A Novel Approach to e-Learning: Yasar University e-Learning System (YES)

Since 2009, every student who attends Yasar University (Izmir, Turkey), regardless of their department, has to take part in seven courses (Human Sciences, Research Culture, Design Culture, Aesthetic Culture, Ethic Culture, Project Culture, and a Social Responsibilities Project) defined as University Foundation Courses (UFND). These courses are part of the university's effort to graduate students who are not only hard-working and respectable, but also who are responsible and beneficent to society and the environment that they are living in. Approximately 4000 students attend these courses every term, which in return results in certain challenges. One of the more pressing challenges is shortage of lecturers and classrooms, which is the root of a more visible problem; the complexity and difficulty of the timetable for the whole university. Hence, in January 2012, it was decided that a new approach was needed. At the start of the 2012-2013 academic year, a novel E-learning system was introduced to offer these seven courses online. Yasar University E-Learning System (YES) differs from its peers in one important aspect: YES assesses the students continuously. YES does this by not only monitoring but also by encouraging them to get involved in the courses much more actively than any other system. In addition to the assessment of the students continuously, the new system evaluates the effectiveness of the users of the system by requiring them to attend the offered forums and live discussions with lecturers at least two times a week. This paper discusses the structure and the implementation of YES and the experiences so far. Furthermore, the paper draws some comparisons between YES and other popular E-learning systems.