California-based non-profitable organization
The CK-12 Foundation is a California-based non-profit organization which aims to increase access to low-cost K-12 education in the United States and abroad.[2] CK-12 provides free and customizable K-12 open educational resources aligned to state curriculum standards. As of 2022, the foundation's tools were used by over 200,000,000 students worldwide.[2]
CK-12 was set up to support K-12 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education. It first produced content via a web-based platform called "FlexBook."[3][4]
History
CK-12 was established in 2007 by Neeru Khosla and Murugan Pal as a not-for-profit educational organization.[5] Teacher-generated content was initially made available under Creative Commons Attribution licenses so as to make it simpler, easier, and more affordable for children to access educational resources.[6][7] However, they later switched to a Creative Commons Non Commercial licence,[8] and then to their own "CK-12" license.[9]
Originally, the "C" in CK-12 stood for "connect", indicating that the material was the missing connection in K-12 education. Subsequently, it took on a more open meaning, variously standing for "content, classroom, customizable, connections, collaboration".[10]
In 2010, NASA teamed up with CK-12 to produce physics-related resources.[11]
In March 2013, Microsoft announced a partnership with CK-12 to provide content to Microsoft's Windows 8 customers.[12]
FlexBook System
The foundation's FlexBook website permits the assembly and creation of downloadable educational resources which can be customized to meet classroom needs. Some Flexbooks are even available in Spanish and Hindi. Content is offered under a Creative Commons licence, so removing many of the restrictions that limit distribution of traditional textbooks, and are available in various formats.[13][14]
Approach
The CK-12 Foundation's approach to supporting education in schools is by providing it as small, individual elements, rather than as large textbooks. As of 2012, some 5,000 individual elements were available in various formats such as textual descriptions, video lectures, multi-media simulations, photo galleries, practical experiments or flash cards.[15]
Other products
In addition to its 88 FlexBooks, the CK-12 Foundation also offers the following online resources to K-12 students:
- CK-12 Braingenie -a repository of math and science practice materials.[16]
- CK-12 FlexMath - an interactive, year-long Algebra 1 curriculum.
- CK-12 INeedAPencil - a free SAT preparation website, founded in 2007 by then high school student, Jason Shah.[17]
