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Tradi(onalmethodsofinstruc(onthatembodyabstractedanddecontextualiseddevelopmentofknowledgedominatethepedagogicalprac(cesinaccoun(ngeduca(on,withinwhichthefocusisoncoveringcontentattheexpenseofdepth,providingli=leornoopportuni(estodevelopskillsanda=ributesrequiredintoday’scompe((veprofessionalworkenvironments(Adler&Milne,1997b;Freemanetal.,2008;Kavanagh&Drennan,2008).

Asaconsequence,accordingtoCatanachetal.(2000,p.583),althoughgraduateaccountantsmaybetechnicallyproficient,manyofthemcannot“integraterulebasedknowledgewithrealworldproblems”.

SimilarlySundem(1994,p.39)contendsthat,“theaveragegraduateaccumulatesastorehouseofknowledge,buthasdifficultyapplyingittorealsitua(ons”.

Thesesen(mentsareechoedbyresearchersintheeduca(onfield,explainingthat“muchoftheabstractknowledgetaughtinschoolsanduniversi(esisnotretrievableinreal‐life,problem‐solvingcontexts,becausethisapproachignorestheinterdependenceofsitua(onandcogni(on”(Herrington&Oliver,2000,p.23).

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Re‐engineeringthetradi(onallearningenvironmentisthereforecri(cal,insuchawaythatthecurriculumintegratesopportuni(esforstudentstoperformauthen(cac(vi(esthatprac((onersandexpertsengageinduringrealproblemsolvingsitua(ons.

“Sinceauthen(ctasksareo\enproblembased,studentsarebe=erabletogaugewhattheyarelearningandhowtouseit”,andindeedstudents“learntorespondtochangesincircumstancesthatinfluencetheirownproblemsolving”(Choi&Hannafin,1995,p.56).

Barab&Duffy(2000)contendthatthecogni(veappren(ceshipframeworkofferscri(caldesignprinciplesforcrea(ng“prac(cefields”.

Prac(cefieldsarecontextsinwhichlearnerscanperformandprac(cethekindsofdisciplineac(vi(esthattheywillencounteroutsideofformallearningenvironments(Barab&Duffy,2000).

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Anothercri(calques(onemerged…

Howcanwemakethestudent’slearningexperienceequitable?

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Thedesignprinciplesforcrea(ngprac(cefieldssuggestedbyBarabandDuffy(2000)offerpedagogicalguidanceforhowbesttoharnesstheaffordancesoftechnologytoprovidelearningac(vi(esthatencompassallofthecomponentsofappren(ceship‐stylelearningintheclassroom.

Prac(cefieldsarecontextsinwhichlearnerscanperformandprac(cethekindsofdisciplineac(vi(esthattheywillencounteroutsideofformallearningenvironments(Barab&Duffy,2000).

TechnologyaccordingtoBrownandDuguid(1996)canprovidea‘window’intoprac(ce,“allowingstudentstolookthroughtoasmuchofactualprac(ceasitcanreveal…”(p.55).

IndeedMcLellan(1996)contendsthattechnologyisacentralconsidera(oninthesituatedlearningmodel,asithelpsdesignersandteacherstoincorporatethecri(calcharacteris(csofappren(ceship‐styleengagementsinthedesignoflearningenvironments.

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HerringtonandOliver(2000)supportthisasser(onandsuggestthatcomputer‐basedrepresenta(onsand‘microworlds’provideapowerfulandacceptablemediumforthecri(calcharacteris(csofappren(ceshipinclassroomenvironments.

AsMcLellan(1996)furtherelaborates,thesituatedlearningmodelexplainsthatknowledgemustbelearnedincontextbutthatcontextcanbeavirtualsurrogateoftheactualworkenvironment.

Itcanalsobeananchoringcontextsuchasavideoormul(mediaprogramwithinwhichauthen(cproblemsolvingandcri(calthinkinginthedomaincanbeprac(cedandapplied.

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MachinimaisdescribedbyMerino(2004)as“real‐worldfilmmakingtechniquesappliedwithinaninterac(vevirtualspacewherecharactersandeventscanbeeithercontrolledbyhumans,scripts,orar(ficialintelligence”.

Throughthebuilt‐invideocapturefeaturewithinSecondLife,itispossibletousetheenvironmenttoproducemachinimawiththesameaffordancesforeffec(velycrea(ngauthen(clearningcondi(ons.

Berkeley(2006)explainsthatmachnimaoffers“somedis(nc(venewpossibili(esforcrea(veaudio‐visualnarra(veproduc(on”(p.66),andthatataminimum,“itcanbeseenasameansoffacilita(ngandaccelera(ngthecrea(vestorydevelopmentandstorytellingprocess”(p.75).

