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A solution to help close the help solve problems. The informa- did not use a textbook for their resource
gap tion is studied by the student material but instead had access to a
Many accounting professors are aware and can be shared in readings or well-known tax research database to
of the gap, and the common solution lectures. help them answer professor-selected
is incorporating a case into a course to 3. Procedural information: Procedural prompts about partnership taxation. In
help students apply their learning in information is knowledge needed at place of the standard lecture, students
a real-world setting. Many case ideas the time of completing the complex in the experimental group were as-
have been shared in this column as well task. These are rules that are applied signed to watch videos before class.
as in other publications. A tax course multiple times, and, over time, the During each class period, they worked
in the United States followed a simi- need for procedural knowledge cues on increasingly complex cases (four
lar format, and the professor noticed fades. cases in total). They saw partnership
that even though the students had 4. Part-task practice: This component concepts through real-world scenarios.
learned tax rules and financial concepts is not required but instead is used Both sections took a 10-question
necessary to solve a complex problem when automaticity is desired to help pre-quiz that included CPA Exam–
independently of one another, when the students reduce the cognitive like questions and a post-quiz with
they were asked to bring those rules load of solving a problem and the the same 10 questions with different
and concepts together in a real-world procedural information cannot numbers. They also completed the
situation, they struggled. This common be practiced enough to create the same partnership tax return using tax
phenomenon — a student’s inability to automaticity. software. Each section also took an
integrate isolated, specific knowledge The Ten Steps to Complex Learning exam involving a real-world scenario
to real-world scenarios — is called the walks readers through the process of that covered concepts learned by both
“transfer paradox” (defined by Jeroen designing a course using the principles groups. A comparison of the pre– and
J.G. van Merriënboer and others in of 4C/ID instruction. post–CPA Exam–like tests found no
1997 and 2011). statistical difference between the sec-
To solve the transfer paradox, van 4C/ID in a tax course tions. However, a comparison of the
Merriënboer and others created the The 4C/ID model has been researched real-world assessment found that the
Four-Component Instructional Design and found to be effective in other edu- experimental group performed sig-
(4C/ID) model and wrote a book, cation settings (most notably, in medi- nificantly better. Although additional
Ten Steps to Complex Learning, to help cal education) but not until recently studies are needed before broad conclu-
professors apply the 4C/ID model in accounting. A university professor sions can be made, the results of this
into their courses (Van Merriënboer teaching the second tax course (Tax II), limited study indicate that courses that
and Kirschner, Ten Steps to Complex which principally covers entity taxation implement 4C/ID instruction can in-
Learning: A Systematic Approach to (the first tax course covers individual corporate complex cases throughout the
Four-Component Instructional Design taxation), created an experiment to course to teach the relevant material
(Routledge 2018)). The premise is that, see whether 4C/ID effectively helped without negatively affecting a student’s
to avoid the transfer paradox, profes- students solve real-world problems ability to demonstrate knowledge com-
sors identify and teach the desirable while not compromising performance prehension on multiple-choice exams.
complex skill throughout a course as on CPA Exam–like questions (Walsh, After the experiment, the professor
progressively complex cases are intro- “Designed Intervention in Accounting converted the entire Tax II course by
duced to incorporate learning. The four Higher Education to Solve Authentic using the Ten Steps to Complex Learning
components of 4C/ID are: Problems,” dissertation, Indiana Uni- as a guide. Students who completed the
1. Learning tasks (similar to case stud- versity, 2020). A two-week module course in fall 2021 and then completed
ies): By starting with the learning on partnership taxation in an upper- internships in the January to April
tasks, a professor designs with the division undergraduate Tax II course 2022 tax busy season provided anec-
end in mind. Identifying what a was tested. One section was the control dotal evidence regarding the change.
student should be able to do by group, which learned using a textbook All 10 students who were taking part
the end of the course is a way to with traditional instruction shared in a tax internship were contacted, and
identify the learning tasks that will during class. This group had assigned seven responded. Below are summaries
support the course objectives. readings before and homework after of their comments to the following
2. Supportive information: Supportive each class. The other section was the prompts: “Do you feel that Tax II
information is schema or models to experimental group, and these students helped prepare you for the internship?

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