Accounting Professor Enhances Online Lessons with Cartoon Illustrations

Accounting Professor Enhances Online Lessons with Cartoon Illustrations

Animated Purchase Order

As online classes have become routine during the COVID-19 lockdown, instructors are thinking of creative ways to deliver their lessons in an electronic format and engage students with the lessons. 

Accounting lecturer, Nancy Jones, from SDSU’s Fowler College of Business created her own cartoons to teach her students about the use of standard documents used in business transactions for her accounting information systems (ACCTG 333) class during SDSU’s first summer class session. “I needed to replace face-to-face activities and I thought cartoons would be a good way to engage students,” she said.

Illustration of order confirmation & shipping procedures.

While Jones says that the cartoons she’s created aren’t “Hollywood finished,” she hopes that they would be “entertaining and educational at the same time.” According to accounting student, Jon Aguas, the animation series has lived up to Jones’ intentions. “The cartoons offered a more entertaining way of teaching,” he said. “I found the topic was more understandable while watching the cartoons than just simply reading the textbook. The visuals also made learning more fun.” Using a software application called Powtoon, Jones developed a series of three cartoons that explain traditional purchasing processes when a fictional bike retailer, Beantown Bikes in Boston, orders kneepads from their wholesaler, Global Bike Incorporated in Dallas. Everything from generating the purchase order to inventory administration to the shipping and receiving procedures are explained as the cartoon characters use standard business forms to complete the process.

The three cartoon lessons explaining the purchasing, sales and shipping, and invoicing processes can be viewed on YouTube.