General Course Information

Additional General Course Information

Course Background: This course has been designed based on many, but not all, of the learning objectives provided in the Accounting Pilot and Bridge Project (the Project).  Dan Deines, Joe Bittner and Glenda Eichman provide a discussion of the Project in Issues in Accounting Education:  February 2012, Vol. 27, No. 1, pp. 113-122.

 However, although I used the learning objectives from the Project as a starting point, I made the following modifications:

  • Modified the wording of many of the learning objectives to be more in the form of a question that I hope my students will be able to answer upon the completion of each "Study" link in this course. 
  • Included only select learning objectives that I felt would be sufficient for Part 1 of this (hopefully-some-day) two-part course.  I hope to include the bulk of the remaining learning objectives in Part 2 of this two-part course, which will not be fully developed until I learn from the student experiences with Part 1 and find a whole lot of extra time. 
  • Broke out some of the Project’s learning objectives into two or more separate learning objectives so that I could prepare more focused teaching materials and related quiz questions to better test the desired learning objectives. 
  • Rearranged the order of the modified learning objectives in the order that I felt would make the most sense in building a foundation in financial accounting.

In summary, I have based many of the learning objectives of this course on the work done by the authors and contributors to the Project referred to above; however, for a more precise and detailed listing of the questions students should be able to answer upon completion of this particular Intro to Accounting course, please click on the "Modules" link to the left in this browser and simply skim down and read the "Study" questions included in each of the modules throughout the course.

Course Prerequisite Knowledge: In order to successfully complete this course, I anticipate that students will start the course with the following prerequisite knowledge.
English language ability.  You need to have at least an intermediate level of reading and listening comprehension in English.  Just go online and watch a news program from the United States.  If you are catching less than 60% of what they are saying, you may need to work on your English skills a bit more before you tackle this course.

Basic algebra skills.  If you can add, subtract, multiply and divide and deal with solving for unknowns in a simple algebraic equation such as t = mx + b, and are willing to work hard, you are probably sufficiently prepared for this introductory accounting course. 

Just a side note, while developing this course, I have had my 13 year-old daughter, my 15 year-old son and my 22 year-old son, all work through multiple modules and complete the related quizzes.  Each one of them has been able to succeed at passing the noted quizzes at 80% or higher.  Having said that, some of them needed to retake the quizzes more than once in order to pass them at 80% or higher, but that is how I have developed the course and I fully expect that many students will need to attempt quizzes more than once to master the material.  I purposely have developed the quizzes in a manner that allows for additional learning to occur during the quiz-taking process. 

Student Cost:  Nothing, but if you would be so kind to "Like" my YouTube videos (assuming you do like them), I would appreciate it.

Achievement Badges:  Students who complete all requirements of a given module as will be noted by a green checkmark by each item (study items and quizzes) can choose to receive a "Badge" as an indication of their completion of the module and successful achievement of the requirements.  Students will have to click on the badge link, choose to allow the app access to your profile and click on the checkbox to have your badge appear in your profile.  You will need to click on each badge for each module as you achieve it in order to receive the noted badge.

Certificate of Completion:  All students who successfully complete this course as exhibited by completing all 16 module badges and scoring more than 80% on the 3 examinations will receive a certificate of accomplishment stating that you completed this Introduction to Accounting course.  However, the certificate will not be issued by Brigham Young University - Hawaii and by successfully completing this course, you will not become an alumnus of Brigham Young University - Hawaii.
Required Computing Skills and Technology:  computer monitor
This is obviously a computer-based, Internet-based course, so, in order to successfully complete this course, you will need the following computing skills and technology hardware and Internet access.

Computing proficiency:  You should have some reasonable web-browsing skills and have an overall general proficiency with computers.  Skills such as web-site navigation, e-mail management, and search skills (i.e. Google) will be very useful.

Computer hardware:  You should have a computer that can run Mozilla Firefox.  If you do not have a computer, it is possible for you to complete this course using an Apple iOS or Android-based tablet or smartphone (but if the smartphone's display is TOO small, you will likely struggle being able to read the material provided in the videos), but please read my disclaimer regarding the mobility of these course materials near the bottom of this page. 

Computer software:  You should have access to spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel.  You will not be submitting any spreadsheet files, but, you are welcome to use them when completing the quizzes and exams.  If you do not have a spreadsheet package, you actually can complete all course requirements using a simple calculator, a pencil and paper.

Internet access:  You will need Internet access that allows you to access this Canvas website AND be able to download and watch high definition YouTube videos.  If you live in a country in which reliable access to YouTube high definition videos is not available, or YouTube is not available, you will likely be unable to watch any of the instructional videos that are the main source of material for this course.  However, if you are OK simply reading the text of the videos, it is possible, but will likely be less enjoyable and educational, for you to complete this course without going to YouTube.  I don't recommend a purely text-based approach to completing this course because the course materials are all based on YouTube videos, but it will be possible.

Accounting Apps:  promo-graphic.jpg
As noted previously, this course will cost you "nothing" to complete, other than your time and dedication.  However, I have published an Android accounting training app that helps students practice learning their debits and credits.  The app costs <$.99 US and is a great tool for recording accounting transactions and preparing the financial statements.  Here is a link to the Debits and Credits Trainer Links to an external site., feel free to buy it and tell a friend about it :)

Not Required - Smartphones or tablets
Some of you will want to access these course materials using a smartphone or tablet of some kind based on the Apple iOS or based on the Android operating system.  In order to assist you in being able to access all course-related content, I have created an Overview page in each learning module with links to all content in each module.  Canvas has informed me that iOS and Android users should be able to access all course content through these overview pages, but, to ensure a high level of reliability and to provide a better learning experience, I recommend you review all course content and complete all quizzes using a web-browser.  Please plan accordingly for the possibility that you may be unable to access some course materials using a smart phone or tablet device.