Frequently Asked Questions

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1 Technical Support
2 General Information
3 Information About The Content

Technical Support

I have a CK-12 account, but cannot log into the system?

You can activate your account by simply replying to the e-mail we sent you at the address you registered. Click on that link in your e-mail and you should subsequently be able to log in.

If you do not receive the email right away, please be sure to check your spam or junk folder.

If you continue to have problems, please send an e-mail to support@ck12.org.

I'm experiencing a technical difficulty or received an error message. What do I do?

Please send an e-mail to support@ck12.org and we will help you troubleshoot. Also, make sure javascript is enabled. If you need help doing this, please click here for instructions.

How do I create a FlexBook?

Please refer to our Demo Video or the Step-by-Step Help page here on how to create a FlexBook. We also offer interactive webinars. For more information and to sign up, please visit our | FlexBook Webinars page.

How long does it take to create a Flexbook?

Depending on the size of the book you are creating, it can take several minutes. We are actively working to continuously improve the system performance.

I would like my students to be able to read, highlight, and markup books off-line. Is there particular PDF reader that will support annotation of my FlexBook as a PDF?

Any reader which provides the functionality that is desired (read, highlight, markup, etc.) is acceptable. PDF is a widely supported file format so I'm sure there are many tools out there which can meet this requirement. Wikipedia has a list which may be helpful - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_PDF_software

Can I turn my FlexBooks into printed books or handouts?

Yes. Today, you may print your FlexBooks or handouts on your own printer, and in the future our partnership with independent print vendors will allow you to print professional-looking FlexBooks, on demand. Print as few or as many as you need, and you only pay the print costs.

There are several Print on Demand (POD) vendors like QOOP, Lulu, and Blurb which you can use to print out your books. These vendors have different pricing structures based on the number of books you purchase, binding options (perfect bound, hard bound, spiral bound), and if you choose color or b/w.

Which browsers are supported by CK-12?

We recommend that you use the following browsers with a minimum resolution of 1024 x 768:

Firefox 3.0 and above
Internet Explorer 7.x and 8.x
Safari 3.x and 4.x

The following browsers are not certified for use within our application. Users have reported varying degrees of success. If you're using one of these, please let us know what your experience is.

Opera
Chrome

Please note you must enable Javascript. For instructions on how to do this, please click here.

I am in the Chapter Editor and want to insert images. What image extensions does the Chapter Editor support?

We are currently supporting: jpeg, png, gif, bmp.
We are not supporting: tiff, psd, etc.

The content is freely available, what about the software? Is the software open source too?

Our mission is to provide all our content freely licensed under CC-BY-SA based on our ck12.org system. The tool or platform is an enabler for our system and not geared to be a separate open source project at this time. Frankly, as a small non-profit we haven't formalized our code base for external usage like other community based projects. We are at least a year away from this point as external usage requires reasonable documentation and streamlining the installation and deployment scripts to be as user-friendly as possible.

We are still in our beta stages i.e. our system is in dev state.

We can update you when our ck12.org is in production mode and you may want to publish your contents in our system. It is set up for that purpose. Please Join Our Mailing List to receive updates via email.

Who do I contact with additional questions?

Please e-mail all questions to support@ck12.org

General Information

What is 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.

To learn more about our organization, visit http://about.ck12.org

What is the goal of CK-12?

CK-12’s goal is to create an online collaborative environment to produce free and Open textbooks that are aligned to curriculum guidelines and can be customized for individualized needs.

What is the cost of using CK-12?

CK-12's FlexBooks are available FREE of charge. If you choose to print, you simply pay the printing costs.

How is CK-12 funded?

CK-12 is generously funded by Amar Foundation and by Vinod and Neeru Khosla.

What distinguishes CK-12 from other web-based education projects?

CK-12 is different from other web-based education projects in that it is the only comprehensive K-12 standards-based online curriculum that covers the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) subjects. It is also the only free web-based application for customizing open-source content and creating FlexBooks.

Who will use this site? Are there any limitations on who can use this service?

Anyone can use the site; there are no limitations on access to our services.

Why K-12? Why not all of education, especially higher education?

There are already other open-source higher education programs like Connexions, Sophia, and Merlot, but not enough focus on K-12. Besides, K-12 education is a passion of CK-12 founder, Neeru Khosla.

What is a FlexBook? What are the advantages of a FlexBook?

FlexBooks are online customizable textbooks. They are the answer to stagnant archaic textbooks and we hope that they will permanently transform the way textbooks are viewed. They contain high-quality online content, and are easy to create, update, and print.

Textbooks currently used in the K-12 system are limiting, expensive, and difficult to update. Therefore, K-12 teachers find it hard to innovate and cater to student needs. There is a pressing need for more flexible, less expensive systems to create, re-write, and distribute books and online content. FlexBooks, by their very nature, satisfy this need.

Can I share my FlexBooks with other teachers?

You can share the FlexBooks you have created under your username by printing the books, sharing the .pdf file, or providing people with a link to the FlexBook in html, in the pdf reader, or as a pdf.
- For more detailed instructions click here.

You can share the FlexBooks with the CK-12 Community as well. In order to do this you would select Share from the FlexBook Editor. This action will prompt you to submit your FlexBook to CK-12 in which it will be vetted by CK-12 domain experts to determine if we will add it to the CK-12 repository. You can also save your book as a pdf and email it others, or print out a hard copy to share. The community functionality is currently unavailable on our site.
- For more detailed instructions click here

Can I pull in content from anywhere on the web and create a FlexBook?

