THE GLOBAL eLEARNING JOURNAL VOLUME 5, ISSUE 2, 2016 Just One More Hit: Student Engagement with Pre-Class Videos in the Evolution of an English for Academic Purposes Course from Traditional to Flipped Joshua Shannon-Chastain Faculty Academic English Coordinator, MEF University, Turkey, shannonj@mef.edu.tr Caroline Fell Kurban, PhD Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, MEF University, Turkey, kurbanc@mef.edu.tr Abstract The primary objective of this research is to use data gathered from a semester of a Flipped freshman English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course to examine our assumptions about Flipped Learning. To this end and to further improve the course, the following research questions emerged: How long is the optimal length of a video to capture students’ attention?; Why are some videos viewed more than others?; Why do certain videos capture students’ attention for longer?; Why do students engage in some online activities more than others?. To answer these questions, YouTube and Blackboard analytics were gathered from the second year EAP course and compared against students’ perceptions in surveys and a focus group. Based on what we learnt, we asked ourselves: How can we adapt our Flipped courses to encourage the successful patterns of learning of our learners and discourage the unsuccessful patterns? Based on the analysis of outcomes, we have identified that our EAP Flipped best-practice theories are effective, and we have further developed best practices that lead to student success and removed those hindering progress. Based on these implications, a number of clear lessons have been learned that will be incorporated into future courses. Keywords: MEF University, Web-based Technologies, Video Lectures, Online Engagement, Active Learning, Flipped Assessment, Flipped Best Practices Background to the Study Flipped Learning has emerged globally as an effective pedagogical approach for educating the Generation Y students of today and the Generation Z students of the 2020s and beyond. In 2013, MEF University was established with the vision of educating innovative and entrepreneurial global leaders to shape the future (“MEF University Vision and Mission,” 2016). In order to achieve this vision, the founder of MEF, Dr. İbrahim Arıkan, and the university rector, Prof. Dr. MuhammedŞahin, realized that the existing approach to tertiary education was outdated and not suited to the needs of today’s students, industries, economies or the digital environment. Only willing to establish the university if they could find an effective and innovative approach to education that would meet these needs, they undertook extensive research into learning pedagogies which eventually led them to embrace the Flipped Learning approach as their educational model.