Frequently Asked Questions

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Information about using the FlexBooks site

I have a FlexBooks account, but cannot sign in to the system.

  • When you registered on the FlexBooks website, we sent an email message to the address you gave us. You can activate your account most simply by clicking on that link in that e-mail. You should then be able to sign in.
  • If you can't find the email we sent you, please check your spam or junk folder.
  • If you continue to have problems, please send an e-mail to support@ck12.org.

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

  • You can easily change you email address by signing in to your account and clicking "View 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.

I've received an error message. What do I do?

  • First, make sure you have JavaScript enabled in your browswer. If you need help doing this, please click here for instructions.
  • If enabling JavaScript doesn't solve the problem, please send an e-mail to support@ck12.org and we will help you troubleshoot.

Which browsers are supported by the FlexBooks site?

We recommend that you use the following browsers with a minimum resolution of 1024 x 768. Remember that you need to enable JavaScript for any browser. For instructions on how to do this please click here.
  • Firefox 3.x
  • Firefox 4.x
  • Internet Explorer 7.x and 8.x
  • Safari 3.x and 4.x
  • Chrome
The following browsers do not work reliably with our system. If you do use one of these browsers, we'd be interested to know about your experience.
  • Opera

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.

I understand that FlexBooks are free, or open source. Is the software that supports the FlexBooks open source, too?

  • Our mission is to provide all our materials for free under the Creative Commons Attribution/Non-Commercial/Share Alike 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-NC-SA) License. For more information on the CC-BY-NC-SA license, see the selection of this FAQ about the content of FlexBooks, or visit the following URL, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/. Our CK-12 system for FlexBooks is not yet geared to be a separate open source project.
  • Please Join Our Mailing List to receive updates via email.

How can I delete my account?

  • While we hope you will never want to delete your FlexBooks account, you may do so by following these steps:
  1. Send a request to CK-12 directly at support@ck12.org and ask for your account to be deleted. Please provide your username and associated email address, and let us know why you wish to delete your account.
  2. Wait to get an email response from CK-12 confirming that your account has been permanently deleted. This may take a few days.
  3. If you don't hear back from us within a week, email us again at support@ck12.org.
  4. Try to sign in to your account once you have gotten an email from CK-12 confirming your account has been deleted. If you're unable to sign in and don't get a message asking you to reactivate your account, your FlexBooks account has been permanently deleted.

Who do I contact with additional questions?

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


Information about FlexBooks

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

  • FlexBooks are customizable textbooks that you can use online or as printed books. You can share FlexBooks, and you can customize them. We provide high-quality online materials that are aligned with national and California textbook standards, and -- because FlexBooks are online -- we can keep them up to date much more easily than printed textbooks. You can use the books just as we provide them, or use only parts of them, or add you own materials or material from the web.
  • We know that textbooks currently used in the K-12 system are limiting, expensive, and difficult to update. All of this makes it hard for K-12 teachers to find books that help them innovate in the classroom and adjust their teaching to the specific needs of their students. We've designed FlexBooks to address these problems: FlexBooks are as flexible as you make them by adding or deleting material (including graphics and videos), adjusting the difficulty of the language, and making any other changes you need. You can then make them available online -- including in PDF readers that allow students to annotate them -- or print all or part of your FlexBook. FlexBooks are free, so you can modify your FlexBook each time you find something that works better in your classroom.

Can I share my FlexBooks with other teachers?

  • You can share a FlexBook you have created by printing the books, sharing it as a .pdf file, or providing people with a link to the FlexBook online.
  • You will soon be able to share the FlexBooks you create with the CK-12 Community as well. We hope you will want to add any book you create to our library. If you add, delete, or reorganize chapters or other materials, or change the language for a different reading level, you are creating a book another teacher might find useful. To share a book you've created, select Share from teh FlexBook editor. Once you submit your FlexBook to CK-12, our domain experts will make sure it meets the national and state standards, and then add it to our library for others to use.

How do I create a FlexBook?

