The Importance of Accounting Education Research

Reading this article verified to me that I am on the right track in taking education courses at GMU to prepare me for a career in teaching.
The author address the fact that there are very few articles published that address the teaching of accounting. I have noticed this in my reading as well noticing that journal articles usually address what is lacking in student education for accounting but no article addresses how to incorporate these ideas into the classroom. What would be more useful is for educators to be reflective and evaluate and research their teaching methods and share best practices among accounting educators. This reflective practice and sharing the outcomes would be beneficial to students and accounting educators as well. If graduate students were to have the benefit of this research and knowlege they might be better equiped to face the demands of teaching and facilitating their students’ learning.
Currently, colleges do not require faculty training in pedagogy or encourage faculty to undertake research into their own teaching practices but, this is changing because business schools want their programs to be highly-rated for all aspects of their education progreams including part-time and distance learning. To be more competitve and in order achieve that rating business schools are focusing on faculty teaching skills. This focus towards teaching excellence applies to all those who teach from new graduate students to more seasoned faculty.
The article reminds us that there are distinct differences between education for occupation and education through occupation. This reflects two different approaches to education and should be considered by accounting educators when they are considering their lecture materials, constructing their syllabus and designing classwork.
As a student of education I can see the benefit of researching accounting education. My current course of education is very beneficial but, as I progress, I would like to know that my teaching approach and practices are effective for student learning. Staying current on best practices and methods in accounting education, having a better understanding of the diverse student population and their learning needs would be far more benefical to me than simply learning how to put together a lecture in PowerPoint.