Teaching
Istanbul Technical University · Course design and teaching
Current Courses
An overview of course outlines, content and teaching approaches for three management engineering and entrepreneurship courses.
My course designs connect conceptual learning with evidence-based judgment, field work, iterative projects and critical engagement with generative AI. This page describes the courses and highlights selected components of their most recent syllabi.
BUS 103 · Fall 2026 · Principles of Management
Principles of Management
An introduction to managerial work through planning, organising, leading, controlling and corrective action. The course places the human dimensions of managerial judgment at the centre of technology-driven and AI-enabled organisations.
Distinctive learning design: Before class, students undertake 30–45-minute AI-guided tutorials and prepare short independent Weekly Learning Memos. Their work becomes the starting point for in-class discussion, contrasting interpretations and managerial decisions under uncertainty. AI supports learning but does not replace the student’s reasoning.
Experiential component: Students observe a rehearsal and concert with the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra to develop context-sensitive judgment about leadership, trust, coordination and communication.
Assessment: Midterm 30%; tutorial/memo/discussion cycles 30%; final 40%; optional leadership-observation assignment up to +5 bonus points.
View thematic course outline
- Managing today and the historical roots of management
- Management environment, organisational culture and global context
- Managerial decision making, planning and goal setting
- Organisational structures and human resource management
- Individual behaviour, work groups and teamwork
- Motivation, leadership, trust and managerial communication
- Control, operations, change, innovation, ethics and social responsibility
The current full syllabus includes weekly topics, readings, AI tutor modules, an observation assignment and a Learning Memo template and rubric.
ISL 374E · Fall 2026 · Management Engineering Design I
Management Engineering Design I
Co-taught with Prof. Mehmet Erçek, this course covers systematic product design and development: observing customers, articulating needs, developing measurable specifications, generating and selecting concepts, building and testing prototypes and refining designs in light of user, technical, manufacturing, environmental and economic evidence.
Semester design project: Teams investigate and redesign an existing product used in accessible real-world settings in Istanbul. Decisions must be justified with direct observation, user interviews, benchmarking and successive concept and prototype tests rather than preference alone.
The course uses workshops, field inquiry, peer critique, patent and prior-art searching, computer-aided design, design for manufacturing and environment (DFM/DFE), experiments for robust design and product development economics. Students prepare for weekly learning questions with critical use of generative AI.
Assessment: Four team project deliverables 40%; case-based midterm 20%; final 40%.
View thematic course outline
- Product development processes and identifying customer needs
- Specifications, patents, prior art and systematic concept generation
- Concept screening, scoring and selection
- Prototyping, concept testing and design iteration
- Product architecture, industrial design and usability
- Design for manufacturing and environment, robust design and experiments
- Product development economics and final prototype/design reviews
The Fall 2026 syllabus includes weekly learning questions, field-observability criteria and the complete semester project guide.
ISL 478E · Latest available outline: Spring 2026 · Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship
Students learn to identify and validate opportunities, discover customer needs, develop and test business models and build minimum viable products. The focus is on evidence-based decisions in uncertain startup settings, not on treating the business plan as a static deliverable.
Distinctive learning design: A dual-project structure combines a class-wide project addressing the needs of a real community with entrepreneurial team projects. Students compare outputs from ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini, make explicit decisions to accept, modify or reject AI suggestions, and explain the evidence behind their judgment.
The weekly class design combines foundational knowledge, collective project work, coached team-venture workshops and synthesis and reflection. The course also develops critical AI literacy, customer interviewing, market sizing, competitive analysis and prototype testing.
View thematic course outline
- Entrepreneurial opportunities and customer discovery
- Interview-based problem validation and the Mom Test
- Business models, markets and competitive alternatives
- Minimum viable products, experiments and iterative development
- Critical comparison of AI recommendations and human managerial judgment
- Collective learning through a shared class project and team ventures
Course descriptions reflect the latest syllabus versions supplied for each course: BUS 103 (Fall 2026), ISL 374E (Fall 2026) and ISL 478E (Spring 2026). Formal announcements, assessment submissions and current-semester operational details remain subject to the official ITU course system.