The use of TEL in developing and assessing introductory finance skills

Conference: Fusion Conference 2012 Sharing Education Excellence

Dates: 6 June 2012

Abstract:

Non-finance students’ tendency to perceive finance based subjects as irrelevant to them and also towards ‘maths anxiety’ frequently predispose them to surface learning approaches, often exacerbated by assessments involving sets of figures which are ‘imposed’ on them.

This presentation looks at two aspects of a project, which has been developed as part of the Education Excellence Staff Development Programme.

a) Integration of interactive presentations and formative assessment, through myBU’s test tools, to create a “conversational learning framework” in part intended to quickly demystify, and establish mastery of, the simple mathematics required.

b) Summative assessment in which students create simple business/capital investment plans for sporting organisations of their own conception. The end of year accounts/project appraisal are marked and feedback is facilitated by use of ‘Excel’ interrogative templates so that students are provided with ‘bespoke’ feedback in respect of their own individual figures.

Feedback from students has indicated that they find the linked learning and formative materials useful in developing their confidence in the subject. They also have commented positively regarding the ability to work with figures that have personal meaning to them and the usefulness of the ‘bespoke’ model answers in correcting their misunderstandings and as a revision tool.

Source: Manual

Preferred by: Paul Boyce