IT Guide

Filament Learning offers a suite of game-based digital science products that give students an immersive experience with the key scientific concepts that demand process-oriented and critical thinking. This guide provides Technology Coordinators, Technology Administrators, and other IT professionals the critical information to support teachers using Filament products.

SYSTEM COMPONENTS

Learning Platform

The platform provides access to the online software and downloadable materials. In addition it provides facilities for subscription management, enrollment, and rostering.

Tablet Games

Filament provides tablet versions of certain games to support classrooms with tablet carts or 1:1 tablets.

SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS

Filament Learning games are compatible with a wide range of platforms used in schools. The Minimum specification defines requirements to use the software at an acceptable level of responsiveness and fidelity. The Recommended specification defines requirements for the optimal user experience.

Minimum

  • Learning Platform

    Windows XP or newer, Mac OS X 10.4 or newer, Chrome OS 28 or newer

    Internet Explorer 10 or newer, Firefox 17 or newer, Chrome 28 or newer, Safari 5 or newer

    9.4" screen or larger

    Flash Player 10 or newer

    Intel core series processor or equivalent

    2 GB RAM

    Reliable internet connection

  • Android Games

    9.4" screen or larger

    Android 4.2 or newer

    Quad-core processor

    2 GB RAM

    Reliable internet connection

  • iPad Games

    iPad 2 or newer

    Reliable internet connection

Recommended

  • Learning Platform

    Windows Vista or newer, Mac OS X 10.6 or newer, Chrome OS 28 or newer

    Internet Explorer 10 or newer, Firefox 17 or newer, Chrome 28 or newer, Safari 5 or newer

    9.4" screen or larger

    Flash Player 10 or newer

    Intel core i5 series processor or equivalent

    2 GB RAM

    Reliable internet connection

  • Android Games

    9.4" screen or larger

    Android 4.2 or newer

    Quad-core processor

    2 GB RAM

    Reliable internet connection

  • iPad Games

    iPad 2 or newer

    Reliable internet connection

WHITELISTING

Filament software is provided as a Software-as-a-Service on the internet. In general, constant internet connectivity is required. Filament uses a specific list of domain names and networks to provide the service.

Web Filter / Proxy

While the primary Filament Learning domains are categorized as educational by most common web content filters, it is recommended that technology administrators specifically whitelist the below names to ensure smooth operation of the service within the institution.

  • www.filamentlearning.com

  • www.filamentgames.com

  • mps.filamentlearning.com

  • mps.filamentgames.com

  • cdn.filamentgames.com

  • cdn.filamentlearning.com

  • d2kx2fvqbvh3da.cloudfront.net

Email

If your mail server utilizes a blocklist, add the following networks to the appropriate whitelist:

  • 199.255.192.0/22

  • 199.127.232.0/22

  • 54.240.0.0/18

If you use Google Apps for Education and have Delivery Restrictions enabled, please whitelist the following email senders:

  • filamentlearning.com

  • filamentgames.com

See Restricted delivery setting for more details on controlling this feature for Google Apps for Education.

PRIVACY & SECURITY COMPLIANCE

As an internet service, there are two key regulations that govern privacy and security compliance of the service: the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act (COPPA).

Filament implements the following safeguards to prevent the collection of personally identifiable information of children under the age of 13 without consent of a guardian:

  • Filament does not collect Personally Identifiable Information about learners.

While compliance with FERPA is ultimately the responsibility of the educational institution, our games are designed to be compliance-friendly products. Filament implements the following safeguards and controls to ease FERPA compliance:

  • Filament does not collect Personally Identifiable Information about learners.
  • Filament does not store any information about learners that constitute education records.
  • The Filament Learning Web Platform follows common security best practices and all data transmitted to and from the service is encrypted via SSL.

For more details, see our Privacy Policy.

TERMS OF USE

Use of the service is governed by the End User License Agreement and Terms of Use. Please familiarize yourself with both agreements. While Filament will try to contact customers if substantial changes are made to either agreement, it is recommended that these terms be reviewed annually to ensure that any conflicts with your institution’s internal policies are identified.

License Compliance

Of particular note to technology administrators are the provisions regarding license compliance. Each license to Filament software grants access to a specific number of accounts. Educators have control over which of their sections are assigned to a license. All educators who use the provided Teacher Code, and all learners enrolled in sections where the license is assigned count towards the overall account usage for the license. Educators have control over which learners have access by sharing the secret Student Code for their Section and associating specific licenses with those sections.

Once a teacher associates a license with a section, they will not be able to remove that association. However, they will have the ability to archive the section 2 months after it was created. This allows teachers to assign those licenses to a new section, provided that the learners in the archived section were not simply transferred to a different section assigned to the same license.

For example: 1 License to Cell Command, 120 accounts:

  • 2 teachers each with 2 sections using Cell Command of 25 students each
  • Used accounts: 102
  • Available accounts: 18

A license dashboard is available on filamentlearning.com to view current compliance for all licenses linked to an account. It’s advised that all licenses within your institution be linked to the same account on filamentlearning.com for ease of administration. Please contact the Filament Help Center if you need any accounts consolidated.

Enforcement

Once the account limit for a license has been reached, the Teacher Code and any Student Codes linked to that license will no longer function for new accounts until one or more sections are archived.

Ordering Additional Accounts

To order additional accounts for an existing license, log on to the website using the account used to create the original order. You can either add the same product to your cart from the store, or click on the Add Accounts option in "My Library" next to the applicable product. Once you complete your order, the accounts will be added to your existing license. You will be able to continue using the original Student and Teacher Codes.

HELP CENTER

The Filament Help Center is standing by, Monday - Friday 9 AM - 6PM CT, to answer all of your questions and troubleshoot any issues you may have rolling out Filament Learning products.