The associate professor of accounting discusses a framework for using The Profit tv series to enhance student engagement in accounting courses.
Danny Lanier, associate professor of accounting in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, co-authored a framework that allows accounting instructors to develop case assignments that enhance student engagement by using episodes of the CNBC reality television series “The Profit.”
In the Aug. 1 Strategic Finance article, “Using reality TV to enliven learning,” Lanier and co-authors Kelly Richmond Pope, associate professor at DePaul University, and Porschia Nkansa, assistant professor at California State University, explain how short learning modules can be developed based on the four segments of a typical episode – introduction, offer, turnaround and epilogue.
“The structure of The Profit provides students with an opportunity to reflect on factors contributing to the successes (or failures) of the turnaround plan while aligning its key attributes within the framework of the balanced scorecard,” the article states. “Thus, our approach builds from the show’s ability to cover a wide swath of management accounting topics that focus on a single company in a way that allows students to take a real-world view of the material they’re learning.”
Strategic Finance is the award-winning flagship publication of IMA® (Institute of Management Accountants), one of the largest and most respected associations focused exclusively on advancing the management accounting profession.
Lanier joined Elon in 2013 and serves as the chair of the Department of Accounting. Prior to Elon, he was an assistant professor at Texas Christian University and a visiting professor at both Syracuse University and Wake Forest University. His research interests include the financial performance effects of significant seller-buyer relationships, earnings management, white-collar crime, and accounting pedagogy.