Peer Review

Mt. Nebo Pumpkins

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Aug 22, 2005 by Business

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:: Mt. Nebo Pumpkins is an elementary practice set appropriate for high
school or technical school students. Students are expected to organize the
documents and complete the accounting cycle for Mt. Nebo Pumpkins, a sole
propriety business which uses a general journal and a general ledger. Materials
provided incluce source documents, journal entry forms, a worksheet,
financial statement forms, and solutions guide. Peachtree files are also
included. Finally, materials are available in both both Word
and PDF formats.
Type of Material:: Simulation
Recommended Uses:: Mt. Nebo Pumpkins is an instructor site. The project appears to be a "final" project after students learn the rudiments of the accounting cycle. Students are given all the information and told to "take the following source documents, organize them, and complete the year's accounting cycle for the business along with any other activities." Instructors should provide the information and forms to the students as needed, and introduce the scenario and overall requirements. This simulation could, with modification, be done progressively, in segments, as discussion on the accounting cycle develops.
Technical Requirements:: Adobe Acrobat Reader for PDF files if students desire this version. However, Word versions are also included. Peachtree accounting software is necessary if
a computerized practice set is preferred.
Identify Major Learning Goals:: Upon completion of this practice set, students should have an understanding of
the entire accounting cycle as a result of completing hands-on exercises either manually or using
Peachtree accounting software.
Target Student Population:: Mt. Nebo Pumpkins is a bookkeeping simulation which could be used for introductory students at the high school or technical school level who are required to thoroughly understand the forms, relationships, and recording procedures within an accounting cycle.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: Knowledge of introductory accounting terms, recordkeeping relationships and the bookkeeping process through preparing financial statements.

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:: Mt. Nebo Pumpkins is a relatively complete practice set for a sole proprietorship form of business. The practice set is self-contained and includes an adequate amount of material. Content is clearly presented and accruate. The simulation completely demonstrated the accounting cycle as well as core concepts grounded in the discipine.
Concerns:: Transactions are relatively simple. Mt. Nebo Pumpkins would be improved by inclusion of additional transactions for a more complete simulation. An introduction or suggested procedure and tips to the user (instructor), however, would be useful to tie the list of items together. The introduction, i.e., one line assignment is quite brief.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:

Strengths:

This project illustrates the recording process and the financials which result.
Alternative methods of using the simulation are provided as the information can be
recorded manually or via Peachtree. This simulation contains most of the bookkeeping steps and activities with which an instructor would expect a student to be familiar. The simulation does build on prior concepts and is very efficient in that students can learn much in a short time.

Concerns:

Learning objectives need to be explicitly stated.
The intended audience should be indetified.
Documentation for the student is not thorough. The practice set needs to reinforce principles as the student proceeds through it. The addition of source documents would be better suited than memos. Some guidance, or instruction sheet, needs to be available for students to either follow or complete beforehand to help them organize their thinking and approach.
A summary or questionnaire regarding the results presented in the financial statements would also pull together the
relationships between concepts and procedures. As is the concepts within the accounting cycle are quite rote. It would be beneficial for students to think about or internalize the economic impact that a transaction has on the financial statements.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:

Strengths:

This practice set is reasonably thorough, easy to use, and engaging. For an experienced instructor it is straight forward with nothing that should cause any difficulties. Mt. Nebo Pumpkins covers most of the mechanical actions involved in routine bookkeeping. A solution is included.

Concerns:

Detailed instructions need to be included in terms of how to proceed. No obvious story was evident. Given the
lack of such documentation it appears as though the simulation is one included in class under instructor control or supervision.
Bad links and corrupt files need to be fixed.
All Peachtree information must first be saved on the users computer before
opening and viewing. Opening and accessing the information is problematic. The
Peachtree files are locked files which require information on the program
creating them before they can be opened. This reviewer was not able to open
any.

Other Issues and Comments:: There are a few problems with this learning object as follows:
1) the introduction needs to be edited - words and phrases are repeated.
2) Several of the links are either bad or lead to corrupt files.
3) This learning object could be improved by the inclusion of more challenging
transactions. By making these changes, this learning object could be useful to
a wider audience.
This simulation is best used for those who want to learn bookkeeping. Recording within the accounting cycle is a rote bookkeeping procedure. If the simulation is to be
useful for accounting students, it must be accompanied by some set of questions
which require the students to both tie the procedures to the results and to
interpret or analyze the resulting financials.
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