1. 
i2Flex@ ACS Athens
Dr. M.D. Avgerinou
Director- Educational Technology & eLearning
with ACS Athens Faculty
Dr. Tonia Firigou
Labrini Rontogiannis
Angelo Dimitropoulos
Heike Arnold
Dean Bradshaw
May 15, 2014
Presentation to ACS Athens Parents

2. Session Overview
 Part I (Maria): i²Flex Overview
 Part II: i2Flex Course Demonstration by ACS
Athens Faculty (Tonia, Labrini, Angelo, Heike, &
Dean)
 Part III: Discussion

3. Agreements
 Focus on the Learner
 Focus on learning with technology vs.
technology in learning
 Focus on the Teacher

5. Educational ReformWorldwide
 “We are on the threshold of a tipping point in
public education” (Kay, 2010, xiii).
 Since the beginning of this century, the world
has developed in such diverse directions and
created new and particularly complex demands
for citizenship, college and careers that it is
no longer possible for old learning paradigms to
accommodate them.

6. Rice et al. (2012)
 At its core, education teaches information gathering and
critical thinking.
 As the United States economy increasingly moves towards
being based on information and services, more and more
jobs—and indeed entire sectors of the economy—require that
workers be able to acquire information, analyze data, and act
on their newly created knowledge.
 Too many schools are still attempting to prepare students for
this world without teaching within the mode that students
will find when they move on to post-secondary education or
the workforce. Instead, we appear to be preparing students
for information-based jobs where they will share a single
desktop computer with 25 co-workers—jobs that clearly do
not exist.

7. 21st Century Frameworks
 The recognition of the new reality has led to the
development of a new vision for 21st century learning.
 Several conceptual frameworks for 21st century skills:
a. Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2006
b. North Central Regional Education Laboratory (NCREL) &
Metiri Group, 2003
c. Organization for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD), 2005
d. National Leadership Council for Liberal Education and
America’s Promise (LEAP), 2007

8. 21st Century Skills

9. Response to 21st Century’s
Educational Reform
 ground-breaking research experiments- e.g. Sugata
Mitra’s ‘a hole in the wall’ (Mitra, 2005) and ensuing first
school in the cloud (Newcastle University, 2013)
 entire nations’ movements toward innovative teaching
and learning programs- e.g. Singapore’s initiative “Teach
Less, Learn More” (Fogarty & Pete, 2010)
 pressing demands for major policy changes (Darling-
Hammond, 2010); and,
 a continuous dialogue among leading educational
thinkers about the significant role of creativity in today’s
education (Robinson, 2001) and the forthcoming
sovereignty of the right brain (Pink, 2006) or of the five
minds, per Gardner’s (2010) suggestion.

10. Virtual Schools
and 21st Century Skills- Report
 Online learning via virtual schools is transforming
US education
 84% of employers argue that K12 schools do not
prepare students adequately for today’s workplace
(esp. math, science, & reading)
 30% of employers use eLearning training for their
workforce

11. Overview: why online & blended K12?
 the number of college students taking at least one online course
has now surpassed 6.7 million (sloanconsortium.org, 2013)
 96% of traditional universities offer at least one class in an
online-only format
 Open Course Ware offers 4200 complete courses online for
free…
 1689 of which are classes from MIT (source Classes And
Careers.com, 2013)
 According to a 2009 study from the Department of Education:
“Students who took all or part of their class online performed
better, on average, than those taking the same course through
traditional face-to-face instruction.” Students who mix online
learning with traditional coursework (i.e. blended learning) do
even better (Internet Time Group Report, 2013).

12. Online Learning in K12
 Traditional schools are turning to online instruction
to expand opportunities and choices for students,
and professional development for teachers and
administrators
 More than 40% of U.S. high schools do not offer AP
courses
 The millennial generation are growing up in the
digital age

13. Online Learning in K12 (cont.)
 Not only technological advancements influence the
increase in online offering and enrollments
 Budgetary crises in K12 & in higher education make
online education vital to many institutional fiscal
plans. Online courses are cost effective: they can be
developed, copied, and reused by other instructors
 The replication and standardization of online course
offers, to some extent, quality control regarding
content presented and course design (Wise &
Rothman, 2010)

14. Components of a 21st Century Classroom

15. Jones (2012)
 Supporters and critics of virtual schools agree that
online learning doesn't work for all students and
that parental involvement matters. Bright, highly
motivated students may thrive, while those who
struggled in ordinary schools may continue to
struggle online.
 Parents of virtual/blended school students to act as
"learning coaches" to help facilitate their children's
learning especially in the lower grades.