  • Please refer to our Demo Video or the Step-by-Step Help page for detailed information on how to create a FlexBook. We also offer interactive webinars. For more information and to sign up for a webinar, please visit our FlexBooks webinar 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 to assemble the material you've chosen. We are always working to improve the system performance. If you choose to use one of our existing FlexBooks without changing anything, it should only take XX minutes before you can print your FlexBook and view it online.

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

Can I turn my FlexBooks into printed books or handouts?

  • Yes. Today, you can print your FlexBooks or handouts on your own printer. In the future our partnership with independent print vendors will allow you to print professional-looking FlexBooks on demand. You will be able to print as few or as many as you need and you will only pay the printing costs.
  • There are currently several Print on Demand (POD) vendors like QOOP, Lulu, and Blurb which you can use to print out your FlexBooks. These vendors have different pricing structures based on the number of books you purchase, binding options (perfect bound, hard bound, spiral bound), and whether you choose color or black and white.

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

  • We are working on it. Soon you will be able to use any material that is available under licenses that are compatible with the Creative Commons Attribution/Non-Commercial/Share Alike 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-NC-SA) License. For more information, see the section of this FAQ on the content of FlexBooks.

Information About The Content of FlexBooks

What type of materials can I find on the FlexBooks site?

  • CK-12's ultimate goal is to serve as a comprehensive source of textbooks and teaching materials for all of K-12. We are current focused on math and science subjects for middle and high school classes.

How many books are in the CK-12 system?

  • Our library currently contains 50 books with many more on the way. Right now, our books are almost exclusively focused on math and science for middle-school and high-school students. But we fully expect this library to grow -- and ultimately encompass all subjects for K-12 -- as teachers and authors create books and donate them to the FlexBooks library.

Will a FlexBook I choose to use meet the standards of my school district?

  • The quality of our FlexBooks is a very high priority at CK-12. Our library of materials has been developed following national and California standards. All of our FlexBooks are reviewed by subject-matter experts and teachers to make sure they adhere to those standards.

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

  • Some FlexBooks contain practice sheets and quizzes, but you can't yet search for just those items. In the future you will be able to search for quizzes and outlines, along with getting help creating lesson plans.

Who wrote the FlexBooks that CK-12 gives away?

  • The FlexBooks that CK-12 offers for free were all written by K-12 subject-matter experts and teachers. We make sure that all of our materials conform to national and California K-12 standards and guidelines. In addition, all of the FlexBooks are edited and reviewed by K-12 practitioners who write or teach in the subject.

Are these materials copyrighted?

  • All of the FlexBook materials, except as otherwise noted, are governed by the Creative Commons Attribution/Non-Commercial/Share Alike 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-NC-SA) License. This is not standard copyright. Rather, it is a license that allows users to distribute, share, adapt, not use this work for commercial purposes, and transmit our FlexBooks under the following conditions:
    • Attribution: When you customize FlexBooks materials, you must attribute the work to the author.
    • Noncommercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes
    • 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 webpage (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).

Does the material adhere to state and national standards for K-12 textbooks?

  • All materials provided by CK-12 conforms to national and California state standards.

Can I view the standards?

  • You can view the national standards on XX website, and California standards on XX website. We're working on allowing you to search for FlexBooks that adhere to specific standards.

Can I put copyrighted materials in my FlexBook?

  • Since all FlexBooks are governed by the CC-BY-NC-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-NC-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.

Who own the FlexBook I created? Who is the author of my FlexBook? What are my rights as a FlexBook creator?

  • All of the materials on the FlexBook site fall under the CC-BY-SA license. This means that all of the books, including the FlexBooks you create, are freely available for use and adaptation by anyone using the site.

How do I properly attribute the content of FlexBooks under the CC-BY-NC-SA license?

  • Below are examples of how to attribute FlexBooks materials with specific hyperlinks
  • For chapters:
  • For books:
  • CK-12 Biology I book:
    • CK-12 Foundation, Barabara Akre, Jean Brainard, Niamh Gray-Wilson, Douglas Wilson

How do I get permission to use FlexBooks images?

  • To use an image from a FlexBook, please first check the source and license information for that particular image. If the source is listed as CK-12 Foundation, you have permission to use the image under the CC-BY-NC-SA license. Details about your CC-BY-NC-SA license can be found at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/.

