Empowerment in learning has been a topic of discussion for the last two decades. Empowered learners are not only believed to achieve greater content learning but are also thought to better demonstrate competencies suc...Empowerment in learning has been a topic of discussion for the last two decades. Empowered learners are not only believed to achieve greater content learning but are also thought to better demonstrate competencies such as communication, teamwork, and problem solving. These competencies are becoming increasingly important as the role of professional accountants evolves and diversifies. This paper examines first-year accounting students＇ perceptions of empowerment based on two different learning styles： cooperative learning and traditional classroom instruction. A quantitative research design was used to survey 279 first-year business degree students studying at institutions in Libya. The results indicated that students who attended cooperative learning classes were more empowered in terms of the impact they believed they could have on class discussions and the meaningfulness they attributed to the tasks being discussed. In addition, students taught by cooperative learning methods recorded significantly higher end of term exam results than those students who received traditional classroom instruction. In conclusion, this research indicates that the teaching method used in classroom instruction may impact an accounting student＇s levels of empowerment and subsequently their critical thinking, problem solving, writing skills, and technical accounting competencies.展开更多
文摘Empowerment in learning has been a topic of discussion for the last two decades. Empowered learners are not only believed to achieve greater content learning but are also thought to better demonstrate competencies such as communication, teamwork, and problem solving. These competencies are becoming increasingly important as the role of professional accountants evolves and diversifies. This paper examines first-year accounting students＇ perceptions of empowerment based on two different learning styles： cooperative learning and traditional classroom instruction. A quantitative research design was used to survey 279 first-year business degree students studying at institutions in Libya. The results indicated that students who attended cooperative learning classes were more empowered in terms of the impact they believed they could have on class discussions and the meaningfulness they attributed to the tasks being discussed. In addition, students taught by cooperative learning methods recorded significantly higher end of term exam results than those students who received traditional classroom instruction. In conclusion, this research indicates that the teaching method used in classroom instruction may impact an accounting student＇s levels of empowerment and subsequently their critical thinking, problem solving, writing skills, and technical accounting competencies.