16. • 96 % say doing well in school is important
• 94 % plan to continue their education
• 90 % between 5-17 use computers
• 94 % of teens use Internet for school research
• 75 %+ are creators of content on Internet
• Teens spend more time using the Internet thanTV
(Schrum, L. Keynote Speech at IVLA2009)
Our Students: who are they?
Capable, conscientious, concerned & optimistic,
determined to succeed…

17. DIGITAL NATIVES (Prensky, 2001)
(term coined by Marc Prensky, 2001)

18. Is lecturing… unethical?
 A new meta-analysis research of 225 studies in teaching
undergraduate STEM finds that teaching approaches
that turned students into active participants rather than
passive listeners reduced failure rates and significantly
boosted scores on exams. (Freeman et al., 2014)
 The U.S. Department of Education has conducted its
own meta-analysis of distance learning, and it found
there was no difference in being lectured at in a
classroom versus through a computer screen at home.
So, Freeman says: “If you’re going to get lectured at, you
might as well be at home in bunny slippers.” (Science
Insider, 2014)

19. ACS Athens’ Response to Education Reform
 Building 21st century skills and educating learners
for their lives as 21st century leaders and
architects of their own learning (ACS Athens
vision), requires us to create a new education
paradigm.
 At ACS Athens, we have developed Morfosis
(Gialamas & Pelonis, 2009) a paradigm grounded
on holistic, meaningful, and harmonious
educational experiences, guided by ethos.

21. What is i2Flex?
 A new vehicle for a new education paradigm! Possibly the bridge
between the four-walled, brick-and-mortar classroom and 21st
century education.
 A non-formal education model of instruction that integrates
internet-based delivery of content and instruction with student
independent learning, and some control over time, pace, place, or
mode, in combination with guided, face-to-face classroom
instruction aiming at developing higher order cognitive skills
within a flexible learning design framework.
 Grounded on the concept of Morfosis, learning via i2Flex that
draws on practice and research on blended/hybrid learning and
the concept of “flipped classroom” in K12 across the US and
beyond, is learner-centered and ultimately aims at developing
students' 21st century skills, while also helping them successfully
prepare for their higher education studies (where a good deal of
them is already offered online).

22. What is i2Flex?
 Student-centered
 i2: Independent, and Internet-based (yet fully guided and
interactive)
 Flex= flexible learning experiences (regarding time, pace,
space, and/or modality)
From Avgerinou, M.D., Gialamas, S., & Tsoukia, L. (in print). i2Flex: The meeting point of web-based education
and innovative leadership in a K-12 international school setting. In D.G. Sampson, D. Ifenthaler, J.M. Spector, &
P. Isaias (Eds.). Digital systems for open access to formal and informal learning. New York: Springer.

23. International Association for
K12 Online Learning (INACOL) 2013
 The combination of multiple approaches to learning. Blended learning can be
accomplished through the use of ‘blended’ virtual and physical resources.
 Blended learning should be viewed as a pedagogical approach that combines the
effectiveness and socialization opportunities of the classroom with the
technologically enhanced active learning possibilities of the online environment,
rather than a ratio of delivery modalities. In other words, blended learning should
be approached not merely as a temporal construct, but rather as a fundamental
redesign of the instructional model with the following characteristics:
 A shift from lecture- to student-centered instruction in which students become
active and interactive learners (this shift should apply to the entire course,
including face-to-face contact sessions);
 Increases in interaction between student-instructor, student-student, student-
content, and student-outside resources;
 Integrated formative and summative assessment mechanisms for students and
instructor.

