermediate Accounting classroom and analyzed the impact of this approach on students' experiences and the development of students' reflective judgment.This study was grounded in King and Kitchener's (1994) research on cognitive development with late high school to college students.King and Kitchener's studies sought to answer the question How does the ability to construct reasonable solutions develop?Their research findings were based on over 1,700 student interview responses to ill-structured problems and culminated in the creation of the Reflective Judgment Model, a cognitive development model that represented stages of progressive reasoning from late adolescence to adulthood.Analysis was conducted on students' journals and submissions of ill-structured problem assignments.Findings revealed students made a cognitive developmental shift in reflective judgment over one 16-week semester.Students' expectations of the course were disrupted and a key finding of this study.Students credited in-class group discussions on ill-structured problem assignments, a structural change made possible by the adoption of the learning paradigm, in helping them recognize their peers as sources of knowledge.My committee consisted of Joanne Arhar, Susan Iverson, and Todd Hawley.Joanne, the meetings we had at Starbucks in Brecksville are a lasting memory for me.Thank you for allowing me to get to know you through those off campus meetings.You have been there for me since day one.Susan, we met in Advanced Qualitative Research.It was at that point I found out how generous you were with your students in sharing any article or tidbit of information related to what we were currently working on.Together, v you became my co-major advisors and worked tirelessly with me as I wrote chapters four and five.Your review notes were both challenging and helpful.Todd, thank you for coming onto my committee after two of my committee members sought other opportunities outside of Kent State.Jan, you came to my aid the summer of my data analysis.You were more than just my peer debriefer.You listened to every trial and tribulation of writing and revising chapters four and five.Thank you for your time, suggestions, wisdom, and patience.Finally, thank you to my students who generously agreed to participate in my research study.Even though some students believed the assignments they were completing in class were only because of my research study, they persevered and let me into their inner thoughts and experiences as they negotiated Intermediate Accounting I.
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2246295890
FWCI:
Cites: 50
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Related to: 10