2023 -2024 IT Team Member Highlights
eLearning's Justin Melick Experiences International Staff Week at METU
October 05, 2023
In June 2023, Justin Melick, a member of IT's eLearning Team, participated in an international staff week at Middle Eastern Technical University (METU) in Ankara, Turkey. As part of this event, staff from 37 different institutions and 23 different countries collaborated and shared ideas about how institutions can better partner to provide meaningful international experiences to their students.
As part of this training, Justin focused on gaining a better understanding of how technology can be used to facilitate virtual international exchanges between faculty and students. To this end, Justin met with his IT counterparts at METU to share information about the types of services they can offer to their faculty. In addition, he explained how those procedures differ from those at GVSU. Additionally, Justin presented a general overview of the academic programs and services offered by GVSU to the other participants.
In addition to the academic aspect of this international staff week, a significant amount of time was devoted to learning about the history of Turkey and greater Anatolia. This included tours of Ankara and other small villages. Along with the formal tours, there were plenty of opportunities to socialize with other participants from universities throughout the world in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the role of higher education throughout the world.