24. Visualizing blended learning
(by www. designshare.com)

25. From Face2Face to i2Flex & Online
@ACS Athens
Face2Face
Enhanced by Static
Shell
& Educational
Technology
components
i²Flex
Enhanced by
Interactive
Moodle shell
Online
Totally Interactive Shell
Learning occurs online

26. What are the i2Flex Benefits?
This new model of instruction which integrates educational technology into student learning can
potentially offer multiple benefits:
 Greater personalization (“just for me” learning) of the learning experiences thus increasing and
sustaining student motivation and finally improving academic performance
 Anytime, anywhere, “at my own pace” learning
 Facilitates active learning; boosts engagement, and confidence
 Develops student 21st Century skills
 Speaks “digital native” language thus bridging the persistent digital disconnect between students
and adults
 Addresses students’ need for sophisticated use of educational technology & more personalized
learning environments
 Builds online study and communication skills for university, but also fosters life long learning
skills
 Enriches and improves teaching conditions

27. i2Flex Leadership Committee
Principals
Deans
Director of Technology
Director of Educational Technology &
eLearning
Division Chairs
K-12 Technology Co-ordinatorsFaculty
Champions
Faculty
Student Services Innovation Zone
Students & Parents
Information Technology
Services
Director of
Educational Technology
& eLearning
i2Flex@ACSAWholeSchoolAffair Who is involved? It takes a village…

28. What is the i2Flex
Design & Development Process?
 Phase 1
a. develop an implementation plan & timeline
b. develop or re-design course on Moodle (with or
without student access; QM® standards; ID and EdTech
support)
 Phase 2
evaluation of Phase 1 (external, and self-review via QM®
Rubric)
 Step 3
teach, reflect, review, teach again

29. i2Flex
Instructional Design & Development Process
Reflect on Lesson
Plan or Entire Course
Continue
Instructional Design
Consultations
Re-Design Lesson
Plan or Course via
Alignment Table or
QualityMatters®
Rubric
Start Here
ID #1 ID #2 ID #3
Pilot/Impleme
nt ID Decisions
with/without
further ID
and/or
technical
support**
* One-on-One Meetings with Educational Technology & eLearning Director
** Information Services, K-12 Technology Co-ordinators, i2Flex Faculty Champions
*** Formative evaluation and monitoring of Implementation (with Educational Technology Director, and students)
1.1 2.1
3.1***
3.+
Support

30. QualityMatters®
QUALITY MATTERS = A NATIONAL BENCHMARK
FOR ONLINE COURSE DESIGN
Quality Matters (QM) is a leader in quality
assurance for online education and has received
national recognition for its peer-based approach to
continuous improvement in online education and
student learning.

31. i²Flex Course Standards – QM®
 General Standard 1: The overall design of the
course is made clear to the student at the
beginning of the course
 General Standard 2: Learning objectives are
clearly stated and explained. They assist students
in focusing their effort in the course
 General Standard 3: Assessment strategies use
established ways to measure effective learning,
evaluate student progress by reference to stated
learning objectives, and are designed to be integral
to the learning process
 General Standard 4: Instructional materials are
authoritative, up-to-date and appropriately chosen
for the level of the course
 General Standard 5: Meaningful interaction
between the teacher and students, among
students, and between students and course
materials is employed to motivate students and
foster intellectual commitment and personal
development (learning activities)
 General Standard 6: Course navigation features
and the technology employed in the course foster
student engagement and ensure access to
instructional materials and resources
 General Standard 7: The course facilitates
student access to institutional services essential
to student success
 General Standard 8: The face-to-face and online
course components are accessible to all students
 General Standard 9 — Compliance
Standards: This section of the rubric is optional
and may be tailored to particular requirements or
mandates at the state or local level. These
requirements may deal with subject matter
standards, inclusion of specific information in the
course outline or syllabus, mandated
communications, etc.

32. i²Flex Facts & Figures:
PilotYear (2013-2014)
 23 faculty in the Pilot i²Flex year
a. 8 middle school faculty
b. 14 high school faculty
c. 1 student services
 20 courses
a. 3 online
b. 17 i²Flex
 Design & Development hours invested by individual Faculty or Faculty Teams (f2f
and online, in and out of school): TOO MANY to count!!!
 Over 100 hours of professional development one-on-one and group sessions
 All ACS Athens faculty from 5th grade and up will be using the ACS Athens Moodle
template from September 2014

33. A Vision of K12 Students Today

34. Selected References