EFFECTS OF BLENDED LEARNING APPROACH ON BUSINESS EDUCATION STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AND RETENTION IN FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING IN UNIVERSITIES IN RIVERS STATE
SOURCE:
Faculty: Education
Department: Technology Education
CONTRIBUTORS:
Bupo, G. O.
Ibeneme, O. T.
ABSTRACT:
This studysought to determine the effect of teaching financial accounting with blended learning approach on business education students’ academic achievement and retention in universities in Rivers State universities. Four research questions were answered and six hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Quasi-experimental non-randomized pre-test post-test control group research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study consisted of685 first-level business education students (of all options) in two universities that offer business education in Rivers State. The sample size was made upof 160 year-one business education students (in accountancy option) in the two universities (Rivers State University and Ignatius University of Education). Purposive sampling technique was adopted as intact classes were selected as experimental and control groups. Students in the experimental group were enrolled on a learning management system (MOODLE) which served as the virtual learning environment for the blended learning approach. The instrument for data collection was an achievement test titled Financial Accounting Achievement Test (FAAT) which contained 40 items covering three topics in introduction to financial accounting. The instrument was validated by three experts and standardized through item analysis. The reliability of the instrument was determined using Kuder Richardson (KR 21) formula which yielded a coefficient of 0.77. The instrument was administered as pre-test to both experimental and control groups. The teaching approaches were applied for five weeks after which the post-test was administered. The delayed post-test was administered two weeks after the post-test to test for retention. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to the test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that blended learning approach had a significant effect on students’ achievement and retention in financial accounting than the conventional classroom approach. The results also show that male students did not significantly differ from female students in their achievement and retention scores in financial accounting when taught with blended learning approach. It was recommended, among others that, professional institutions regulating the practice of accounting (like ICAN and ABEN), should insist that lecturers of financial accounting use blended learning approach as it improves students’ academic achievement and retention in the course.