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Bill Mcdiarmid is a member of The Certified General Accountant's Association of Canada and an Associate member of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants Accounting Standards Board, a former professor at Seneca College in Toronto; and is Master Certified in Neuro-linguistic Programs |
Development Process
Mcdiarmid started the project while teaching Accounting. He empathized with the frustration students experienced as they struggled with problems, so he began developing a more effective learning system.
He started by creating “maps” which he honed with classes until each map provided a clear and quick route to the solution. Mcdiarmid was encouraged in his efforts by an important research study conducted at the S J Silberman College of Business Administration, Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey, titled “Barriers to Learning Experienced by Asian Students in American Accounting Classrooms.”
Participants
in the study repeatedly described Accounting as a “sea of words” and “a
swamp of misery.” Mcdiarmid knew, from informal
interviews with students, that it was not only Asian students who
were experiencing torment.
The foundation of the learning system is balancing
the logic of reasoning with the powerful rationales of
perception, thus merging cognitive and visual learning.
Because learners have success in solving problems,
an ‘I can do it’ attitude is established early
in the course; thereby additionally integrating emotional cognitive
learning. Learners keep moving forward with
confidence and comprehension.
The complete text book (Virtual Text Book) is on the website in PDF format - providing students with the continuing strata for the learning outcomes.
The Study Workbook provides key advantages over traditional materials, not the least of which is that the question and student work is on the same page.
The learning system has been extensively tested over a three-year period with 1500 students. The results delivered a higher pass rate and significant reductions in dropout and failure rates.