The Importance of Interactions During Open and Distance Learning (ODL) in Accounting Education

Abstract

The accounting education community has been struggling to adapt to the COVID-19 Open and Distance Learning (ODL) due to the sudden shift to an online environment. The community, especially the students, faces a variety of challenges. Focusing on academic performance is crucial as it reflects the result of the students' hard work. Interaction was one of the many factors that impacted students' performance, given that the COVID-19 learning environment has limited interaction and past literature supports this claim. However, few have studied it with the focus on accounting education during the COVID-19 ODL. With the aim of providing insight to the accounting education community in offering unhindered quality learning, the researchers are focusing on Learner-Learner Interaction (LLI), Learner-Educator Interaction (LEI), and Learner-Content Interaction (LCI), and their impact on the students' perceived performance. The objectives of the study were to investigate the impact of LLI, LEI, and LCI on the students' perceived performance in accounting education during ODL. This study uses a quantitative method to examine the hypotheses by providing an online survey to UiTM accounting undergraduate students in Malaysia. In addition, the study utilised the Achievement Goal Theory. The results showcased a significant and positive relationship.