Did the ‘Hat’ Fit ?Did the ‘Hat’ Fit ?

Paul WrightSchool of Maritime & Coastal Studies

Faculty of TechnologySouthampton Institute

What is the ‘Mexican Hat Approach’ (MHA)?

Learning intervention designed to identify students levels of engagement and participation (Robinson & Udall, 2004)

Requires a ‘recording process’

Development of model focussed upon ‘learning conversations’

Participating, but not yet achieving

Not participating or achieving

Participating and achieving

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What does a MHA class look What does a MHA class look like?like?

Unit Outcomes

Session Outcomes

PreparationLearningContext

Artefact

SelfAssessment

Reflection and Conversation

What does a MHA class look What does a MHA class look like?like?

Unit Outcomes

Session Outcomes

PreparationLearningContext

Artefact

SelfAssessment

Reflection and Conversation

Findings: General Findings: General InformationInformation

Attendance increased from last year (ran at 90% for the majority of weeks)

Evidence of preparation

Engagement, i.e. making ‘meaning’ from the information, was visible, but variable

Some student dissatisfaction with workload

Clear sense that activities helped with summative assessment

Findings: Learning Findings: Learning PerceptionsPerceptions

Tested perceptions of clear goals, expectations and standards

Hypothesised relationship to ‘deep learning’ (Prosser & Trigwell, 1999)

Tested activity-based sessions with different tutors, and the same tutor delivering AB sessions and lectures

Statistically significant difference between contexts, with AB sessions giving more positive results

Statistically insignificant difference between tutors

Findings: Focus GroupsFindings: Focus GroupsWeek 6 Week 20

Structure and Process

•Not clear•Needed prompting to describe

•Able to describe process•Articulate in key concepts

Benefit to learning

•Able to articulate intent•Not fully experienced•‘Not learning’ (related to conceptions of learning)

•Perceived benefits of interaction•Feelings of learning more and better•Longer retention time

Preference •Preferred over lectures•Partly due to a ‘better’ environment•Partly due to limitations of lectures

•Preferred over lectures•Liked ‘relaxed’ nature of interactions•Learning more in ‘relaxed environment’•Prefer problems as centre of activities

Limitations •Clarity•Dominance of some individuals•Posters

•Group feedback techniques•Group work (for some)

Future WorkFuture Work Relating summative assessment grades with

self assessment scores

Improving the learning experience:

– Class reporter

– Six Week Synthesis

Removing the link between ‘doing’ task and demonstrating outcome

Improve conversation and facilitation

Investigating issues of ‘power’ and their impact upon independent learning

ConclusionConclusion MHA process has shown benefits It helps less with Level 3 students Sessions that are based around

activities and outcomes appear to improve engagement

It’s not who, it’s HOW There are still barriers to independent

learning