Well Accounting, Learning and Online Communication here I come! When I first enrolled in the unit, I was excited to do a unit about Accounting and didn’t really think about the learning and online communication part. My excitement soon turned into nerves and doubt whether I should do this unit in just my second unit of university while working full-time and having a young daughter. Seeing what the assignments entailed and the way of learning concerned me, so I typed up an email to withdraw from the unit. Then I thought no, lets embrace this change and get out of my comfort zone and maybe it will help in further studies. Its only week one but I am so glad I did decide to stick with the unit. Learning is about having confidence to learn; do I have the confidence I need to succeed? Have I made the right decision? Time will tell. I am keen to start early with the tasks and stay on top or even slightly ahead by spending the suggested time on study to thrive in this unit.
I found Martins welcome email was so reassuring and sound a lot less dauting then I thought. Martin saying that this unit is after all just an introduction to accounting and its not as complex as people think it will be (me, for sure) and if I spend the time recommended I would do just fine. After reading the introduction chapter I realised that I am a “rote” learner 100% and made me question do I want to continue that style of learning? No, I don’t. Learning about the six ways of learning was a good explanation of how I can change as a person. But to do that I need to work on all five of the previous levels to achieve my goal of changing as a person, to put me in a better position for myself and my family in the future. Getting out of my comfort zone and interacting with others in the unit is going to be the biggest step for myself but as I continue in the unit, I think I can improve my communication, and this will help greatly not only in this unit but in future units and outside of my studies.
PeerWise was very new to me beginning this unit, but after a week of answering questions and writing a few of my own, it really has become a bit addictive. I found it a great way to answer all different types of questions about the unit without the added pressure of answering within a set time. Having people comment and rate my questions is such a great way to boost my confidence. Having people say that it was a great question or that it made them think really made me feel like I was on the right track and I can do this. Although I am struggling to come up with what I think would be great questions. Sometimes I can think of a good question with the right answer but wording it and having good multiple-choice answers is where I struggle. I hope to improve on this as we progress.
Starting up my blog was another completely new way of communicating for me. I like to think I am fairly tech savvy but what do I write? Are people going to think I have no idea what I am doing? Why would they even read my blog? I think this will take me a bit of time to work out but having access to read other people’s blogs will get me on the right track. Maybe that’s why someone else will read mine? Hope I can do a good entry then!
Accounting in my mind before starting this unit was always numbers, numbers and more numbers. Putting expenses and sales into a spreadsheet or software and then working out how much profit or loss is made. After reading chapter one I learnt there is a bit more to it then what I thought. Accounting is a powerful way of looking at a company’s economic and business realities. Learning about the difference between bookkeepers and accountants, journals and ledgers, what a trial balance and double-entry are mostly new to me and I am keen to learn more about these elements of accounting. Although I did do a subject at high school on accounting, I has been 17 years since I did that subject in year 10, so not much knowledge was retained unfortunately. Another new concept to me, which I hope to learn a lot more about, is the fact debits are represented as a positive number and credit as a negative, this took me a bit to get my head around I must regrettably admit. This reading and learning about these excited me and made me think what else am I going to learn in this unit? I am studying Bachelor of Business, majoring in accounting to hopefully one day be an accountant, so for me learning the basics is so stimulating and I can’t wait to learn more. Learning that half of the CEO’s across Australia have accounting backgrounds surprised me but also made me feel the opportunities are endless with my choice of degree. At present I don’t have aspiration to become a CEO, but in years to come who knows what opportunities may come across my desk.
After reading both the introduction chapter and chapter one I actually felt like I can do exactly what Martin is asking me and that is to read the study guide like a novel. The chapters to me feel like they are written in context that I can understand and follow (most of the time). It feels like a more of a story, not that I am reading a text book chapter, which for me is good as my mind likes to wonder when reading. The explanation of how the keyboard on my laptop is set out the way it is was a great piece of knowledge that although isn’t really going to help me in the professional world, it was a great way to explain that it is important to understand how things were done before computers did it all the background for us. What other great fun facts am I going to learn in this unit? I love fun facts.
To conclude my reflection, I am already so glad I decided to stick with this unit and am ready to embrace the challenge of learning how to focus on learning for understanding and not just to reproduce “clear cut facts” but have my own understanding and thoughts on accounting. Also getting out of my comfort zone for the online communication will, although be a big step, be a step in the right direction. I’m excited to really get into ACCT11059 and learn new aspects of accounting, learning new ways to study to develop my own understanding and keen not to be a lone ranger by embracing working with others studying this unit. If I want to succeed in life, business and work I need to be good at both face-to-face and online communication and remember ideas are powerful and confidence is key.
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