How to Assess Accounting Courses

Many college students have the opportunity to complete course assessments at the end of the semester.  This helps professors and university personnel determine the effectiveness of certain courses and teaching materials.  Accounting courses are often among the assessed courses.  If you have been asked to assess an accounting course, follow these steps.

1. Determine the goal of the assessment.  Most course assessments are used to measure the effectiveness of the course, including its content, such as text books, projects and tests, and the skill and effectiveness of the professor.  Ask specific questions and allow space for students to write comments.


2. Allow the professor to review the assessment before distributing it to students.  The professor has an accurate knowledge of the course that they are teaching, so they will be able to provide valuable insight as to whether or not they believe your assessment is accurate and thorough enough to be helpful in measuring the value of the accounting course.


3. Compare assessments between course sections.  Once the students have completed the course assessments, take the time to compare each sections' individual assessment.  If two sections return favorable assessments and one does not, this can provide insight as to the effectiveness of the professor or teaching materials of a particular course.  These assessments can then be used to make improvements to the section that did not fair well.


4. Review course materials.  Pay close attention to the assessment of the accounting materials used in a course, including text books, other reading materials, online course information, projects and testing supplies.  Although accounting texts and materials are not often exciting books to read, if several students comment on the poor quality of the course materials, your institution might consider obtaining new text books prior to beginning the accounting course the following semester.