MEF University
This webinar is a part of an Innovative Universities Global Webinar Series.
MEF University, established in 2012 by the İbrahim Arıkan Education and Scientific Research Foundation, began accepting students in the 2014–2015 academic year. Located in Istanbul, Turkey, the university offers a range of undergraduate and graduate programs across various faculties, including Education, Law, Economics, Administrative and Social Sciences, Engineering, and Art, Design, and Architecture.
A distinctive feature of MEF University is its adoption of the "flipped classroom" model across all programs, where students engage with lecture materials before class for the in-person sessions to focus on interactive, hands-on learning. MEF is the first university globally to implement this approach university-wide. Building upon this framework, MEF University introduced the "Flipped, Adaptive, Digital, and Active Learning" (FADAL) model.
To go along with the ideas of the flipped model, MEF University offers students access to Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) at no cost for at least one semester. Upon completing a chosen set of MOOCs, students can have these courses count toward elective credits.
Dr. Caroline Fell Kurban, Consultant to the Rector at MEF University
- Dr. Caroline Fell Kurban is a Consultant to the Rector at MEF University, a renowned expert in Flipped Learning, and teaches at the Faculty of Education.
- She is the founding director of MEF University's Center for Research and Best Practices in Learning and Teaching (CELT).
- Dr. Fell Kurban holds diverse academic credentials, including a BSc in Geology, MSc in TESOL, MA in Technology and Learning Design, and a PhD in Applied Linguistics.
- As a co-author of influential books on Flipped Learning, her latest work, "The Impact of ChatGPT on Higher Education: Exploring the AI Revolution," focuses on the transformative potential of AI in education.
- Beyond MEF, Dr. Fell Kurban is currently the head of the Global Terminology Project and a board member and also research fellow of the Academy of Active Learning Arts and Science.
Dara Melnyk:
- The MEF team regularly publishes about the university's practices (I counted four books with another on coming up: are there more)? Why? To share, of course, but also because it helps to generate deeper insights and ideas for further development. A lesson: dear university innovators, please, write about what you do! It will only bring good things.
- Student-centered / -centric education is, at the end of the day, in an instructor's attitude towards a student. It follows that regardless how much a good methodology matters and how much technology can augment learning, the relationship between those who teach and those who learn will remain the most important ingredient of education.
