Open SUNY Online Teaching Ambassador 2018 – Plattsburgh: Jason Lee

Chuo-Hsuan (Jason) Lee, Ph.D., is a professor of the Department of Accounting. Dr. Lee received his bachelor’s degree in management science and master’s degree in economics from the National Chiao-Tung University and the National Tsing-Hua University in Taiwan, respectively. He earned his Ph.D. in Accounting (2003) from Kent State University.

Dr. Lee’s research interests include corporate governance, corporate payout policy, earnings management, executive compensation and cost management. His recent publications have appeared in many refereed journals.

Dr. Lee’s teaching interests include financial and managerial accounting, intermediate accounting, and cost accounting. He holds a CPA license from the state of Washington. He is also a Certified Management Accountant (CMA), Certified Financial Manager (CFM), and Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE). In addition, he earned the Certificate of Distinguished Performance from the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) for his top performance in the certification exams in 2005 and received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2011.

As an accounting faculty member who recently began teaching advanced-level accounting core courses as part of a newly developed online accounting program for undergraduates, I have to say that it is a challenging yet rewarding task. There are two major barriers facing accounting instructors engaged in online teaching. The first is that teaching advanced level accounting courses requires instructors to explain complicated accounting concepts and procedures which are more easily delivered in a traditional face-to-face setting than in an online format. The second is that many students taking online accounting courses are non-traditional students who have full-time jobs and special needs for accommodation due to their family and job situations.

The advancement of technology in the last decade has made it easier for online accounting instructors to overcome the first barrier. I have used a combination of different tools to produce a variety of online teaching materials including self-made video clips, PowerPoint video clips, and handouts, among others. The convenience of using these tools has reshaped my online teaching pedagogy. Furthermore, powerful communication software such as Skype has significantly facilitated class communication between instructors and students.

I am excited for the evolution that online education is going through. It is not easy to start teaching online, but the time has never been better.