High Quality, Free, Digital and Open

I have been reading as many articles about digital textbooks as I can get my hands on, reading about the perceived pros and cons, the advantages and disadvantages to distributing learning material via the web, or a USB drive, or a DVD. When I came to work at CK-12 I was excited about the idea, and especially about CK-12’s books being free to access and printable at cost. Over the past 18 months I have become a true believer and advocate of digital learning materials, particularly those available under an open license, such as CC-By-SA.On one hand I can understand the reticence to accept a “free” and “digital” book. For many people just one of these terms automatically connotes poor quality, forget combining the two. But there are countless educators, developers and pioneers dedicated to making high quality free, digital textbooks, including CK-12.

Our July newsletter included an interview with Annamaria Farbizio and Juli Weiss. Annamaria is CK-12’s Math Editor and Leader, and Juli is our Science Editor and Leader. Gil Hoskins, Curriculum Alignment Specialist, and Gary Clarke, Content Manager, round out the CK-12 Content Team with Neeru Khosla as the team leader. This group of people works tirelessly to hire experts in math and science, teachers who hold master’s degrees or PhDs in their fields. You can read about them here.

In a recent Washington Post article,  Jay Diskey, executive director of the Association of American Publishers’ school division said, “Keep in mind that with open-source materials, you have to ask, ‘Where are they coming from?’ Is it a trusted source? Is it aligned to state standards? Is it based on real research?’ There can be quite a difference of content and accuracy [between free digital textbooks and traditional textbooks]. In many cases, you get what you pay for.”

Here are our answers to Mr. Diskey’s questions:

1. Where are they coming from? CK-12’s textbooks come as donations from universities, such as Arizona State University’s high school level engineering textbook, written by professors in their engineering department. They also come from expert volunteers, such as retired NASA engineer Jim Batterson, who together with former teacher and CK-12’s Partner Relations Manager Holland Lincoln, and the State of Virginia, created the 21st Century Physics FlexBook. Virginia commissioned that updated FlexBook to supplement the traditional publishers’ out-of-date texts. FlexBooks are also commissioned by CK-12, created by teachers who have at least five years experience in their subject, many of whom hold master’s degrees and PhDs in their subjects.
2. Is it a trusted source? CK-12’s books are as good as the experts we work with to create them. We consider college professors, teachers, NASA engineers and PhDs to be trusted sources.
3. Is it aligned to state standards? When CLRN evaluated CK-12’s FlexBook for alignment to state standards, none of our books scored below 83%, though most scored closer to 100% for alignment to California’s state standards. In contrast, Pearson’s traditional biology textbook met 46% of California’s biology standards. Source: http://www.clrn.org/FDTI/index.cfm
4. Is it based on real research? In a word, yes. CK-12’s author, editor and reviewer community are highly trained experts in their fields.

CK-12 is here for the good of the students. We are excited about lightening the load they carry to school, allowing their teachers to customize their materials, and making free and digital synonymous with high quality, up-do-date, and customizable in the world of textbooks.