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Ques(onsaboutwhetherornotstudentshavesufficientnetworkbandwidthandcomputa(onalpowertoeffec(velyusetheenvironment.

SecondLifeusagealsoraisesorganisa(onalissuesincludingthedifficultyofgehngtheSecondLifeclientinstalledonUniversitycomputersandsomecampusesblockingaccesstoSecondLifeatthenetworklevel.

Cri(cally,learninghowtouseandnavigateinMUVEmayoverwhelmlearners’limitedworkingmemoryandmayhinderlearningduetounnecessarycogni(veload(Pollock,ChandlerandSweller,2002).

Thissitua(onisdescribedbyPollock,ChandlerandSweller(2002)asextraneouscogni(veload,whichpertainstoundulyloadinglearnerswithunnecessaryinforma(on.

Extraneouscogni(veloadislikelytooccurwhendifficul(esinnaviga(ngtheenvironmentareexperiencedandruntheriskofdiver(ngthefocusofa=en(onawayfromthedirectobjectoflearning(Marton,Runesson&Tsui,2003).

Forexample,whenstudentsspendmostoftheir(metryingtolearnhowtonavigatethroughtheunfamiliarenvironment,insteadofplanning,wri(ngandrevisingtheirideas,itishinderinglearning(Bransford,Brown&Cocking,1999).

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Authen(ccontextisacri(calelementoftheappren(ceshipmodel,butintegra(onintotradi(onallearningenvironmentssuchaslecturesandtutorialsiso\enchallenging.

Inthemachinimaapproach,learnersareexposedtoahighlyengagingthirdpersonexperiencebyviewingthestory,butthenchangestoafirstpersonexperiencewhenlearnersac(velyengageiniden(fyingproblemsandinhelpingtosolvethemaincharacter’sdilemmas.

Withthesamestoryformatandcharacters,addi(onalcondi(onscanbesetforindividualsand/orteamsoflearnersworkingtogethertosolveaseriesofnewchallenges.

Suchchallengesaresituatedagainstthebackdropofauthen(cworkplaceac(vi(esandprac(ces,withinwhichthestagesofappren(ceshiparecrea(velyentwinedinthestory,i.e.modeling,scaffoldingandfading(Collins,Brown&Newman(1989).

Throughoutthetermstudentsinthecoursewererequiredtoworkwithinauditteamscomprisedoffour‘AuditAssistants’andtwo‘AuditSeniors’atamaximum.

Alloca(onsfortheroleof‘AuditSeniors’changedonaweeklybasisprovidingallstudentswiththeopportunitytodevelopleadershipskills.Foron‐campusstudents,the‘AuditManager’(Tutor)wasresponsibleforensuringthatallstudentswereassignedtoanauditteamduringthefirstworkshop.

Whereas,foroff‐campusstudents,the‘AuditPartner’(CourseCoordinator)allocatedstudentstoauditteamsbasedongeographicalloca(on(wherepossible),andabilitylevels.

Alloff‐campusteamsconsistedofstudentswitharangeofabilitylevelssothatallteamshadasimilarexpectedlevelofachievement.

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“Sinceauthen(ctasksareo\enproblembased,studentsarebe=erabletogaugewhattheyarelearningandhowtouseit”,andindeedstudents“learntorespondtochangesincircumstancesthatinfluencetheirownproblemsolving”(Choi&Hannafin,1995,p.56).

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Thislearningmodelexplainsthesituatedaspectofknowledgedevelopmentandclarifiesthereciprocalnatureofknowinganddoing(CTGV,1990;Palinscar&Brown,1984).

Inthislearningcontextpar(cipa(oninprac(ceisthemainac(vitythroughwhichlearningoccurs(Lave&Wenger,1991).

McLellan(1996,p.103)notesthevisionofCollins,BrownandNewmannearlytwodecadesagothat“thecoretechniquesofmodeling,coachingandfadingcanbeformalizedandembeddedintomorrow’spowerfulpersonalcomputers,therebyfosteringarenewalofappren(ceship‐stylelearning”.

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Thedesign‐basedresearchapproachguidedthestudy,whichallowedresearchers“tocarryoutforma(veresearchtotestandrefineeduca(onaldesignsbasedonprinciplesderivedfrompriorresearch”(Collins,Joseph&Bielaczyc,2004,p.15).

Thisapproachrequiresgenera(onofmul(pleformsofdatatodocumenttheevolu(onofthedesignanditsimpactsonlearningandteaching.Thus,bothquan(ta(veandqualita(vemethodswereused.

