Malaysian Journal of Educational Technology Volume 10, Number 1, June 2010 5 Differences in Students’ Receptiveness towards ICT-Enhanced Constructivist Approach in the Principles of Accounting Tan Boon See, Wong Su Luan, *Arfah Salleh, + Rashidah Hassan & Kamariah Abu Bakar Faculty of Educational Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, MALAYSIA *Graduates School of Management, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, MALAYSIA + Technical Education Department, Ministry of Education, MALAYSIA Abstract This paper aims to examine the impact of ICT-enhanced constructivist approach in learning Principles of Accounting for different types of secondary school students by exploring the differences of receptiveness between the high and low ICT proficiency learners, and under- and high-achievers. The research was conducted by the Ministry of Education of Malaysia through a ‘try-out’ project conducted at 150 national and technical secondary schools nationwide. A Lesson Plan Guidebook which prescribes the use of ICT through the combination of an educational accounting software with constructivist learning pedagogical approach which emphasises on student-centred learning was provided to guide all accounting teachers who were involved in the project. Receptiveness of students was obtained through a close-ended questionnaire which consists of 34 items measuring eight dimensions including Skill Acquisitions, Teaching Competency, Cooperative Learning, ICT Liking and Utility, ICT Success, Confidence with Technology, Anxiety and Aversion. A total of 1,322 students’ responses were collected and analysed. The overall findings indicate a positive tendency in each dimension of receptiveness of each type of students with moderate levels of anxiety and aversion. There is no significant difference between students with high and low ICT proficiency level for various dimensions. However, the under-achievers demonstrate relatively higher receptiveness for many dimensions. See, T.B., Luan, W.S., Salleh, A., Hassan, R. & Abu Bakar, K. (2010). Differences in Students’ Receptiveness towards ICT-Enhanced Constructivist Approach in the Principles of Accounting. Malaysian Journal of Educational Technology, 10(1), pp. 5-15. Introduction A business or organisation communicates its results and position to its stakeholders through the use of financial statements. Given that financial statements are among the deliverables of an accounting task, accounting is widely referred to as the ‘language of business’. The American Accounting Association defines accounting as “the process of identifying, measuring, and communicating economic information to permit informed judgements and decisions by users of the information (as cited in Sofat & Hiro, 2008; p.3). In view of the important function of accounting for business, the profession of accounting is widely needed. Hence, accounting education plays an important role to foster the successors for the accountancy field. Moreover, the interest towards accounting and business has to be cultivated from young so that students will continue to pursue this path until the tertiary and professional levels. Thus, the accounting education at elementary level is an important corner stone for preparing young people to advance into this profession. With the advent of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and globalization where the computerised accounting have taken over manual accounting methods, there is a great need to revise, expand the accounting curriculum to nurture critical thinkers and life-long learning (Arthur Anderson & Co. et al, 1989). In this vein, elementary accounting education must be revamped so that a solid foundation could be laid for school leavers to be more ready for the further challenges in the real world.