I have just returned from the Conference on Accounting Education. This is the 15th year I have directed the conference sponsored by Houghton Mifflin Co. Almost eighty instructors of the beginning accounting course came together for two days this August in Del Mar California to explore the current developments in accounting education and especially to address the enormous changes that we are all facing. I came away with a very positive feeling about the direction of our collective endeavors to educate students about the importance of accounting in their lives and careers.

It was clear from the instructors' participation in concurrent sessions that technology, the Internet, and distance education are the hot topics as we approach the next millennium.

A standing-room-only attendance saw the demonstration of Fingraph® Financial Analyst™, a great software tool that uses an expert system to enable students to prepare a 35-page financial analysis of any company in less than two hours. Marian Powers, one of the authors and leader of this session, announced the Technology Innovation Award for the most innovative use of this software during the next academic year. Anyone interested in more information can contact me by email at the address below.

Sessions on more traditional technology such as Quickbooks and Peachtree were also well attended. There was a high interest in the Excel templates and solutions as well.

Internet resources and distance education were clearly on the minds on most instructors, judging from the attendance at these sessions and the discussions during the breaks at the conference. The Internet session centered on the Needles Accounting Resource Center Web Site and the newly-announced Needles Online Accounting Course. The latter includes a customizable course with text-specific materials such as chapter overviews, practice quizzes, Internet exercises, lecture outlines, PowerPoint slide presentations, links to the Needles Accounting Resource Center, and Excel Templates and solutions. The Online Course allows the professor to post announcements, course documents, syllabi and course calendars, assignments, quizzes, audio/video clips, and more. It allows communication via email with student pages, discussion groups, group pages, and real-time chat groups.

The sessions on distance education put forth an issue that is on most people's minds: Just what is distance education? One instructor said, "Some of the students on the last rows of his classes are experiencing distance education!" This comment, while said in jest, reminded me of an article that I read recently on this subject by Dr. Farhad Saba, Editor of the Distance Education Report. Dr. Saba cited research by Michael Moore, the academic director of the American Center for the study of Distance Education.

Moore argues that the amount of "distance" in distance education does not depend on the geographical separation of the learner and teacher, but depends on the amount of structure and dialogue in the education setting. These two characteristics have opposing effects. Structure is the amount of control by the instructor and lack of flexibility allowed in the actions of the student in the learning situation. Dialogue means meaningful communication and interaction among a student, the instructor, and other students. More structure tends to increase distance and more dialogue tends to decrease distance. Thus, the disengaged student in the back of the class could indeed be experiencing "distance" education. On the other hand, an online course that uses all the means available on the Needles Online Accounting Course to facilitate communication among the instructor and students may have very little "distance" in the educational setting.

The lesson to be learned from this discussion is that the challenge of making distance education equate with quality education is to a large extent wrapped up in the amount of "distance" that is taken out of distance education. More flexibility and more dialogue through multiple communication links among the students and instructor are required to achieve this objective.

These are stimulating thoughts, and as usual, I learned much from my colleagues around the country by listening to and learning from their experiences. The next Conference on Accounting Education will be held August 10-12, 2000, at a location to be determined in the eastern part of the United States. Your comments and inquires are welcome at bneedles@needles-powers.com.