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Introduction
Student enrolments in New Zealand universities during recent years have shown increasing diversity, with an increasing proportion of international and mature-aged students ([43] Ministry of Education, 2011). This diverse student population is further exacerbated by an increasing economic pressure placed on many students to engage in paid part-time employment ([38] Larsen and McGuigan, 2010). The predominant student cohort currently enrolling in tertiary education can be described as an independent, informal, innovative, assertive, technologically-minded collection of young individuals ([55] Sheahan, 2005). According to [55] Sheahan (2005), the current student population is technologically advanced, with a degree of addiction to the entertainment and stimulations that occur in a highly-visual, interactive environment. As a result, it is becoming increasingly necessary for diversity in pedagogical approaches, as a teaching technique proving effective with one student may not necessarily prove so with another ([30] Johnson, 1991; [63] Warner, 1991; [50] Rodrigues, 2004). There is thus a need for accounting educators to plan and develop undergraduate courses carefully, utilising a variety of teaching techniques to heighten the level of learning taking place.
Classroom-based pedagogies of engagement, such as co-operative learning and problem-based learning, are becoming increasingly popular in undergraduate education ([7] Barkley et al. , 2004; [17] Duch et al. , 2001; [29] Johnson et al. , 1991; [16] Cooper and Robinson, 2000). Within the accounting education field, a significant increase in the use of case studies as an engaging pedagogical technique has been evident in recent years. This is particularly true in the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountant's (NZICA) Professional Accounting School's (PAS) competency-based accreditation programme ([66] Weil et al. , 2004; [3] ABEL, 2008).
This increase in case study usage was, in part, a response to the call from the [1] Accounting Education Change Commission (AECC, 1990) for the implementation of innovative teaching techniques that assist in the development of learners' skills in preparation for the profession. The use of case studies in accounting education has been well documented in the literature, but there is no evidence of case studies being used in conjunction with asynchronous discussion forums in order to enhance student-learning benefits.
This paper contributes to this emerging area of discussion forum use in accounting education. We describe the creation and use of a...