Using the Case Study Method to Develop Generic Skills: An Analysis of Student and Tutor Perceptions
Type of content
UC permalink
Publisher's DOI/URI
Thesis discipline
Degree name
Publisher
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Language
Date
Authors
Abstract
Amid calls from the accounting profession and accounting educators for a syllabus that would develop generic skills as well as technical competence, the course supervisor of a final year management accounting course made changes to the tutorials. It was hoped that weekly one-page assignments, presentations and discussions of assigned cases would develop communication, team work, problem solving, critical thinking, conceptual thinking, time management and research skills. This research comprised a survey of current and past students’ perceptions of their learning of generic skills in the tutorials, as well as the views of the current tutors. Both students and tutors felt that the format of the tutorials and assessment enabled the development primarily of problem solving and critical thinking, but also to a high degree of team work, time management, communication and conceptual thinking. Research skills were the least developed. The same skills were perceived to be useful in an accounting career.