Teaching

Teaching is a passion and responsibility. I both love it and recognize its weight. In my classes, I emphasize five goals, all of which, I hope, create an open-communication environment that allows for the full explication of complex ideas and an effective learning experience. These goals are shaping complicated material clearly, creating a supportive classroom environment, facilitating student-to-student interaction and discussion, mixing different teaching modalities, and eliciting feedback.

Instructor of Record

COMM 410. International Mass Communications

(Spring 2023, Fall 2023, and Spring 2024)

A senior-level undergraduate course examining the role of international mass media in communications and debates about global questions and crises between and among nations and peoples and the way in which mass media report, portray, represent, misrepresent, and construct knowledge about these issues. The course focuses on improving students' critical thinking on issues related to international communication, understanding key concepts, theories, and practices in international communications, and building knowledge and skills on international communications systems to inform their future work related to international communication, such as media production, public relations, cross-culture communications, etc.

Guest Lectures

Memes as Visual Communication and Culture

Lecture for intermediate level undergraduate course JOUR 3006: Visual Communication focusing on the historical, cultural, and social approaches to interpretation and analysis of memes in communication

Meme Studies in Communication

Lecture for senior level undergraduate course COMM 401: Media Theory focusing on meme studies as an interdisciplinary research area with its various theoretical and methodological standpoints

Spectacular Consumption and Memes

Lecture for beginner level undergraduate course JMC 168: Media Literacy and Society focusing on advertising and commercial culture via case studies of Super Bowl advertisements and meme advertisements

Memes, Society, and Democracy

Lecture for beginner level undergraduate course COMM 110: Media and Democracy focusing on the role of memes in communication and democracy

Interviews and Meme Analysis

Lecture for graduate course COMM 597: Advanced Qualitative Methods focusing on how to analyze interviews and memes for research papers

Interviews and Focus Groups

Lecture for upper level undergraduate course COMM 420: Research Methods in Advertising and Public Relations focusing on conducting, transcribing, coding, and analyzing interviews

Advertising and Commercial Culture

Lecture for beginner level undergraduate course COMM 100: Mass Media and Society focusing on advertising and commercial culture within mass media

Memes as a Part of International Communications

Lecture for upper level undergraduate course COMM 410: International Mass Communications focusing on the role of memes within the global mass media environment

Meme Marketing

Lecture for intermediate level undergraduate course JAMS 207: Introduction to Advertising and PR focusing on the use of memes for promotional purposes

Teaching Evaluation

Teaching Observation

"I enjoyed observing Yasemin’s lecture. She was well-organized and effectively engaged students through Top Hat and direct questions. Her PowerPoint slides were helpful and well-balanced. In addition, and very importantly, Yasemin’s international background is a great asset to teaching this course (International Mass Communications). Over the years, I have encountered international communication courses taught by instructors who do not know a foreign language or have not conducted significant research outside of the U.S. That’s certainly not the case with Yasemin because she is able to draw on her own international experience. For example, when she discussed Disney, Yasemin offered examples from the company’s business operations in her native Türkiye. I believe that this background is an asset for courses with an international focus, and Yasemin uses it effectively."

Martin Marinos, Ph.D.

"Yas has designed a well-structured course with nicely constructed PowerPoint slides that are logically organized, and relevant examples. She “internationalizes” the topics to fit the course’s curricular purpose. She also has a nice classroom persona – being expressive, friendly, and joking with the students, while also projecting confidence, very important for a class this size. Yas is serving our students well, and I look forward to her continued growth as a student-centered and effective teacher."

Matthew P. McAllister, Ph.D.

Student Evaluations (Anonymous)

"I believe our professor created a positive learning environment for us and really encouraged us to learn and ask questions. I also loved how she put our needs as students first since it showed that she truly cared about us and our well-being. I also love that she gave us every opportunity to succeed in her class, it created a really impactful learning experience."

"I think my professor was very open with listening to the students and allowing our feedback to be how she structured the course. Her being so open and flexible with us made this course enjoyable."

"I think our instructor did a great job at using modern examples that we are familiar with to give us a strong basis of understanding for this class."

"Yas was a great lecturer and really put in the time and effort to bring real examples to class that brought the topics to life."

"The professor was very open to suggestions and feedback."