The effect of online review exercises on student course engagement and learning performance: A case study of an introductory financial accounting course at an international joint venture university

Abstract

Prior literature suggests that Chinese students studying in Western Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) tend to underperform compared to local students. Yet few studies have explored the effect of learning and assessment tasks on the engagement and performance of Chinese students who are undergoing a transition into the Western learning environment. We design two online review exercises, which are summative assessments with a formative aspect, for an introductory financial accounting subject and study the effect of these tasks on a group of business students enrolled in the course at an international joint venture university based in China. We find that the online review exercises increase student engagement. Students spent a significant amount of time preparing for the online review exercises both before making their initial attempt and between each attempt. Students undertook a variety of learning activities in completing the online review exercises and their understanding of the subject improved as a result of going through the process. Student performance in the midterm and final exams is positively related to their efforts in completing the online review exercises. The findings are of relevance to accounting educators in both the Western HEIs and traditional Chinese universities who are interested in enhancing the learning performance of Chinese business students.