Tips | Learning Goals | Idea Generator |
Trainers | Handouts | Additional Resources

Introduction
This guide provides a broad overview of Filamentality as well as tips on how it can be used based on your learning goals. Before you spend tons of precious time making a web page, you might want to see what other Filamentality users have already done by using the KNE Search Page to search Filamentality. We have also created handouts and a powerpoint presentation that you can download to help you understand, use, and train others to use Filamentality.

Note: For step-by-step directions, take a look at the Guided Tour or download the Filamentality flowchart handout.

Tips
Filamentality has two specific features to support and simplify the process of making a webpage: 1) Mentality Tips and 2) "Quick Spins."

1. Mentality Tips help you make decisions or complete tasks. The first time you use Filamentality, we suggest you click on these whenever you run across them. Mentality Tips provide user-friendly explanations related to what you are doing in Filamentality.
   
   
2. Quick Spin: You can speed things up along the way by taking a "Quick Spin" whenever one is offered. Quick Spins allow you to skip some steps. Instead of asking you to create your own title, introduction, and so forth, Filamentality will use some stock wording. Of course, you can always return to your existing topic and add your own flair later; but the first time through, you might like to take the generic route.

Learning Goals
How is Filamentality different? Filamentality is trying to be more than just a tool that makes a web page. There are plenty of good "HTML" programs out there for making web pages. Filamentality is trying to help you create web pages that encourage real, active learning. Filamentality assists you in making five different kinds of pages (formats) depending upon the goal you have for users of your page.

Explore the relationship between your goals and the different kinds of activities Filamentality can build for you. In terms of time and difficulty, things get more complicated as you move from left to right. So a Mentality Tip might be to begin with a Hotlist first. Click on any of the graphics in the chart below to go to a more indepth description.

Idea Generator

Want to create a page; but keep coming up dry in the idea department? Here is a handy tool to help you get the ideas flowing.

Trainers Guide
If you're a trainer, you're already convinced that the Internet contains terrific resources for learning. Now you're training others to intelligently integrate the richness of the Internet into their everyday classroom or library environment. The members of the Education Advocate team have successfully used Filamentality with literally tens of thousands of educators and librarians to demonstrate the ways that users can harness the Internet and easily create web-based activities for their learners.

In addition to their free workshops, some of their workshop materials are available online so that you too can use them in your training. We have a short PowerPoint Introduction to Filamentality that covers the basics. We also have an indepth step by step PowerPoint for creating a Hotlist called Using Filamentality.

Handouts
These handouts can be used in a variety of ways to fit your needs--whether you are conducting a hands-on workshop or simply talking about Filamentality. They were developed to explain the mechanical steps used in Filamentality and as a means of explaining the various formats and their instructional uses. The following handouts are currently available for you to download. Clicking on the handouts will start the download.

• Fact Sheet: an MS Word document which provides a quick introduction to Filamentality and the various formats.
  
  
• Flow Chart: an MS Word document which provides a graphic outline of the mechanical steps used in Filamentality. The Flow Chart is best used in a hands-on session while you are explaining the Filamentality along with the Guided Tour or as users are actually going through the Filamentality process.
  
  
• Guided Tour: The Guided Tour handout is formatted so that you  walk users through each of the Filamentality screens, explain what the user should be doing, and provides special instructions and talking points. The handout allows trainees to follow along and take notes. The handout is quite large and contains many graphics so it can be a slow download. You can download the Adobe pdf Guided Tour Handout and see what you think. It will open in its own window. Some of the graphics need to be updated; but the process is still the same.
  
  
• Format Activity (400K) - this can be used to train on the use of Filamentality formats. Teams study one format each; then present to the entire group. Use these handouts to record information about each format.

Additional Training Resources
These resources will help you or your learners along if they are not quite ready to create their own web-based activities. Each of the links below can stand on its own as a training module. They progress from introducing beginners to "Surf, Stumble, Search, and Lurch" their way along the information highway to coaching more advanced users to move "Beyond Filamentality" by adding graphics or using multiple browsers.

	Before someone can be expected to teach students something (let alone champion, evangelize, or inspire), that person needs to have a heart-felt, internalized insight on the value of what he or she is teaching. So to help people Surf, Stumble, Search, and Lurch their way to this insight, try exploring this page.
	The classification system presented here was used as the basis for Blue Web'n, a library of blue ribbon web sites for educators. You can skim the categories at Blue Web'n's "Brief Definition of Application Types."