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

  • In these cases, we are a licensee of the image, and have been granted the use of it either under CC-BY-SA, or some other stated license. You should be able to use the image under the same license terms, or you might have to contact the original copyright owner of the image, by visiting the source url listed, to get permission to use the image.

Have any schools adopted FlexBooks?

  • Several FlexBooks are currently being used in public and private schools across the country. We have also received many inquiries about our materials from various schools creating FlexBooks. Our long-term goal is to see FlexBooks widely adopted and used in schools.

When will you have K-5 materials?

  • CK-12 aims to be a comprehensive source of teaching materials for grades K-12. We are currently focusing on middle school and high school, but hope to add K-5 materials in the future.

Why use Wikipedia as a source for FlexBooks?

  • Wikipedia uses the same CC-BY-SA licensing that FlexBooks use, which means that you can adapt and distribute Wikipedia articles. We've made it easy for users to select relevant articles from Wikipedia to add to FlexBooks. The articles you select will be added automatically to the FlexBook's table of contents, pagination, and index. This gives users access to a tremendous source of reliable material.

Will there be other sources of material besides Wikipedia?

  • Yes, we will continue to add relevant and high-quality sources.

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

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

What is the difference between a collection of Wikipedia articles and a FlexBook?

  • FlexBooks are focused on teaching materials for Kindergarten through 12th grade. Our books conform to national and California state standards for K-12 textbooks. We also offer materials such as Lesson Objectives, Vocabulary, and Q&A -- similar to the ancillary materials found in textbooks.

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

  • 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 books, RSS feed, and HTML.

What is the cost to print a FlexBook?

  • Our site creates a PDF file of the FlexBook you choose or create. Your printing costs will depend on how you choose to print the PDF file: at home, at school, or at 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. You can also choose to print only a portion of the FlexBook.

Do I have to print the book or can I view it online?

  • You will not be required to print a FlexBook. Our site will host your book online and you can simply view it using your web browser.

Can you help me get actual books?

  • Today, you may print FlexBooks on your personal printer. In the future, we will establish a relationship with an on-demand, professional printer who will be able to print in a wide variety of formats.

I'm interested in donating a textbook I've written. How do I go about it?

  • We will be delighted to add your K-12 textbook to our FlexBook library. Please email you materials to info@ck12.org. As wih all of our FlexBook materials, you must agree to ascribe a CC-BY-SA license to your textbook. In addition, our editors will make sure your book conforms to national and California state standards before we add it to our library.

I'm interested in writing materials to share with the CK-12 FlexBook community. How do I about it?

  • We encourage you to add your materials to our library. There are several ways to do so:
    • If you want to add a book to the FlexBook library, email it to us at info@ck12.org. In the future, you'll be able to register on the FlexBooks site and send your book to us through the site. For a demo about how to use the FlexBooks system, see it here.
  • If you need help, email us as info@ck12.org.
  • Remember that the materials you contribute must either be original work or available under a license compatible with CC-BY-NC-SA. For more information, please refer to our copyright policy here.

Information About CK-12

What is CK-12?

  • The 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 materials to be used both as core textbooks and as the basis for customized materials.
  • To learn more about our organization, visit http://www.ck12.org/about/

What is the goal of CK-12?

  • CK-12's goal is to create an online collaborative environment to produce free, open-source textbooks that conform to curriculum guidelines and can be customized for individualized needs.

What is the cost of using CK-12's FlexBooks?

  • CK-12's FlexBooks are available free of charge. You can view them online with your browser, or use them with a PDF reader. If you choose to print a FlexBook, you simply pay the printing costs.

How is CK-12 funded?

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

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

  • CK-12's FlexBooks are unique in that we aim to provide a comprehensive K-12 online curriculum that conforms to national and state standards. We currently cover science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Our FlexBooks system is the only free web-based application for adapting open-source material and creating customized textbooks.

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

  • Anyone can use this 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. In addition, our founder Neeru Khosla is particularly passionate about K-12 education.
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