Next Generation TextBooks
CK-12 Foundation
June 2009
www.ck12.org

Mission Statement
Create an online collaborative environment
to produce free and Open textbooks
that are aligned to curriculum guidelines and
can be customized for individualized needs

About CK-12
CK-12 Foundation is a non-profit organization with a mission to
reduce the cost of textbook materials for the K-12 market both in
the U.S. and worldwide. Using an open-content, web-based
collaborative model termed the “FlexBook,” CK-12 intends to
pioneer the generation and distribution of high quality
educational content that will serve both as core text as well as
provide an adaptive environment for learning.

Organization - Product - License
content for K-12
flexbooks
CC-BY-SA

Heavy Backpacks
Pimp My Lunch: Zits Cartoon Series by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman [Copyright 2005]

Monolithic Books

Up-to-date
Source wikipedia

Up-to-date
Source wikipedia

The Cost
Store Authors
Freight
Publisher’s Operations Income
Expenses
Cost/Income
22.2 11.4
1
65.1
college store numbers are averages & reflect
the most current 2004-2005 data gathered by the
national Association of College Stores. Publisher
numbers are estimates based on data provided by
the Association of American Publishers.
2006 by the National Association Of College Stores

Personalized Problem Sets
For an ‘A’ student:
x3 – 729 = 0
While a ‘D’ student gets:
x3 – 8 = 0

Illustrations in the Past

And Now

• Access to Free Information
• Custom Content for All Students
• Aligned to Curriculum Standards

CK-12: Free TextBooks (FlexBooks)
• … original content, locked version + community
contributions
• … re-purposeable for context
• … created from modules
• … based on curricular needs
• … online reader, print, books

Time Spent Preparing Lessons
Research
Synthesis
Customizing
Translating

Time Saved
Software Tools
Shared Research

One Size Does Not Fit All
• 50% or more of the students failing in the High
School standardized testing for Math
• First used CMP, IMP and then chose standard
publisher provider and still no difference
• Created their own content on “L Drive”

The Cost To Produce A TextBook

Can We Pay The Teachers Instead?

CK-12 Library
Commissioned Books Donated Books
• Math Grade 6 • People's Physics Book
• Math Grade 7 • Electricity and Magnetism
• Math 8 • Optics
• Algebra I • The Modern Revolution in Physics
• Geometry • Conceptual Physics
• Single Variable Calculus • Discover Physics
• Trigonometry
• Math Analysis • Virtual Chemistry Version 2.1 Part I
• Probability and Statistics (AP)
• NanoSense
• Engineering: An Intro for HS • NanoLeap
• Life Science
• Earth Science
• Biology I
• VA Contemporary Physics Book

Alignment To State Standards
• Initial outline pre-aligned to State standards
• Lesson objectives defined & standards covered
• Contents matched to State scope & sequence

Authoring & Review Process
recruit domain manuscript
authors experts #1
copy
review synthesize
editing
manuscript
publish share
#2

Student Comments
•

FlexBook System Allows
1. Small content – Time bound
2. Different subjects
3. Different languages
4. Different levels of difficulty
5. Text + Notebook

Flex Your Own Books

Flexible Options

• Dale Baker
• Annapurna Ganesh
• Tirupalavanam Ganesh
• Janel White-Taylor
• Stephen Krause
• Darryl Morrell
• Chell Roberts

• David Armstrong
• Jim Batterson
• Mark Clemente
• Angela Cutshaw
• Bruce Davidson
• Mike Fetsko
• Pranav Gokhale
• Andy Jackson
• Tapas Kar
• Mark Mattson
• Gregory Mulholland
• Tom O’Neil
• John Ochab
• David Slykhuis
• David Stern
• Tony Wayne

VA Releases Open Source TextBook
• Goals for the pilot project :
– Up-to-date content for Physics
– Easily available at no cost
– Value of the electronic book format
– Further versions of the online FlexBook?
– Project expanded to other subjects?

Blog Coverage
• “An open source textbook is more than a book”
- Dana Blankenhorn, ZD Net
• ”What may be most remarkable here is the timeframe.”
• “And the resulting book can be updated, rewritten, on a
regular schedule so it’s new with each school year.”
• “The contrast with current K-12 textbook acquisition methods
is night-and-day. No multi-year lead times. No publisher
control. And the approval process is also flexible. “

Blog Coverage
• ”Signs of a Significant Disruption in the Traditional Textbook Model”
- Geoffrey H. Fletcher Published: February, 2009
• Virginia releases the first open-source textbook for public review
- William Jackson, Mar 04, 2009
• ” The Virginia Physics FlexBook is an effort to update educational material
more quickly than can be done with traditional textbooks. The typical
review and procurement cycle of states and school systems, coupled with
the several years it can take for changes to make their way into published
texts, means that students in even the best schools could be using
material that is a decade or more out of date. “

neeru@ck12.org
murugan@ck12.org
WWW.CK12.ORG