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Monday, March 09, 2009

Virginia releases open "flexbook" on physics

Virginia Releases Physics Flexbook for Public Review, press release, February 27, 2009.

Secretary of Technology Aneesh Chopra and Secretary of Education Tom Morris today announced the release of a beta (preliminary) version of 21st Century Physics FlexBook: A Compilation of Contemporary and Emerging Technologies. This early release version of the physics FlexBook is a piece of the quality assurance process and will give the public approximately two weeks to provide feedback on the content and website in advance of the official release in mid–March.

The Virginia Physics FlexBook project is a collaborative effort of the Secretaries of Education and Technology and the Department of Education that seeks to investigate the use of open education resources to elevate the quality of information available for high school physics instruction across the Commonwealth. The FlexBook is a compilation of supplemental materials relating to 21st century physics in an open–content format that can be used to strengthen existing physics content. The Commonwealth is partnering with CK–12 on this initiative as they are the creators of the FlexBook concept and have provided the free, open–content technology platform for the publication. The FlexBook — defined simply as an adaptive, web–based set of instructional materials, is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike (CC–BY–SA) and thus can be used as is, used in part, or enhanced by teachers based on their curriculum and classroom needs. ...

The Virginia Physics FlexBook, written and compiled over the past several months, was authored by thirteen volunteer members of Virginia's K–12 physics teacher community as well as industry and university faculty from Virginia and surrounding states. In order to ensure the quality of the content, each chapter has already received three reviews: a technical review by College of William and Mary physics professor, David Armstrong, a peer review by other authors, and student reviews by high school and college–age students. The fourth and final review begins today with this release seeking public feedback. ...

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See also our past post on the flexbook.