PGDipTHE

This project aims to look into the present structure of the company law module taught in Ngee Ann Polytechnic for final year diploma in accountancy students. It seeks to identify the major strengths and weaknesses of the present course structure in the light of recent approaches to education and teaching strategies, the changing student profile, changes in demands of employers and the needs of the society as a whole.

The thrust of the project is to incorporate active learning strategies, to emphasise creative thinking and critical analysis and to cultivate inter-personal skills which are necessary for success at the workplace. For this purpose changes in curriculum have to be planned and implemented carefully in a systematic manner.

In Part I of this project, the importance of systematic curriculum design is discussed together with the resources used in education and analysis of needs of the students, parents, employers and the society. Next, the present student profile is analysed followed by the graduate profile in terms of academic training, job training, their role in their future occupation and further studies undertaken.

In Part II; the need for curriculum review will he presented in the light of the changing face of education, changing demands of employers and current problems associated with the teaching and learning of company law at polytechnic level. Next, the present course structure is critically analysed in terms of objectives, syllabus contents, delivery, materials and assessment methods.

In Part III, the redesigning is planned and put into action. Further objectives are suggested to achieve and enhance the existing objectives. Motivation to study the subject was severely lacking among the students and therefore this will he discussed as an important objective. Next, a change in the coverage of syllabus contents is proposed together with suggestions for improving the delivery of lectures and conducting of tutorials incorporating active learning strategies. Choosing a suitable textbook will also be discussed together with the form of lecture notes. Finally some non-traditional methods of assessment will be suggested.

Some of the suggested changes were implemented and a feedback questionnaire was used to gather comments from the students. This will be presented in Chapter 13. The implications of the ,findings of this project will then be disclosed in Chapter 14.

The proposed changes will take at least one academic year to be fully implemented and its effectiveness realised It is envisaged that most of the students will pursue degree and post graduate studies or acquire proj2ssional accounting qualifications. Hence this justifies the need for a well designed curriculum and well developed learning materials to enable the learner to have a solid foundation in the subject.

We live in a world that is fluid and dynamic. Strategies in education therefore must be constantly reviewed and updated to keep up with these changes, for ". . . . in times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists."

A great deal of research has been carried out to show how active learning strategies can be used to stimulate students to foster higher order learning skills. Much of this research has been carried out on undergraduates who are pursuing business courses but much of the focus, to-date, has been on how such strategies can be used to teach management as well as other business oriented subjects like statistics and marketing. Hardly, if any, research has been done on how law is being taught to business students. In the view of the author, this omission is significant as the law course is always included as one of the core subjects in any accountancy or business curriculum and law, as a subject, lends itself readily to the use of active learning strategies in the cultivation of higher order learning skills.

This paper starts by identifying the problems which exist in teaching law to business students and showing the deficiencies in the teaching methods which are currently being used. A major problem which arises with the teaching of law to business students is that lecturers find it very difficult to motivate the students, most of whom (other than the few who have a natural inclination for the law) complain that law is dry and boring. 'This paper discusses in some detail, motivational theory as it applies to business students and the difficulties experienced by law lecturers in motivating the students. Part of the difficulty lies in the fact that business students do not consider law to be a "mainstream subject" ("Macro" difficulties) while the other difficulties related more to the lecturing style of the individual lecturers ("Micro" difficulties). The paper discusses how the author has successfully identified and overcome these difficulties.

The paper then goes on to discuss the innovative teaching strategies used by the author in lectures and tutorials. These include the use of guided imagery exercises in lectures and the use of cooperative learning techniques in tutorials.

Finally, the paper concludes with an analysis of the new assessment techniques used by the author to complement the innovative teaching techniques which he has used above.