Being an educator for a long time, I have always felt the importance of innovation in enhancing students’ interaction with difficult material. The challenges in teaching Direct Tax to III B.Com PA students are that taxation is complex, exhaustive, and generally unpleasing for the students to learn. Of all the aspects to remember, tax provisions may seem particularly interesting. To address this problem, I made a method that is effective in making learning easier yet more effective through creativity or the use of visuals.
Many a time, the following are some real challenges that my students encounter: too many provisions in taxation. These provisions lay down the framework of their knowledge and practice of direct tax, and although the provisions are many, they cannot retain them well when exam time approaches. Such modes of instruction as abundant notes or textbooks are not effective with the modern learner who seeks simplicity and quick solutions.
Realising that making all these provisions may not be very effective, I adopted the use of small, memorable pieces of information. In essence, this entails a disintegration of provisions into many parts, most of which are easily understandable by the recipients. They successfully introduce each provision with an emphasis on the concept, making sure not to overload the students with details. It is sometimes effective to explain concepts in tiny sections because a student can understand and memorise the parts in question without distraction. Besides, this method helps to reduce the mental load and organize the revision sessions better, particularly as the examination period is in sight.
Besides the format of ‘chunked learning content,’ I also aimed at stepping up the interactivity and focus on students. In order to promote my students’ knowledge management, I proposed that they take ownership of the topic by creating visual posters of the different tax provisions. The idea behind this was simple: When it comes to knowledge retention, it will be easier to have a visual representation of things.
In order to convey the major ideas of each provision, students were asked to create a poster with graphics, charts, etc. It was not just a boring repetition of what they already knew, but it pushed them to solve how graphic representations can be brought out for two complicated ideas. It made them use their creativity, so they did not have to memorise most things about taxation; instead, they had to understand it.
However, since all these resources are a big plus for the students, and the adoption of the use of material posters may be time-consuming in the class setup, I adopted technology by using the Wakelet that hosts all the student-generated posters to easily be accessed by the students. With Wakelet, I can assemble these visual aids under a single convenient source, where students can search for and use them as needed.
In any case, whether at the beginning of the academic year before the exam or during the revision, they can skim over ‘Revision posters visual’ and refresh their knowledge of the provisions in the easiest way. The efficiency of having all these resources in one place, well arranged and easily accessible, provides a much better system of pulling through the revision.
Ideally, the main rationale for this approach of using visuals to support each tax provision is to enable easy memory retention. Psychologists have confirmed that the brain perceives images faster than words and that learning from graphics enhances memory recall. In fact, by using posters instead of conventional notes, students can depend on the pictures themselves to prompt a particular section of the law.
Not only does this help them revise during the exams more effectively, but their study sessions are far more interesting and not dull at all. Students appreciate the presentation of tax laws and provisions in a manner that enables them to easily browse, learn, and revise.
What I have become aware of through the process is that students have more participation in their learning process. It means that synthesizing them as posters, they take full ownership of the comprehension processes, and by being able to access the materials on Wakelet, they can regulate the revision and preparation stages on their own. This means increased engagement and differentiation due to manageable size portions, students’ production of content, and its ultimately digital nature.
Teaching innovations also cannot be understood as employing some new piece of technology or applying some of the fashionable trends of the educational system – it is the usage of creative strategies and approaches to the difficulties students meet. In my Direct Tax course, I have engaged students in breaking complicated tax provisions into easier-to-digest information, using facts by getting students to prepare posters, and through the use of Wakelet.
Over time, this approach has changed the way my students perceive taxation. Contrary to the stereotype of an audience as a group of people who receive information but do not contribute, they are active knowledge constructors and participants with all the tools required for this activity. I wish this method encouraged them to solve difficult problems in both academic and job settings with optimism and originality.