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COVID-19: Updates for accounting students and educators

Attn: Accounting college students and educators
This page is dedicated to providing you with important updates and resources during the COVID-19 Pandemic specific to your needs.

For additional updates and resources regarding COVID-19, visit kycpa.org/new/Coronavirus.

The CPA Exam

Continuous testing for U.S. CPA Exam candidates to begin July 1

In response to numerous candidate requests, NASBA announced continuous testing for CPA Exam candidates will begin July 1, 2020. Under the new continuous testing model, candidates will have the ability to take the CPA Exam year-round, without restriction, other than waiting to receive scores from prior attempts of the same section or when there is a major change to the Exam. Continuous testing will replace the existing CPA Exam testing window model,  which only permits candidates to test during designated time frames each calendar quarter. You can find more information on these changes here.

Kentucky State Board of Accountancy

CPA Exam candidate transcripts: If a college/university has changed their grading to a Pass/Fail system, this will not affect eligibility to sit for the CPA Exam so long as the school provides credit for the course.

Click here to visit the Kentucky State Board of Accountancy's website.

Prometric

Prometric closed all of their test centers through May 31, with the exception of essential services programs which resumed testing at limited capacity on May 1Click here for details.

FreeResources 

Becker CPA Review Webcast

COVID-19 Impacts & Updates to the CPA Exam

We’ve heard you loud and clear – there is a lot of confusion about the CPA exam since COVID-19. On April 30, Becker will present an exclusive webcast to address concerns surrounding the CPA exam, everything from testing center logistics to expiring NTS, credit extensions and more.

Thurs., April 30, 2020, 1 - 2 pm EST. Click here to register.

Wiley resources for faculty new to virtual learning

To help instructors rapidly transition to virtual learning, Wiley Education Services has established a Resource Center for insights and best practices in this new learning environment. The resources, developed by experts in learner experience, share essential knowledge for transforming your face-to-face class into an engaging virtual experience.

The Resource Center provides you access to:

  • Articles detailing how to set up video-based classes, engage online students and offer impactful virtual learning experiences
  • Virtual office hours allowing you to connect with veteran online instructors and course designers to get your questions answered
  • Self-paced courses designed to help you develop skills in virtual instruction

For schools during COVID-19 outbreak (All FREE)

Click here for a library/wide array of resources.

The Academy of Active Learning Arts and Sciences and the Flipped Learning Global Initiative have published the "Rapid Transition to Online Learning," a roadmap for making the rapid shift to online learning during school closures. The resources include a checklist for administrators, another for IT managers, a transition plan and video tutorial for teachers and access to an international team of volunteers who have stepped forward to answer questions. The organization is continuing to seek volunteers for the program. http://aalasinternational.org/rtol/

Carnegie Mellon has reiterated the availability of "Computer Science Academy," a free, online, interactive high school CS curriculum. CS1 is the year-long flagship course, with 120 hours of instruction and a "robust introduction" to coding with Python through graphics and animations. This course is available to educators with teacher accounts. CS0 is a "lite" version, which includes about 40 hours of instruction and is intended for middle school, out-of-school programs and summer camp settings. This course is available for both mentor and teacher accounts. https://academy.cs.cmu.edu/coronavirus2020

Classkick is offering the pro version of its course platform free to schools in need. The software allows teachers to upload content and audio, video and image elements tied to assignments. As students work on that material using their devices, the teacher can monitor their activities in real-time. Students can request help privately and also use the program to seek help from their peers. Teachers give feedback, which students can respond to; auto-grading is also available. https://classkick.com/coronavirus

Google is allowing G Suite for Education customers to use the Hangouts Meet premium functionality for free through July 1. People can host virtual meetings with up to 250 people and live streams with up to 100,000 viewers. Additionally, they'll be able to save recordings of their meetings to Google Drive. https://support.google.com/meet/answer/9760270?hl=en

Microsoft is reminding schools and districts that it offers a free set of productivity applications — including Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote — for education, for those schools that haven't adopted a software suite yet. Office 365 A1 also comes with services, including OneDrive (for storage and file transfer), Teams (for web communications), Forms (for quizzes) and other utilities useful for collaboration. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/academic/compare-office-365-education-plans?activetab=tab%3aprimaryr1

National University, a mostly online institution, is offering free tuition for California college students who have had their learning disrupted because of the virus. Their courses are offered monthly, and students can sign up for up to three courses over the next three months. The university said it has nearly 2,000 online courses, most of which are asynchronous and available to students anywhere and anytime, and are transferable for credit at colleges across the state. https://www.nu.edu/coronavirusresponse/

OpenStax is reminding educators and families that its 38 open source (read: free) digital textbooks in core college and Advanced Placement subjects are available. On top of that, the nonprofit said that it would offer free access to its online homework offerings (which normally have a low-cost attached to them). That covers ROVER for math subjects and TUTOR, a beta program that provides online courseware and learning tools needed to complete a course; coverage includes physics, biology, and introduction to sociology. Also, 28 "allies" that have worked with OpenStax to develop homework and courseware that accompany its textbooks have made their offerings free. Those are listed on this OpenStax article. Finally, OpenStax has compiled lists of resource for each of its subjects, which it is documenting through its blog.

Unity Technologies is providing free access to Unity Learn Premium, a 3D development platform, through Jun. 20, 2020. Registration provides access to live sessions with Unity experts and 350-plus hours of tutorials, hands-on projects, and courses for game developers, covering topics from "Game Mechanic Design Fundamentals" to "Getting Started with Post-Processing Stack for VR." Unity is also delivering virtual classes through "Create with Code Live," free for students, instructors and anyone else interested in learning to code; those sessions kick off on Mar. 23 at 9 a.m. Pacific time or 5 p.m. Pacific time. https://unity.com/products/learn-premium

Wiley has made WileyPLUS, Knewton Alta and zBooks available through the Spring 2020 term. Also, the company has made more than 5,000 COVID-19-related articles freely available on a Wiley Online Library site. https://secure.wiley.com/COVID19OpenWPAccesshttps://www.zybooks.com/https://novel-coronavirus.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/