Abstract:

Cooperative learning has become a teaching methodology with important effects on the student's learning process and is increasingly being implemented in university classrooms. For this reason, in recent years there have been empirical studies that demonstrate its effectiveness in learning and in the development of skills that are essential for incorporation into the professional world in the field of accounting.

In the professional area, teamwork is considered one of the transversal skills most requested by employers and, in addition, the graduates recognize that it is the most used in the daily performance of the work position (Barraycoa Martínez & Lasaga Millet, 2010; Pastor Narvión, Simón Schuhmacher, García Delgado, & Tovar Caro, 2004).

In the academic field, two aspects can be highlighted. First, the existence of previous literature that supports that cooperative learning structures are related to higher academic achievements in comparison with individualistic learning structures (Johnson, Johnson, & Smith, 2007; Johnson, Johnson, & Stanne, 2000; Roseth, Johnson, & Johnson, 2008). And, secondly, that experiences with co-operative learning techniques in accounting have increased in recent years (Apostolou, Dorminey, Hassell, & Rebele, 2017; Cavanagh, 2011; Hammond, Bithell, Jones, & Bidgood, 2010; Hillyard, Gillespie, & Littig, 2010; Strand Norman, Rose, & Lehmann, 2004).

For this purpose, the methodology of group work in the context of cooperative learning has been implemented in accounting subjects in three different Spanish universities and the students involved have assessed the methodology and its effects on the development of their competences both before the development of the activity, based on their previous experiences, and at the end of it. Thus, with the results obtained, the student's perception of the methodology and the relationship between the different aspects evaluated is assessed and whether a significant change has occurred in the student's perception of group work and the benefits of cooperative learning.

This work allows us to contribute to the academic literature in different aspects. On the one hand, although there are studies on the influence of the teaching methodology on the student's perception of a subject, there are few studies that evaluate the change in the student's perception of a methodology as a consequence of a concrete experience in which the methodology to be evaluated is implemented. On the other hand, the simultaneous implementation of a teaching methodology in different groups of students allows the conclusions of the study not to be conditioned by the demographic or cultural characteristics rooted in a territory, but rather the diversity allows the results to be more generalizable than if the study were carried out with students from only one university.

Keywords:

Cooperative learning, accouning education, group work.