Redesigning an Auditing Course to Develop Technology Competence

Abstract

Incorporating technology into an auditing curriculum is an ongoing challenge for accounting and auditing educators. This study examined the effect of an intervention to develop technology competence. The intervention involved redesigning a course on the basis of Constructive Alignment (CA). The primary intention of CA is to better align three elements in course design: the Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO), the Teaching and Learning Activities (TLA), and the Assessment Tasks (AT). Through case-based learning as the main TLA and AT, students practiced using Excel to complete electronic audit documentations. We focused on the research question: Does redesigning the auditing course using CA lead to improve students' competence in technology? A quantitative and qualitative design was adopted, using a pre-post-test and interview. Our findings suggest redesigning the course in this way improve technology competence and educators should consider students' expectation to work on more specialized audit software.