Accounting professor wins national award for innovation in education

Accounting students traditionally spend most of their time studying balance sheets and analyzing cash flows. But in Mark Holtzblatt’s fall 2009 class at Roosevelt University, part of their time was also spent setting up cameras and editing digital video.

A semester-long project titled “The Inter-University IFRS Student Video Competition,” was awarded the 2011 Innovation in Accounting Education Award by the American Accounting Association. This award, the single most prestigious innovation award in academic accounting, was presented in August to Holtzblatt (pictured above, second from right) and co-winner Norbert Tschakert of Salem State University (second from left) during  the 2011 American Accounting Association (AAA) annual meeting in Denver. Also pictured are:  Ellen Glazerman, director of the Ernst & Young Foundation, and award committee chair Don Wygal of Rider University (far right).

The award is intended to encourage innovation and improvement in accounting education, and submissions are judged by their demonstrated educational benefits, creativity and adaptability by other academic institutions.

“Hopefully this recognition will provide the inspiration for other accounting educators to consider integrating such technologies and projects into their classrooms and coursework,” said Holtzblatt, the Frederick Addy Associate Professor of Accounting and Finance. “Accounting professionals are now dealing with clients and colleagues globally, and accounting students need to become familiar with tools like Skype and video conferencing.”

The Roosevelt students dealt with the topic of IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) by creating original video pieces. In total, the videos featured 46 interviews with IFRS experts from six countries, and were culled from over 1,800 minutes of video captured using camcorders and video conferencing tools such as Skype.

"This was a great project for connecting Roosevelt students to influential people in the profession,” Holtzblatt said. “For example, our students were able to interview IFRS expert and author Barry Epstein, who also is a member of the Business Advisory Board of Roosevelt's Heller College. It enabled the students to develop skills in collaboration, project management, networking and interviewing."

Holtzblatt teaches International Accounting at the graduate and undergraduate levels. He is the recipient of grants from Purdue University and PricewaterhouseCoopers to research the use of technology in teaching IFRS. He earned his PhD in accounting from the University of Arkansas and a Master of Science in Accounting from Roosevelt University.

Norbert Tschakert is an associate professor of accounting at the Bertolon School of Business at Salem State University in Salem, Mass.

A three-minute video trailer for the competition can be viewed at http://www.vimeo.com/19367519