The American Institute of Certified Public Accountant has recognized Marcus Ahrens, professor in accounting at St. Louis Community College-Meramec, by presenting him the 2013 Bea Sanders/AICPA Teaching Innovation Award.
The award recognizes successful teaching practices in the first sequence of accounting. Ahrens won the award for his strategy, “Reinventing Student Engagement and Collaboration within Introductory Accounting Courses.” Award recipients present their work at the following year's Conference on Teaching and Learning in Accounting.
“My goal was to increase student engagement within my classroom,” Ahrens said. “To achieve this objective, I ‘flipped’ a portion of my classroom subject matter out of the classroom time, therefore, allowing more time for small group interaction and exercises. I created chapter pre-quizzes and small exercises that the students work through together. Technology is used to deliver course topics and collect answers from students.”
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Implementing the teaching strategy resulted in increased attendance, improved grades and higher overall success rates for his students.
“It is wonderful to be recognized by my peers and to have the opportunity to share my teaching ideas,” he said, “My hope is that other instructors can use my methods and experience student engagement success in their classrooms.”
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Established in 1962, St. Louis Community College is the largest community college district in Missouri and one of the largest in the United States. STLCC has four campuses – Florissant Valley, Forest Park, Meramec and Wildwood – that annually serve more than 81,000 students through credit courses, continuing education and workforce development programs. For more information about STLCC, visit www.stlcc.edu.