1. Did the Hat Fit ? Paul Wright School of Maritime & Coastal Studies Faculty of Technology Southampton Institute

2. 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 1 2 3

3. What does a MHA class look like? Unit Outcomes Session Outcomes Preparation Learning Context Artefact Self Assessment Reflection and Conversation

4. What does a MHA class look like? Unit Outcomes Session Outcomes Preparation Learning Context Artefact Self Assessment Reflection and Conversation

5. Findings: General Information 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

6. Findings: Learning Perceptions 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

7. Findings: Focus Groups Week 6Week 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)

8. Future 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

9. Conclusion MHA process has shown benefits It helps less with Level 3 students Sessions that are based around activities and outcomes appear to improve engagement Its not who, its HOW There are still barriers to independent learning