In the olden days, we used to carry a bundle of textbooks to school. We needed to buy new books every year. They were spacious, expensive and difficult to carry to school and back home. Nowadays, the current educational system is trying to reduce the physical
weight from the students’ shoulders by replacing textbooks with smart and mobile technological devices like laptops, smartphones and tablets.
Many institutions have already implemented this concept of mobile technology, all they are trying to do is find some quality content. 21st century
students are much more interested in new ways of learning. Teachers are also trying to provide their students with better resources which help them learn the high quality content. Though there are many online resources which help students and teachers by providing great global content. In this article, we provide you with a great online resource for K-12 STEM content – CK12.org.
Textbooks could be expensive, cumbersome, outdated and inaccessible. That’s why CK12.org
introduces Flexbooks to its users. This online resource allows students, educators, parents and administrators to access free text books. Educators can create high quality content to share their knowledge and expertise and the quality can be verified and assured by CK-12’s community of educational practitioners. It also provides collaborative learning via a community of authors, teachers and students. Let’s learn about Ck12 briefly.
Educators find pre made flexbooks which they can edit and customize to the needs of their students.
Key Features:
Find content
Read and interact with it
Look or save content to view later
Download & Share content.
CK12 helps you find and save the content easily (Quick Guide):
Join Ck12 by creating your free account, or you can sign in with Google, Facebook or Twitter accounts. To find the content you need, click on the appropriate subject shown in the web layout. You can find concepts, teacher additions and flexbooks. Click the content title to read the full text, you’ll have the option of reading, downloading or browsing through the table of contents of the book or concept. Click on “Subjects” at the top of the page to jump to a different subject area. You can also use the search bar to find additional, relevant or entirely different material. Once you’ve found the concept you’re looking for, simply click on its title and go to the concept’s page. You can read a concept right in the browser or download the content in the format you desire such as an ePub to use with iPad, PDF or a mobi for Kindle. You can easily save content in your account by clicking the bookmark label. Find it later by clicking the CK12 logo at the top and then click on the “bookmarks”.
Ck12 Digital Flexbooks & Concepts:
Creating digital flexbooks is a revolutionary idea by Ck12. It collects most important material from textbooks to create flexbooks which are online textbooks for students of middle and high school. Flexbooks are easily accessible and customizable. Educators can create their own flexbooks with only the chapters they want. These chapters are filled with interactive materials along with videos and simulation. You can customize a flexbook by editing text, adding multimedia, inserting an equation, re-sequencing chapters, changing cover art and more. CK12 provides you with many tools to import content from MS Word & Google Docs.
Concept Based Learning:
CK12 also introduces concept based learning where you can build your knowledge with one concept at a time as they contain the most relevant material based on a concept.
Interactive:
CK12’s content is qualitative as well as interactive. It provides multiple ways to learn a concept. Flexbooks contain images, videos and animations. Learn content by participating in quizzes and interactive activities and the simulations here provide you with real life learning.
CK12 tests your knowledge and tracks your progress:
Once you’ve read and understood the concept in a flexbook, you can test your knowledge by taking a quiz. You can track your progress; it provides instant feedback as well as information about the concepts you mastered well and the ones you need some more practice. “Study guides” is a key feature to help you prepare and ace the quiz that is coming up.
Learn from anywhere and anytime:
CK12 helps you learn from anywhere. With an e-Reader device like an iPad, your studies become portable. You can read online or print a copy or share the contents as an email.
Collaborative Learning:
CK12 provides a great platform for students, educators, authors and administrators to create, access, share, rate, recommend and publish content. CK12’s community forum includes general discussions, curriculum alignments, lesson plans and much more where users can exchange and explore the knowledge cluster.
Revision and Future reference:
When you’re reading a concept in a flexbook, it’s better if you collect some information for future references. CK12 allows you to highlight the important stuff as you go, this can help you make notes for revision of the important stuff. You can also bookmark it to read or re-visit later.
Whether you’re a student or an educator, CK12 helps you achieve your educational goals.
This is how CK12.org is helping 21st century students, educators, administrators and parents. We’d like to know your views on a resource like CK12. If you know more sources like CK12, please share with us in the comment box.
