Abstract
In response to the global educational reform, while also reflecting the needs of society, the American Community Schools of Athens (ACS Athens), Greece, has developed and established its own education paradigm named Morfosis which is defined within the twenty-first-century framework as a holistic, meaningful, and harmonious educational experience, guided by ethos. The vehicle to implement Morfosis is the i2Flex (isquareFlex), a non-traditional learning methodology, organically developed by the ACS Athens community of learners. It integrates internet-based delivery of content and instruction with faculty-guided, student independent learning in combination with face-to-face classroom instructions aiming at developing higher-order cognitive skills within a learning design framework that is flexible in terms of time, pace, place, and/or mode. This learner-centered type of learning draws on the research and practice of blended learning, and the concept of “flipped classroom” in K–12 across the USA and beyond. Ultimately, i2Flex aims at developing students’ twenty-first-century skills, while also helping them successfully prepare for their higher education studies and their future careers. In this chapter, we present and discuss the theoretical underpinnings, followed by manifestations in praxis of the i2Flex methodology, and also offer a set of recommendations as to its effective implementation in diverse K–12 settings.
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Acknowledgments
This work would not have been accomplished without the commitment to, and enthusiasm for, the i2Flex approach of ACS Athens’ pioneer teachers Christina Bakoyiannis, Kathy Jasonides, Janet Karvouniaris, Labrini Rontogiannis, Helen Sarantes, and Amalia Zavacopoulou, and their students. We are deeply indebted to all of you!
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Avgerinou, M., Gialamas, S., Tsoukia, L. (2014). I2Flex: The Meeting Point of Web-Based Education and Innovative Leadership in a K–12 International School Setting. In: Sampson, D., Ifenthaler, D., Spector, J., Isaias, P. (eds) Digital Systems for Open Access to Formal and Informal Learning. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02264-2_20
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