Asurveyques(onnairewasadministeredtogatherdemographicdata,aswellasdataonstudents’percep(onsoftheirlearningexperiences,whichwerethentabulatedandanalysedusingsta(s(calso\ware,SPSS.

Summarysta(s(csgeneratedfromthecoursewebsiteprovidedusefulinforma(onfortrackingthestudents’paththroughtheknowledgebasetodeterminethefrequencyofaccess,whichinforma(onand/orresourceswereaccessedandwhatthestudentsinteractedwithrepeatedly.

Qualita(vedatawerecollectedfromfieldnotes,recordedwhilethefirstauthorwasengagedinongoinganddynamicobserva(onsofac(vi(esintheonlineenvironmentandpar(cipa(oninthediscussionswithingroupspaces.Narra(vesthroughjournalwri(ng,performancereviewdocumentsandporsoliosubmissionsprovidedrichdataforevalua(ngtheimpactofthedesigntostudentperformance.

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Thestudywasimplementedwithinthenormalprogramofinstruc(on,consistedofac(vi(esfacilitatedduringlectures,tutorialsandworkshopsforon‐campusstudents,andself‐directedandcollabora(veac(vi(esonlineforoff‐campusstudents.Studentsandteacherstookonrolesbasedonthetypicalorganisa(onalstructureofauditfirms,asillustratedinthemachinima.

Followingtheideaofconstruc(vealignment(Biggs,2003)alllearningac(vi(esandassessmenttaskswerelinkedtoeachother,explicitlytarge(ngthecourseintendedlearningoutcomes.Bothforma(veandsumma(veassessmenttaskswereexplicitlylinkedtoauthen(clearningac(vi(es.

Thesumma(veassessmentconsistedofachoicebetweenmid‐termtestandminorteam‐basedassessment(10%),team‐basedporsolioassessmentwithindividualreflec(vetaskcomponent(30%),andfinalexamina(on(60%).

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Thefinalresultsofstudents’performanceshowasignificantdropinfailurerate.

Themajorityofsurveyrespondentsreactedposi(velytoques(onsaboutac(vepar(cipa(on.

Resultssuggestthattherewasnosignificantdifferenceinstudentpercep(onsofthecoursedesignenablingac(veengagementbetweenstudentswithdifferentcapabilitylevelsasindicatedbyprioracademicperformance.

TheKruskal‐Wallistestindicatesthatthedistribu(onshapeanddispersionofresponsesforeachofthethreeques(onsrela(ngtoac(veengagementarethesameforstudentsregardlessofwhethertheircommonlyawardedgradeisapass,creditordis(nc(on.

Thisfindingsuggeststhatthelearningandteachingdesignusedinthisstudyissuitableforstudentswitharangeofcapabilitylevels.

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Thestudents’reac(onstothenewcoursestructureunderscoredtheimportanceofanalignedcurriculuminfacilita(ngstudentengagementandac(velearning.

Acommonthemeemergedinthesurveydata,journalwri(ngsandperformancereviewdocumentsthatstudentsperceivedassessmentasacri(calsourceofmo(va(on,andtheresultssuggestthatsuchmo(va(oncanindeedbeharnessedthroughanalignedcurriculum.

Becausetheverbsusedintheoutcomestatementsinthiscoursewerethesameverbsthatstudentsenactedinthelearningac(vi(esandassessmenttasks,thealignmentfacilitatedac(veinvolvementamongststudents.

Studentsappreciatedthelinkingofallcurriculumelements,andacknowledgedtheposi(veimpactsthishasmadeontheirmo(va(onandlearning,

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Thestudyfoundthatthedevelopmentofhigherorderthinkingskillsarebestfacilitatedinauthen(ccontextsthatprovidestudentswithlearningexperiencesthatexemplifiedthevaluesandprac(cesofthediscipline.

Findingsindicatethat,asstudentsengagedtoperformauthen(ctasks,theapproacheffec(velyfacilitatedac(vepar(cipa(onandcollabora(on.

Indoingsostudentslearnedconceptsinameaningfulfashion,andallowedthemtorelatetheac(vi(esbeingperformedintheclassroomtotheauthen(cprac(cesoftheaudi(ngprofession.

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Inthisresearchproject,a=emptsweremadetoengageinaprogramofchangewithinaccoun(ngeduca(on,andtheresultsofthestudyarepromising.

Itvalidatedthevalueofprovidingprac(cefieldsinformaleduca(onsehngs,toenablestudentstoprac(sethekindsofac(vi(estheywillencounterintheworkplace.

Italsovalidatedthattechnologyhasacentralroleinfacilita(ngauthen(clearning,andthatitcanprovidemo(va(ngcontextsforappren(ceship‐styleinterac(onsintheclassroom.

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