We are working on the capability to pull content from virtually anywhere; this will allow you to use any content that is available under licenses that are compatible with the Creative Commons Attribution Share-alike license.

How do I change my email address after I've already registered?

You can easily change your email address by logging in to your account and clicking "Profile" in the top right hand corner of the web page. The email address field is about half way down the Profile page. Be sure to click "Save Changes" when you are finished editing on this page!

What's missing in our FAQ?

If there is something you would like to see in our FAQ, let us know! Email us at support@ck12.org.

Information About The Content

CK-12 sounds like Wikipedia. What is the difference?

CK-12 is an open-source collaborative content site like Wikipedia. However, CK-12 specifically focuses on K-12 standards-based content centered around the STEM subjects vs. serving as an encyclopedia of general knowledge. In addition, CK-12 offers materials such as Lesson Objectives, Vocabulary, and Q & A - similar to those found in textbooks.

How is CK-12 content licensed?

All content on the CK-12 site is governed by the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA). This enables users to freely distribute, share, adapt, remix, and transmit our content under the following conditions:

Attribution: When you customize content from the CK-12 site, you must attribute the work to the author.

Share Alike: If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same, similar or a compatible license.

For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. The best way to do this is with a link to the Creative Commons web page.

How do I properly attribute CK-12 content under the CC-BY-SA license?

Below are examples of how to attribute CK-12 content with specific hyperlinks:
For chapters:
- Attribution: CK-12 Foundation, Author: First Name Last Name
For books:
- Attribution: CK-12 Foundation, Author: CK-12 Contributors
CK-12 Biology I book:
- Akre, Barbara, Jean Brainard, Niamh Gray-Wilson, Douglas Wilkin. "Biology I". Palo Alto: CK-12 Foundation, 2009.

How do I request permission to use an image when the source is not CK-12 Foundation?

In these cases, we are a licensee and not the 'copyright owner' of the image. You should contact the original copyright owner of the image by visiting the source url listed. We have been granted license to use this image under CC-BY-SA(USA) license through SRI for our books.

Is your site primarily for printed textbooks? What other delivery formats will you offer?

CK-12’s initial focus is the printed textbook—our goal is to offer a cost-free alternative to textbooks. However, our content will be delivered in many formats including PDF, online book, RSS feed, and HTML.

What is the cost to print a book?

Any printing costs incurred will vary depending on where you choose to print the books from the pdf format generated on our site. You may choose to print at home, school, or a local print shop. One of the lowest cost options is to print what you want in black and white on three-hole punch paper and put it in a binder. Please also keep in mind that one advantage of printing a FlexBook is that you have the option to print only what you need.

What type of content can I find here?

CK-12's ultimate goal is to serve as a comprehensive source of textbooks and content for all of K-12. To that end, we are currently focused on middle and high school math and science subjects.

How does CK-12 handle quality control?

Content quality is a very high priority at CK-12. The CK-12 library of textbooks and chapters—all reviewed and edited by subject-matter experts and practitioners—have been developed following state and national standards.

Who owns the FlexBook I create? Who is the author of my FlexBook? What are my rights as a FlexBook creator?

Since our content is licensed under the CC-BY-SA license, all of the books, including the Flexbooks you create, are freely available for use and reuse. This means that you can customize any of our FlexBooks and download, share, and print them as long you make your version of the FlexBook available to others under the CC-BY-SA license.

Why use Wikipedia as a source?

CK-12 has developed a unique capability to “harvest” these articles—and enable our users to create FlexBooks from them—primarily because we share common licensing that allows us to freely amend and distribute the materials. As a result, users can now select relevant articles from Wikipedia and they will be dynamically added to the FlexBook’s table of contents, pagination etc. The enormous success of Wikipedia and Wiki content development today presents an opportunity to incorporate and eventually edit millions of articles within the FlexBooks.

Will there be other sources of content besides Wikipedia?

Yes, we will continue to add relevant and high-quality global content sources from traditional as well as non-traditional knowledge arenas.

When will you have K-5 content?

CK-12 aims to be a comprehensive source of K-12 content. We are currently focusing on Middle and High School but hope to add K-5 content in the future.

Can I find practice sheets, quizzes, outlines, and lesson plans?

These are currently unavailable as separate elements on our site. The search functionality for specific resources will be enabled at a future date, along with the functionality to help you do a lesson plan.

Can I put copyrighted materials in my Flexbook?

Since all FlexBooks are governed by the CC-BY-SA license, use of traditionally copyrighted materials is not permissible. It is the author’s responsibility to make sure that content added to a FlexBook is available under a license compatible with CC-BY-SA or is their original work. The goal of CK-12 is to make all FlexBooks available to the user community. All of the CK-12 content and Wiki sources are licensed in similar ways to allow for sharing and derivations.

Will you work with the major publishers to make their content available on your site?

This is currently not part of CK-12's goal. Our content is copyright-free and unless publishers change the licensing of their materials, it won't be feasible to incorporate their content into our site.

How many books are in the CK-12 system?

Our system currently houses close to 50 books with many more on the way. At CK-12, we intend to seed the site with a library of books, thereby inspiring the education community to author and donate more books. At present, our books are almost exclusively focused on math and science for middle to high school. But we fully expect this library to grow—and ultimately encompass K-12—through donations and dedication from our user community.

Are these materials copyrighted?

All of the CK-12 content is governed by the CC-BY-SA license. This enables users to freely distribute, share, adapt, remix, and transmit our content under the following conditions: