Description
The accounting profession is ever-changing, with growing concerns over the future of the planet, incoming mandatory climate-related reporting and assurance standards, and the emergence of new ecologically based organisational governance arrangements (Bebbington & Rubin, 2022) reshaping how accounting and auditing are used. These changes, along with the challenges and opportunities they bring, “require new ways of thinking and working” (IFAC, 2024). Yet, recent research shows that universities are largely failing to adequately equip students with the climate-related competencies required in graduate positions (De Silva & Nilipour, 2024; Simmons et al., 2024), with curricula focusing more on the acquisition of knowledge than the fostering of skills (Khosa et al., 2024).
The project on immersive learning aims to bridge this gap by using immersive learning experiences as disruptive learning interventions to evoke a shift in students’ habits of mind that deepens their connection with nature, fosters innovative solutions for accounting for biodiversity, and ultimately starts to shape desirable futures. Immersive learning, the use of (perceived) non-mediated artificial experiences as learning tool, has been shown to provide a pathway to improve student engagement, student motivation, and learning outcomes across various fields. Despite this evidence, the potential of immersive learning for the effective development of students’ climate-related competencies in accounting has not yet been explored.
Focused on the use of immersive learning to expose students to a broader view of accounting, students participate in an immersive learning experience of a virtual reality screening documenting the impact of climate change on the Great Barrier Reef and the challenges associated with preserving its biodiversity. To challenge students’ critical and creative thinking about how biodiversity and nature require new ways of accounting and auditing, the immersive learning experience was linked to an individual reflective assessment. Using post-intervention surveys and learning reflections, our project assesses how immersive learning can promote students’ awareness of corporate responsibility towards nature, strengthen their climate-related accounting competencies, and encourage sustainable habits – thus contributing to more a desirable future. Combined, our quantitative and qualitative results indicate that immersive learning enhances students’ understanding of accounting’s role in sustainability and the mitigation of climate change and inspires future careers in accounting or assurance. In addition, our findings suggest that immersive learning can be used as an effective tool to counter declining student interest in accounting and can contribute to accounting education becoming more gender inclusive.
The project on immersive learning aims to bridge this gap by using immersive learning experiences as disruptive learning interventions to evoke a shift in students’ habits of mind that deepens their connection with nature, fosters innovative solutions for accounting for biodiversity, and ultimately starts to shape desirable futures. Immersive learning, the use of (perceived) non-mediated artificial experiences as learning tool, has been shown to provide a pathway to improve student engagement, student motivation, and learning outcomes across various fields. Despite this evidence, the potential of immersive learning for the effective development of students’ climate-related competencies in accounting has not yet been explored.
Focused on the use of immersive learning to expose students to a broader view of accounting, students participate in an immersive learning experience of a virtual reality screening documenting the impact of climate change on the Great Barrier Reef and the challenges associated with preserving its biodiversity. To challenge students’ critical and creative thinking about how biodiversity and nature require new ways of accounting and auditing, the immersive learning experience was linked to an individual reflective assessment. Using post-intervention surveys and learning reflections, our project assesses how immersive learning can promote students’ awareness of corporate responsibility towards nature, strengthen their climate-related accounting competencies, and encourage sustainable habits – thus contributing to more a desirable future. Combined, our quantitative and qualitative results indicate that immersive learning enhances students’ understanding of accounting’s role in sustainability and the mitigation of climate change and inspires future careers in accounting or assurance. In addition, our findings suggest that immersive learning can be used as an effective tool to counter declining student interest in accounting and can contribute to accounting education becoming more gender inclusive.
| Awarded date | 2024 |
|---|
Keywords
- immersive learning
- climate change
- sustainability
- innovation
- desirable futures