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Abstract
This paper provides a report on a study of innovation in postgraduate education in which a reflective learning journal was used for formal assessment purposes in a management accounting course. Prompted by the discourse on the shortcomings of accounting education in terms of learning processes, learning experiences and learning outcomes, the reflective journal was designed to address concerns related to poor uptake of teaching and learning innovations in the discipline and recognised deficiencies in the generic competencies of accounting graduates. Utilising action research methods, the incremental approach to the implementation of the assessment activity is described and evaluated based on an analysis of 73 journal submissions across a five‐year period. The results, while based on a sample of limited size, indicated a dichotomy in surface versus deep approaches to learning in reference to the assessment task, but with improvements in student performances and learning outcomes when more radical change to the learning journal assessment item was introduced.
Acknowledgements
The author is grateful for the feedback received on earlier versions of this paper from Professor Paul de Lange and participants at the Accounting Association of Australia and New Zealand Annual Conference 2007, International Conference on Innovation in Accounting Teaching and Learning 2005, Victoria University Accounting Research Seminar 2008 and Charles Sturt University Accounting Research Forum. In respect to the idea of utilising the learning journal in the course, the author is indebted to Nona Muldoon of Central Queensland University.