Remote learning experiences shaping digital pedagogical identity among pre-service accounting teachers

Teaching is a craft built on two pillars: knowing the subject deeply and knowing how to help others understand it. For decades, educators have understood that the best way to learn complex skills, like balancing a ledger or solving a financial puzzle, is through conversation, immediate feedback, and working side-by-side with a teacher. However, the sudden global shift to remote learning during the pandemic forced a massive, unplanned experiment. Schools had to move everything online, often without time to redesign how they taught. This created a unique situation for students training to become teachers. They were not just learning accounting; they were simultaneously watching how their instructors tried to teach it through screens. This dual perspective offered a rare chance to see how future educators interpret the tools and methods they are forced to use, and how those experiences shape their identity as professionals.

A team of researchers at the University of the Free State in South Africa set out to understand this specific group. They focused on twenty students enrolled in a Bachelor of Education program specializing in accounting. These individuals were in a unique position: they were learners struggling with difficult financial concepts, yet they were also apprentices observing the very teaching methods they would one day use. The researchers asked them to write reflective essays and participate in group interviews about their experiences during the shift to remote learning. By listening closely to these stories, the team wanted to see how these future teachers made sense of the digital classroom and how those lessons would change the way they teach in the future.

The study revealed a clear contradiction in the remote learning experience. On one hand, the digital format offered a significant advantage: flexibility. Students could pause recorded lectures, rewind complex explanations, and learn at their own speed. One student noted that they watched a video on consolidated financial statements five times until the concept finally clicked. This ability to control the pace of learning allowed them to master difficult material in a way that a fast-moving live lecture sometimes prevented. On the other hand, this flexibility came at a steep cost. The students missed the spontaneous moments of connection that happen in a physical classroom. When a teacher writes a solution on a whiteboard, a student can immediately raise a hand and ask, "Why did you do it that way?" In an online chat, that moment often passes before the question is even typed. The students felt a persistent sense of isolation, realizing that while technology made content accessible, it often blocked the immediate dialogue and cooperative thinking necessary to develop professional judgment.

Beyond simply feeling frustrated, these future teachers began to analyze the methods they were experiencing with a critical eye. They noticed that many instructors simply moved traditional lectures onto digital platforms without changing the approach. Long, uninterrupted videos of a teacher speaking, often described as a "talking head," dominated the curriculum. The students observed that this was a missed opportunity. They realized that technology should do more than just deliver information; it should be used to create interaction. One student reflected that watching a three-hour video on ethics was a lesson in what not to do, noting that the session could have been broken up with case studies, polls, or small group discussions. This realization marked a shift in their thinking. They stopped seeing themselves as passive recipients of a digital curriculum and started viewing themselves as active designers of learning.

This shift in perspective led to the development of a new professional mindset. The students began to imagine how they would teach differently. Instead of trying to explain a complex topic in one long session, they planned to break the material into smaller, manageable chunks, using short videos to explain specific formulas and reserving live sessions for problem-solving. They envisioned using digital tools to create anonymous question-and-answer opportunities or to organize breakout groups where students could collaborate on different financial scenarios. They understood that for learning to happen in a digital space, interaction must be intentionally designed; it will not happen on its own. This was not just about knowing how to use a software program, but about understanding how to build a sense of community and engagement through those tools.

Perhaps the most significant finding was the transformation of the students' professional identity. They evolved from being merely students of accounting into what the researchers call "hybrid practitioners." These are educators who can hold two perspectives at once: the empathy of a learner who knows what it feels like to be confused by a screen, and the strategic mind of a teacher who knows how to fix it. They learned that effective teaching in the digital age is not defined by the specific tool used, but by the intentional design of human interaction through those tools. They realized that their experience of the crisis had not just been a hurdle to overcome, but a valuable training ground. By reflecting on what worked and what failed in their own education, they were building a foundation for a future where they could confidently blend technology with the human elements of dialogue, feedback, and collaboration.

The study concludes that teacher education programs must take this insight seriously. It is not enough to simply add technology courses to a curriculum. Future teachers need structured opportunities to critically analyze, practice, and reflect on the use of technology in teaching. By incorporating the hard-won wisdom gained from their own remote learning experiences, universities can prepare educators who are not just survivors of a crisis, but skilled architects of the future. These educators will be ready to create learning environments that are both technologically advanced and deeply human, ensuring that the next generation of accountants learns not just the numbers, but the judgment and collaboration required to use them.