FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING ACCT 201 ON-LINE

Mike Deschamps

mdeschamps@miracosta.edu

Welcome to ACCT 201, Financial Accounting On-line at MiraCosta College. My name is Mike Deschamps and I am the instructor for the course. I am a CPA and an Enrolled Agent and have been teaching full-time in the community college arena for 14 years, the last five here at MiraCosta. I have been teaching in total over 20 years and financial accounting is one of my favorite classes to teach because it really is an introduction to how business works.

I think that one of the most important things that students must realize when taking an on-line class is the degree of effort and self-motivation that is required. Quite frankly, I think that taking an accounting class on-line is more difficult than in person, because of the visual nature of the material and the inability of the instructor to “look in your eyes” and see if you are getting the material. The burden of translating the material and, also communicating any difficulties that you are having with it, falls squarely on you and I think that is one of things that makes on-line learning so challenging. So, if you are taking this class because you think it will “easier” than taking it live, trust me when I tell you that it not the case.

Having said that, my goal is to make this class as interesting and rewarding as possible. While I get that most of you are not accounting majors, and are taking this class because it is required for transfer and degree requirements, I think you find that it will have significant applicability to both your degree and career aspirations. As you will learn, accounting is the language of business and the better that you understand that language, the more it will help you in your professional life.

You can access the course syllabus for the prior semester at www.miracosta.edu/home/mdeschamps. Most of the info from the prior semester will be applicable for the current semester. The current semester will be posted shortly before the class actually starts. While most of the class work will be done in My Accounting Lab (MAL), some assignments such as Discussion Boards and other postings, as well class the majority of class communication, will be done in Blackboard.

Now this is really important – You will need to purchase an access code for the class in order to use MAL. Details for doing that will be outlined in a course document that I will send to enrolled students before the class begins. In the event that you want to purchase the hard copy of the textbook, rather than simply using the e-book, you will be able to do that as well once you have accessed the course MAL website. As part of our agreement with the publisher, you can purchase a loose leaf binder copy of the book through their website. Delivery of the hard copy will be about 5 to 7 days, but remember that you will always have complete access to the e-book if you purchase it with the access code. You will also be able to purchase the loose leaf edition of the textbook, bundled with the MAL access code, from the MiraCosta College bookstore.

I strongly encourage all students in the class to purchase a loose-leaf copy of the textbook. It makes it so much easier to navigate through the homework assignments and testing requirements of the class. Many of my former students will attest to that.

The text will be Financial Accounting with MyAccountingLab by Kemp/ Waybright, 3rd edition, Pearson Publishing, MCC Special Combo Bundle ISBN: 9780133793703.

I always welcome your suggestions to help make this class more interactive and informative. I hope that with all of us working together, this class will be a rewarding and fulfilling experience for us all. 

Mike