Incorporating the UN SDGs into the accounting curriculum: Examples of using digital learning tools/resources
As an accounting lecturer and researcher of sustainability reporting, the question I often ask myself is how best to prepare accounting graduates for the future, not only for their future careers but also for our future sustainable world. One possible solution is to incorporate the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into the University accounting curriculum, with the application of multiple digital learning tools and resources.
Teaching various relevant topics on the SDGs and accounting can enhance students’ sustainability literacy and critical thinking skills, encouraging them to think about accounting practice today and tomorrow, the future of the accounting profession, and the prominent role of accounting in sustainable development. Meanwhile, using digital learning tools and resources can foster student engagement and equip students with digital learning skills, representing innovative and interesting approaches to teaching, assessment, and feedback. Further, given that we are inevitably part of the digital world nowadays, using digital learning tools/resources in teaching activities conveys a mindset that we all need to become proactive lifelong learners and keep learning so as to adapt to the rapidly changing world.
Based on the above thoughts, I designed a series of teaching, learning, and assessment practices and implemented them in a 3rd-year undergraduate accounting module during Semester 1, Academic Year 2022/23. This article highlights some key elements of this teaching design. Figure 2 shows an overview of the teaching design.
The module was Issues in Not-For-Profit and Public Sector Accounting, a 3rd-year undergraduate optional module for accounting students (37 in total). It focused on contemporary issues in accounting research and practice, particularly in the public sector and NGOs. The module was jointly taught, and I taught the last four out of the 12 weeks.
Each week, there was a 2-hour lecture on Monday morning. The lecture topics included the SDGs and accounting, climate change-related disclosures, double materiality, sustainability reporting and assurance, and so on. After each lecture, students had around one week to complete and submit their weekly individual assignments. These assignments were in various forms and relevant to the lecture topics, aiming at helping students review what they had learned and prepare for workshops. On Tuesday mornings, there was a 1-hour workshop. This small class teaching activity aimed at getting students engaged, reviewing last week’s lecture topic, and extending the relevant knowledge.
As highlighted in blue, various digital learning tools/resources were used in the lectures, weekly submissions, and workshops. During the learning process, students listened to podcast episodes, wrote critical podcast reviews, watched videos/webinars, did an online quiz in class, and so on. Furthermore, additional learning resources were provided weekly.
Let’s take the first week’s design as an example (Figure 3). In Week 9’s lecture, in the beginning, students listened to the first episode of SDGs: The Rising Tide Podcast [1] (produced by Global Reporting Initiative [2]). Within minutes, students gained knowledge about the SDGs and learned the views and experiences of the most prominent sustainability experts from both the private and public sectors. Then I asked some questions based on the episode to interact with the students and test whether they had captured the key information. With the background provided by the episode, I continued delivering the materials prepared.
As for the weekly individual submission, the students were required to choose one episode of SDGs: The Rising Tide Podcast, listen to the episode and write a concise and critical review. This assignment [3] helped the students learn one SDG specifically, its relevant challenges, and possible solutions from a sustainability accounting and reporting perspective. I reviewed the students’ submissions and found their answers showed a very good level of understanding of the module contents, wider reading, and critical thinking. Interestingly, from the students’ choices of episodes, we can identify that the SDGs attracting their attention most were SDG 13: Climate Action (7 submissions out of 37; 19%) and SDG 15: Life on Land (7; 19%). Some other students were concerned about SDG 4: Quality Education (3; 8%), SDG 5: Gender Equality (3; 8%), and SDG 17: Partnership for the Goals (3; 8%).
In the following week’s workshop [4], I designed an online quiz using Kahoot! (a game-based digital learning platform) and used it in class. The quiz consisted of 16 questions about the SDGs, the UN SDGs Report 2022, sustainability reporting, and Queen’s University Belfast’s sustainability strategy. The students got excited, competitive, and cheerful while doing the quiz. They effectively reviewed what they had learned in Week 9’s lecture and acquired more knowledge about sustainability and accounting through this quiz. Importantly, the Top 5 won prizes — students were happy about the rewards.
After class, additional resources were provided on Canvas (the Virtual Learning Environment at Queen’s University Belfast) to assist the teaching and learning activities, including links to research papers, webinars/videos, websites of relevant organisations, online learning platforms, etc.
Overall, the teaching design involves innovative teaching, learning, and assessment practices that enhance student sustainability literacy, foster student engagement, and prepare students with hard and soft skills for the future. I got positive feedback from my students and colleagues (Figure 4). What I found most encouraging was that the students liked the changes in teaching approaches and welcomed the innovative practices.
Of course, there is room for improvement, such as enhancing the visual aids and student focus in class, especially when students are listening to a podcast or watching a video. Also, I need to consider how to allow for further student engagement and encourage class participation in future teaching.
Finally, I would like to share an inspiring quote:
Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.
— John Dewey (1859–1952)
Not learning and not thinking is always the enemy of life. The above quote echoes the value I want to convey in my teaching: education is a lifelong process which requires us to become proactive learners. I hope all our students can eventually reach this point through their studies at Queen’s.
Links:
[1] This SDGs podcast series is available at: https://www.globalreporting.org/news/podcasts/
[2] Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is an independent international organisation that helps businesses and other organisations take responsibility for their impacts, by providing them with a global common language to communicate those impacts. For more details, please see: https://www.globalreporting.org/about-gri/
[3] Here is a summary of this assignment, posted on my LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/xinwuhe666_accounting-gri-sustainability-activity-7001245825787904001-WEAu?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
[4] Here is a link to a video showing some details of the workshop: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cl1lhNDjdBA/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Student Perspectives:
[Feedback from Accounting students who participated in the class activities.]
With respect to Kahoot quiz, it was a very good innovation to bring a new method of engagement into the tutorial, thereby driving our interests and concentration during the tutorials.
Honestly, I was surprised by it as it never happened before. Personally, I always believe that the more interaction in class or tutorial is the best way for students to continuously focus on the given content, otherwise it can be very easy to get distracted.
Moreover, some prizes were also provided, which makes the process more interesting and motivates us to have a good preparation for the tutorial content.
Regarding the podcast review, it was also a new way to do an assignment. I can listen to it in my leisure time or while I’m walking, and it doesn’t limit my access to it. To be honest, it makes me feel relaxed as if I’m listening to the daily news without having to sit in front of the computer all the time thinking about how to do it. I do hope the innovative approaches you proposed can still exist in the future to benefit the prospective students.
Staff Observation Notes:
[Feedback from peer observation of the class activities.]
The biggest challenge in relation to observing Xinwu’s class was resisting the urge to participate alongside the students! The session was very well designed, with an excellent balance of taught content and opportunities for participants to test their knowledge and understanding via Kahoot!. I will certainly be adopting some of approaches and ideas demonstrated by Xinwu in my own teaching this year.
Note: this blog article was originally published at Queen’s University Belfast AHSS Digital Learning Hub Assessment & Feedback Toolkit (a SharePoint site for internal use only) in February 2023.
