Introduction

This paper describes an active-learning approach that was used in ‘Not-For-Profit Accounting’, an upper-level accounting course. Accounting for non-profit organizations is very prescriptive and can become a dull and tedious topic in the classroom. Using the traditional lecture method to cover not-for-profit topics compounds the tedium. In order to liven up the classroom atmosphere, we designed a game after the popular television game show, Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

Playing this game infused the classroom with energy. Students had fun playing the game while the principles of accounting for not-for-profit organizations were reviewed. In addition, shyer students overcame their reluctance to participate in the class on a day-to-day basis, and the tone for the class was much more relaxed and open from that point forward.¹ Although we used the game in the advanced Not-For-Profit Accounting, it could be easily used in the introductory course or other upper-level courses.

Who Wants to be a Millionaire? — The Television Version

Who Wants to be a Millionaire? has become one of ABC's most highly rated programs since its introduction in the fall of 1999. Contestants are asked a series of multiple-choice questions by the host, Regis Philbin, and receive cash awards for correct responses. The cash awards for each question vary in increasing amounts beginning at $100 and increasing — as correct responses are given — up to a maximum of $1,000,000. If the contestant fails to answer a question correctly, the cumulative cash award is lost.

At the start of the game, each contestant is given three "lifelines" to use if needed for help in answering a question. The three lifelines consist of the "phone-a-friend" option, the audience-survey option, and the "50-50" option. The phone-a-friend option allows the contestant to do just that — telephone a friend who might know the answer. The contestant reads the question and possible answers, and the friend provides his or her opinion, choosing an answer with which they are most confident. The conversation must last no longer than 30 seconds. After the conversation has ended, the contestant selects an answer. For the audience-survey option, each audience member electronically selects his or her choice of the correct answer. The contestant is told how many audience members chose each answer. They must then select their answer. The chosen answer may be based on the audience’s most popular answer or they may choose a less popular answer. The 50-50 option removes two incorrect answers from the original four. Thus, a contestant is left with two possible answers — one which is correct and one which is incorrect. A contestant may only use each lifeline once. After the three lifelines are used, the contestant is on his or her own for the remainder of the game.

The risk of losing accumulated cash awards and the three lifelines provided to each contestant add to the suspense and excitement of the game.

Who Wants to be a Millionaire? — The Classroom Version

The classroom version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? was played almost exactly as the television version, except that cash awards were replaced with bonus points. The student-contestant earns two bonus points with each correct answer. If an incorrect response was given, bonus points accumulated during that round of questioning are lost.

As in the television game, the student was given three "lifelines." In the classroom version, the "phone-a friend" lifeline was simulated by allowing the student-contestant to ask one member of the classroom for help in answering a question. The 30-second time limit was enforced. To simulate the "audience survey" option, the contestant was allowed to poll the class as a whole for insight into the correct response to a question. Finally, for the "50-50" option, the instructor eliminated two of the incorrect responses from the question at hand.

To begin the game and determine which student would be selected to play for bonus points, a single multiple-choice question was displayed to the class. The first student to correctly answer the question by speaking out loud was selected. The selected student was then presented with multiple-choice questions via overheads and asked to read the questions and give the correct answer verbally while the other students watched. Before the answer was accepted, the instructor would ask the famous question, "Is that your final answer?" The student would continue to play until the maximum points were earned or an incorrect answer was given.

Once the student earned the maximum number of bonus points or lost accumulated points by answering a question incorrectly, the process to select another contestant was initiated and the game started again.

The play of the game moved quickly, and students reacted positively. They appeared interested and engaged in the gaming process. After playing the game, students seemed to be more interested in the subject matter, the amount of class participation was increased (especially on the part of quieter students), and the tone of the class was more open and relaxed. In spite of these benefits, however, the average class performance on the examination following the gaming presentation was no better than the average of scores earned on prior exams.

Conclusions

The main purpose of this paper is to provide a fun, interesting, and effective pedagogy to faculty who are interested in introducing alternative teaching techniques into their classes. Playing Who Wants to be a Millionaire? changed the classroom mood considerably by generating student participation, excitement, and camaraderie. Even though we cannot conclude at this point whether the technique leads to better understanding of the material, we can conclude that the game improved the classroom experience overall. It was certainly much more lively and interesting than the lecture method. Finally, while the specific example we present is an application in the Not-For-Profit Accounting class, it can be easily adapted to other accounting courses.

Notes

1. Hanno states that one of the benefits of a more personalized teaching approach is that quieter students become more vocal class participants, a benefit that was also achieved playing the game. See Hanno, D.M. 1999. Energizing your teaching: Developing a Community of Learning. Issues in Accounting Education (May): 323-335.