Engaging First Year Learners: Creating Learning Pathways via Relevance in an Accounting Decision-Making Course

This paper intends to explore student perspectives of engagement in an accounting decision-making course (Acct 102). The paper initially describes the context within which the action research takes place, including the nature of the course, its learning objectives and its educational philosophy. Using Cardno/Piggot-Irvine (1994) research model, three stages of action are documented, namely, reconnaissance, intervention and evaluation. Relevance, an identified key theme in the reconnaissance stage, is used to address the problem of student re-engagement in an introductory university course, with references to appropriate interventions and literature. An evaluation of the implemented interventions follows and the paper concludes with suggestions for further research.