Is Interactive Teaching Strategies Effective in Finance Education? Case of Financial Theory Teaching at Graduate School

Abstract

Vast majority of finance theories developed in the last fifty years. In the wake of these developments, finance instructors may well feel embarrassed and even frustrated because finance textbooks are fully covered with equations and models. So, questions arise, are we over-teaching mathematics in financial theory? This study investigates how the contents of financial theory education fit in the context of interactive teaching strategies and looks into teachers’ role in this occasion and also to check the influence of ICT on the finance education in general. An action research has been conducted considering the finance professors as the sample using an open-ended questionnaire survey over the graduate school of business at Stockholm University in May 2009. The survey results generally supports that the contents of financial theory generally fit in interactive teaching as most of the respondents apply interactive teaching strategies in the class and find better results. Finance case analysis, peer-group discussion, and question answer session are widely used interactive teaching methods in finance theory class. The survey results also suggest that teachers should play an active and positive role to stimulate the interactive teaching learning activities to create a collaborative environment and in achieving learning outcomes.

Keywords: Finance Theory Education, and Interactive Teaching Strategies

JEL Classification: A23