Examining the Role of Information Technology in Support of Business Students’ Knowledge Acquisition

This study investigates the impact that software utilization may have on students’ knowledge acquisition of the accounting cycle, a fundamental concept in business. Differences in knowledge acquisition are examined between three groups of students: those who completed a business case 1) manually using the traditional pencil and paper approach, 2) using software, and 3) first manually and then using software. The research question is: “To what extent does using computers to study the accounting cycle lead to better knowledge acquisition?” Preliminary results indicate that students who first completed the case manually and then completed the same case using software experienced the best knowledge acquisition. The results also indicate that students who completed the case using only the software experienced better knowledge acquisition than did students who completed the case only manually. This suggests that software can be effectively utilized and integrated in class to improve knowledge acquisition of information systems.