Emmarelda Maswesi Ahmad, Marshita Hashim, Mohd Afiq Azero, Najihah Abu Bakar  & Muhamad Ridzuan Hashim
UiTM Puncak Alam
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In an era where memes travel quicker than traditional academic content and YouTube video tutorials compete with textbooks, the traditional lecture format is falling out of sync with how today’s students learn and engage. This dilemma creates a pedagogical challenge: how can educators design learning experiences that not only impart technical competence but also foster critical thinking, engagement, and adaptability?

In this article, we would like to share some innovative teaching methodologies practised in the management accounting and control course. These methods aim to deepen conceptual understanding, enhance students’ engagement, and bridge the gap between theory and practice.

While students may have diverse perspectives and preferences, everyone’s collective commitment can create an environment in which joy in learning thrives. Through collaboration, a more engaging and fulfilling educational experience for everyone involved may be created, for instance project-based learning, team teaching, technology-enhanced learning, peer review, collaborative teaching with industry professionals, and digital flipbook.

To encourage students to apply theoretical knowledge to real-world scenarios, and enhance their critical thinking and problem-solving skills (Sava, 2018), teaching lecturers implement the project-based learning  (PBL) or also known as the case study analysis among the students. Every semester, students are assigned to a case study intending to enhance students’ engagement and practical understanding. The case study package is approximately 10 pages long. Marks are allocated to evaluate students' problem-solving capabilities about the Management Accounting and Control course based on their written communication, relevant theory application, and work originality. The case study goes beyond scenario analysis and equation-solving to cultivate students’ ability to produce professional-level corporate memos, draft emails and presentation notes akin to those used by professional consultants or advisors. This pedagogical approach aims to foster a professional mindset and accelerate their preparedness for the demands of the working world.

Next, team teaching among educators has shown to yield many pedagogical benefits by pooling their expertise to innovate and incorporate diverse perspectives and methodologies into their teaching style (Malak & Gambescia, 2023). Collaboration among  educators leads to improved course content and facilitation, promoting professional development through consistent feedback and shared reflective practices (Ito & Lim, 2025). In this context, acknowledging the numerous advantages of collaborative teaching, a team of teaching lecturers from UiTM Puncak Alam campus organised a series of five online collaborative teaching sessions during the previous semester. Nearly two hundred students participated in these sessions, intent on enhancing their understanding of management accounting and control. The majority of students provided positive feedback and successfully answered the revision questions at the end of each session.

Technology-enhanced learning using digital platforms supports assessment for learning within collaborative works. It also facilitates the flipped classroom structure whereby students can prepare for class by engaging with the materials posted on the platform beforehand, enabling deeper understanding and application of accounting concepts (Zheng et al., 2020). The incorporation of digital technologies such as virtual campuses and Web 4.0 has transformed accounting education, as it enhances students’ engagement and provides opportunities for lifelong learning (Fernández-Araya, S. Ortiz-Vidal et al., 2024; Immonen & Kinnunen, 2015; Venter et al., 2022). In addition, blended learning, which mixes face-to-face instruction with digital learning, enables skills-based education (Hernández, D. F. Buitrago, 2018). There are various avenues for sharing relevant teaching and learning materials for the Management Accounting and Control course, such as Academics leverage Google Classroom, Padlet and the most common and widely used UFuture platform. Technology-enhanced learning systems and applications enable the sharing of materials, faster online content delivery, greater storage capacity, online forums, quizzes and tests, and monitoring.

 Methods such as a peer review process where students evaluate each other’s work, improve students’ information literacy skills, social skills and ability to critically assess the trustworthiness and accuracy of sources (Pollock et al., 2023). On campus, this process is typically carried out to ensure that every group of students achieves comprehensive learning. It is intended to accommodate diverse learning preferences and different problem-solving methods. As a result of exchanging knowledge and approaches in answering the questions, students not only grasp the subject matter more thoroughly but also develop a deeper understanding of the content that enables them to evaluate and discuss the tutorial questions provided by their class instructors. This gives them an opportunity to provide feedback and reflect on their learning, enhancing their overall outcomes. Consequently, these discussions allow students to exchange ideas with their peers, broadening their perspectives and clarifying any misunderstandings about the subject matter.

With the aim of bringing in relevance to the classroom, collaborative teaching can involve industry professionals to share their valuable knowledge, insights and experience with students. Research has shown that students and educators feedback on this method is positive because they appreciate the diverse expertise brought to the classroom and can better enhance their grasp of accounting concepts (Lehmann & Schwarzkopf, 2022).  This indicates that there is a need for education systems to forge interdisciplinary collaborations that align with the changing requirements of the global business environment.

One of the planned key initiatives of the faculty involves industry professionals’ engagement, particularly from audit firms to deliver talks and have dialogues on current topics related to Management Accounting and Control (MAF551). Given that some students find specific topics challenging, complex, and disconnected from real-world applications, it is valuable to have experts explain real-life examples to demystify certain course concepts. During the talk, students can ask questions, regarding any aspects of the topic that they find difficult to understand. The access to professional experts in the related field is crucial to enhance students' comprehension and meet meaningful learning objectives. 

Lastly, the teaching lecturers of the course propose to launch a digital flipbook that serves as a practical toolkit for learning as it integrates interactive elements that can increase student engagement, comprehension, and offer the many benefits of e-learning (Vonti et al., 2023). In previous semesters, a hard copy study guide for the Management Accounting and Control (MAF551) course had been prepared by Puncak Alam accounting lecturers for students. The aim was to help organise the information from the primary references (textbook), lectures, and notes clearly and logically. Information was summarised, key terms were defined, and practice questions were discussed in the study guide so students could actively process and understand the content rather than passively read the materials. This method was proposed to ease the connections between concepts and build a strong understanding of the subject matter.

However, due to the pandemic and the need to update reading materials promptly, educators see the need for a digital flipbook. Unlike printed study guides that are fixed, the digital flipbook can be updated and revised as needed. In addition, unlike physical or hardcopy documents, digital flipbooks can be easily shared via various platforms such as social media, email and more which are accessible on devices like laptops, tablets, and smartphones without usage of specific software. This ultimately makes the digital book preference a more sustainable and budget-friendly option.

In conclusion, the diverse teaching modalities contribute to improving students’ engagement and critical thinking, enhance knowledge retention, and support effective collaborative teaching methods predominantly in addressing the expectations of today’s generation in the evolving world of AI. The innovative approaches discussed above, together with technology integration, are indeed revolutionising accounting education. Employing various teaching and learning methods is crucial in preparing future accounting professionals to thrive in a modern and dynamic work environment.