Abstract:

Robust concepts in finance should prepare students for work as a result of them participating and experiencing real world decision making themselves by interpreting, understanding and interacting in simulated financial markets. By developing capstone units at undergraduate and postgraduate level that simulate financial markets and bring inter-disciplinary concepts together it is possible to demonstrate the importance of theory to students and its relationship to the world of work.

By emphasasing the interaction between disciplinary knowledge and the development of graduate attributes in an applied learning environment, graduates learn to understand the importance of their university degree studies prior to entering the workforce. By developing attributes of research and inquiry, information literacy, ethical and professional understanding, personal and intellectual autonomy and communication they learn to understand the importance of developing their skills as ethical and responsible global citizens who work for the good of the business professions and the community.

This paper will discuss the role of capstone units in curriculum development that meet the needs of students prior to graduation and the local/global benefits they take to an international workforce. It is based on evidence collected in a simulated treasury dealing room at a Group of Eight Universities in Australia that researched the effectiveness of a simulated Treasury Dealing Room in improving learning within the Finance discipline. It used a pre- and post-survey of students to establish their perceptions on learning effectiveness. It concluded that students believe that (i) the Dealing Room improves their opportunities to apply the theory they have learned (ii) they learn more from computer laboratory sessions like the Dealing Room than they do from lectures, (iii) group learning (as occurs in the Dealing Room) is more effective than individual learning (iv) their ability to monitor the effectiveness of their learning is improved by the Dealing Room unit, (v) the unit improves their ability to develop alternative solutions to ethical problems in financial markets, and to evaluate these alternative solutions from a moral point perspective.

Student motivation to learn is believed to be enhanced by (i) the high value they place on Dealing Room learning, (ii) their preparedness for participating in the Dealing Room, (iii) the fact that initial levels of anxiety about trading appear to be quickly overcome, and (iv) the resources provided to help them learn.

Keywords:

Capstone units, curriculum, education, financial markets, graduate attributes.