5 March: Welcome (Yet Again)

Hi

Martin Turner here again. It is my pleasure to be your unit co-ordinator for ACCT11059 Accounting, Learning and Online Communication. This is my third email to you.

If you missed my first two emails, do not worry. You can find them at Martin’s Emails in my blog; and also by clicking on ‘Martin’s Emails’ in the Communication box on the right hand side of Moodle. (Note: if you access Moodle on your phone, you need to scroll down to the bottom to get to the sections on the ‘right hand side’ of Moodle when using a computer). When I send out emails I will also post a link to them on our unit Facebook page (if you have not done so already, you should ask to join our Facebook page).

In particular, my first email contains important information for you to get started in our unit.

If you have enrolled at the last minute (that is, in the past two weeks), you may have missed some of my previous emails. Of course, it is pretty important you are enrolled in your units at least two weeks before term starts. Moodle sites for our units open two weeks before term starts, so you can start the readings for your units, understand the assessments, start online tools such as PeerWise and discussion forums, and start connecting with others in your unit.

I will also tweet occassionally @MartinTurner12  #ACCT11059. I will also post my tweets at Tweets #ACCT11059 on my blog.

We are now at the beginning of Week 1, which starts on Monday 5 March.

A lot has been happening already, in the two weeks leading up to the start of term. I have been enjoying reading people’s blogs, answering, rating and commenting on your questions in PeerWise, and reading your posts on our unit Facebook page.

PeerWise

The first thing to get started on is PeerWise.

So far, about 110 people have registered for PeerWise which is about 30% of people enrolled in our unit. People have written about 140 questions and given over 2,000 answers and about 200 comments to these questions.

So there is plenty happening on PeerWise.

There is a great page on PeerWise in my blog with lots of tips on how to use PeerWise well, as a collaborative learning tool to support your own and others learning in our unit.

A key to PeerWise being a success is that we all help create a great learning community by writing high quality questions, which we can all access, answer, rate and comment on to support our learning.

Remember, a great way to start PeerWise is to answer other people’s questions; and do not just answer other people’s questions, but make sure you comment and rate them as well. Once you have got started, make sure you also write questions (with thoughtful and useful explanations for the solutions). You should also make sure you give a topic for each of your questions (usually choosing from the existing list of topics, which often relate to the Week of our unit, for example Week 1 or Week 2). You should write at least 2-3 questions each week and answer and rate at least 20-30 questions each week throughout our unit. That’s right: each and every week, including this week.

The idea with PeerWise is that you read the chapters from the Study Guide each week, and based on your reading write multiple choice questions (with solutions and clear explanations quoting from the Study Guide and also answer, comment on and rate other people’s questions.

Peerwise is a great way to review the material in the reading, focusing on helping us understand and make our own sense of some of the key concepts.

You can find the readings each week by clicking on ‘Weekly Schedule’ in the top centre section in Moodle. The chapter references refer to the chapters in the Study Guide. You can find the chapters in the Study Guide by clicking on ‘Study Guide’ in the Study Guide section on the left-hand side of Moodle.

Our reading for Week 1 is the Introduction and Chapter 1 from the Study Guide. So read these chapters, then answer some questions on PeerWise and then write some questions.

If you have not yet registered on Peerwise, go to the PeerWise folder in the top centre section of Moodle. This has all the information you need to get started on PeerWise. This includes the marking guidelines for PeerWise. Remember, the first 1% of your PeerWise mark will be based on your PeerWise Reputation Score at 5pm Friday 23 March in Week 3.

Blogs and Exemplars

A number of people have set up their blogs for our unit. You can find links to people’s blogs in the Blog Links Forum in the Communication section on the right-hand side of Moodle. Already, there are quite a few blogs with their links posted; so lots of blogs to have a look at. Why not visit some people’s blogs and say ‘hi’ and comment on them. I am sure people would love to hear from you, and you might get some great ideas on how to develop your own blog.

And you will need to make connections with others in our unit to do the assignments, so it is wise to start making some connections by visiting each other’s blogs this week. You should make sure you visit and comment on at least 5-10 blogs during the coming week.

Facebook

Many people in our subject have also joined our unit’s Facebook page. If you have not yet joined, click on this link or on the Facebook link in the Communication box on the right-hand side of Moodle and join our group.

Classes this week

This week there will be interactive workshops each Wednesday from 9.00 am – 12 noon at Cairns, Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton, Gladstone, Bundaberg, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. There will also be classes at Perth and Geraldton at other times.

For those attending class, if you have not done so already, you will be able to (in class):

  • Complete our Pre-Unit Survey (in the Communication section, top right-hand section on Moodle). I look forward to hearing what you have to say.
  • Register on PeerWise.
  • Join our unit Facebook page.
  • If you wish, follow me on twitter @MartinTurner12 #ACCT11059.
  • Like our School Facebook page: School of Business and Law – CQUniversity; and also follow the School on twitter @cqusbl.
  • And much more ….

Please bring a device with you so you can complete these tasks in class this week.

For those not going to class this week, including most of our distance students, please make sure you have completed these tasks during the week. Quite a few people already have.

I expect everyone will have completed their Pre-Unit Survey this week, and I will report back to everyone in the coming weeks on what we all had to say.

I also expect everyone will have registered on PeerWise and have got started this week answering and writing questions based on our reading of the Introduction and Chapter 1 of the Study Guide.

Your company

You will be given your own company later this week at 5.00pm Friday 9 March (Week 1). They will be available in the top central section of Moodle. I will email everyone (as well as Facebook) when they are available. You can work on Steps 1 and 2 of your ASS#1 now, before you get your company.

Never give up … and maybe even have fun at times!

Hopefully, there will be lots of times in our unit when you are having fun; and cannot believe that learning about accounting could be so enjoyable. Also, there may come times when you might feel like giving up. Quite a few people can feel like this, particularly while completing the early steps of ASS#2 in Weeks 5-8. Accounting can seem daunting to many of us, and quite a few people may be feeling fearful about studying accounting.

My advice to you is to never give up. If you never give up, and if you connect well with others in our unit and support each other and discuss issues and questions as they arise, then you will make it through. And managing your time well is also important.

I look forward to exploring the (possibly) exciting world of accounting with you this term, as we together seek to find out whether accounting can help, or perhaps hinder, us to better understand and connect to the economic and business realities of our firms.

Regards

Martin Turner