Accounting Students' Perceptions on A Role of Distance Education in Their Soft Skills Development

Abstract

A paradigm shift has taken place in distance education as a new technique of learning and teaching, switching the focus to students' learning, skills, and competencies. Distance education has been the available alternative enforced as a measure to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 Pandemic in higher education. The study aims to investigate students ' perception of whether the distance education environment is capable of providing students with soft skills. Therefore, this study focuses on measuring this role from the perspective of students.This study employed a survey of students belonging to the Accounting program of Majmaah University. Overall, the Findings were positive in that accounting students reported significant gains in the majority of skills by leveraging LMSs tools advantages (12 soft skills). Accounting education at a distance during the COVID-19 Pandemic is a valuable learning eOerience that may have a positive impact on the future of the accounting education environment.