My Worst Learning Experience Made Me Do This ...

Sometime in the mid-1990s, I became an entrepreneur. I raised some money from a lender who had a requirement that all business owners had to attend a few training seminars.

One of these seminars was on accounting.

This was only a couple of years after I finished 6 years of university where I studied engineering and math — not business.

I previously learned accounting basics from a book I purchased so that I could create financials for my startup business plan. So, I was looking forward to the live training.

The training started in the early evening, so it was still bright outside. The training room had desks and an overhead projector — remember these?!

The trainer was an accountant. He proceeded to display a few slides (transparent sheets as they were) to define accounting.

And he turned the lights off in the room so that the projected image was more visible. Turning the lights off was entirely unnecessary, but seemed to be common practice back then when using an overhead projector.

After about 5 minutes, the slides stopped. The accountant kept talking about accounting.

After about 30 minutes, the sun went down. It was now dark outside and in our room — except for the light from the projector.

For the next 2 hours, the accountant talked about accounting. In the dark.

Needless to say, I did not learn anything about accounting that evening. But I did learn how *not*to teach accounting — or anything else for that matter.

Although, it should be said that this was no different from my university experience where most of my professors stood at the front of the class to essentially read our textbooks to us. Except with a bit more light in the room.

Overhead projectors are not used much anymore. But they have been replaced with something perhaps even more sinister — Powerpoint slides — and Zoom — so now we can be bored at a distance 🙃

Jump forward many years and I now offer one of the highest-rated accounting courses online. And it's free.

I'm still not an accountant. And that may be why I teach accounting using a very different methodology. I teach accounting while playing a business simulation.

I don't tell students about accounting — instead, we *experience*accounting together while running a simulated business. This provides context and engagement that unlock our learning superpowers.

This methodology allows me to teach the basics of accounting in 29 minutes. Yup, 29 minutes. As unlikely as this sounds, it is possible. The course has 20,000 students and many 5-star reviews and generous student feedback.

Every training experience — good or bad — is a learning opportunity.

Every life experience is the same.

End of story.

My accounting course is free if you want to give it a try —


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I'm Mathew Georghiou and I write about how games are transforming education and learning. I also share my experience as an entrepreneur inventing products and designing educational resources used by millions around the world. More about me at Georghiou.com