The Future of Education

The University of Johannesburg (UJ), South Africa, initiated a unique Diploma in Accountancy in which ICT has been integrated into the full 3-year curriculum of two of the financial subjects [1, 2]. This integration of ICT within the curriculum of the subjects (termed Subject Integrated Information and Communication Technologies (SIICT) [3, 4]) was the focus of an impact study, conducted within the limitations of a case study and analysed within the framework of Activity Theory, which aimed to identify the impacts that SIICT had exerted on the stakeholders to the diploma. Through empirical data, SIICT has been shown to benefit the students by decreasing study time, enhancing student graduateness and bolstering employability. The case study has shown that the successful outcome of SIICT was ensured due to the convergence, planned and unplanned, of three factors: the full integration of ICT into the curriculum of the diploma subjects [1]; the application of Distributed Cognition for Teams (DiCoT) [5, 6, 7] resulting in knowledge-building, measured by the internalisation and externalisation of the subject knowledge; and, proper and timeous training of the staff who would be presenting the classes [8]. Using the theory of DiCoT [5, 7] as a baseline and empirical evidence from observations of, and interviews with, the lecturers who lectured the SIICT subjects, arguments for a successful conclusion have been presented. One of the primary stakeholders investigated were the lecturers working as a team, and the conclusions link the results of the interviews and observations to the internalisation and externalisation of the new SIICT subject matter. Additionally, the conclusions present evidence that teamwork, in the form of DiCoT, is also a leading factor in the successful implementation of the integration of SIICT in Accounting. In all the investigated instances, there were three or more lecturers that lectured the same subject. Evidenced in the case study was the co-operation within these teams which lead to the creation of common artefacts. Salomon [9, 10] expresses this cooperation of “sharing authority, language, experiences, tasks and cultural heritage” as distributed cognitions at work. Efficient and effective teamwork enhances and strengthens the reciprocal interchange of information within which cognition is shared [9] leading to enhanced internalisation and externalisation of the subject matter [4], and a strengthening of the “key distributed cognition attributes” [5, 7]. One of the contributions of the case study shows that the distributed cognition has evidenced the outcome, and supported the theory, that there is a correlative relationship between DiCoT and Internalization and Externalization of subject matter, which has been termed “Knowledge building through DiCoT” in the paper.

Keywords: Accounting education; Integration of ICT in accounting; Distributed cognition for teams (DiCoT); Knowledge building; Case study; Internalization; Externalization;

References:
[1] R. Rhodes, “Lecturers changing andragogy during implementation of Integrated Information and Communication Technology (IICT) in Accounting Education.,” in The Future of Education : Conference proceedings; 3rd Conference proceedings, Florence, Italy, 2013.
[2] N. Rhodes, Transforming accounting education: closing the gap between technology, education and Accounting in higher education institutions. PhD Thesis., Johannesburg, GP, South Africa: University of Johannesburg, 2012a.
[3] R. J. Rhodes, "Impact of integrating information and communication technologies in accounting education," Bela-Bela, South Africa, 2016.
[4] R. J. Rhodes, Evaluating th impact of integrating information and communication technologies in accounting education: a case study at the University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg: PhD Thesis, 2019.
[5] J. Rybing, H. Nilsson, C.-O. Jonson and M. Bang, "Studying distributed cognition of simulation-based team training with DiCoT," Journal of Ergonomics, vol. 59, no. 3, pp. 423 - 434, 2016.
[6] Y. Rogers and J. Ellis, "Distributed cognition: an alternative framework for analysing and explaining collaborative working.," Journal of information technology, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 119-128, 1994.
[7] D. N. Perkins, "Person-plus: A distributed view of thinking and learning," in Distributed cognitions: Psychological and educational considerations, G. Salomon, Ed., Cambridge, Cambridge university press, 1993, pp. 188-110.[8] N. Rhodes, "Gateways to positioning information and communication technology in Accounting education.," In South African Journal of Higher Education: 4th Annual South African Technology Network Conference 2011: Curriculum transformation at universities of technology: Towards development of new generation universities., vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 300 -319, 2012b.
[9] G. Salomon, "No distribution without individual's cognition," in Distributed cognitions:psychological and educational considerations, G. Solamon, Ed., Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1993a, pp. 111 - 137.
[10] G. Salomon, Preface to Distributed Cognitions; Psychological and educational considerations, 1 ed., G. Salomon, Ed., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.