Frequently Asked Questions
If you have questions about Elementum Scriptor plese refer to our FAQ section below to find an answer. You can also refer to the Instruction Manual. If you are still unable to find an answer please contact us using our email form.
How do I save my work?
On closing Elementum Scriptor your work will be saved automatically.
I cannot get my lesson plans or schemes of work in sequence.
Make sure that you have numbered the lesson plans and schemes of work in the sequencing box at the top of the page. Any combination of numbers can be used including gaps in sequence. For example, 1, 2, 5, 10, 23 and 36 is an equally a valid sequence.
Where do I write my lesson plans?
If you have been designated as a Project Manager then you must access Project Manager and Lesson Planning button on the front menu. Lesson Planning on these forms act as an exemplar to other teachers. Teachers who are not Module Managers and teach to a scheme of work, may wish to extract the most relevant points to include in their own Lesson Planning folders contained within Elementum Scriptor. These can be accessed by selecting the Planning for Teachers button on the front menu.
I have read the information online. Am I right in thinking when it describes Planning Folders for 8 teachers that this is the maximum supported as we have more staff in the Faculty?
There are a few ways around this. The personal folders can be shared between two staff increasing capacity to sixteen teachers if you so wish, just put both sets of initials in the Teacher Name label. They can label each set of plans with their own names in the Lesson Plan title. Alternatively you can rename the personal planning folders into Project Names, Disciplines, GCSE, GCSE Applied etc or even use Key Stages rather than Teacher Names.
How do I print?
You must only print the printable documents. Documents where you manually type are not printable and will not format properly. Select File and Print to access the printing dialogue box. On printing a report you may enter a numbered page, a range of pages or print the whole document.
How do I delete schemes of work, lesson plans and records?
Any form can be deleted either as a single form or as a group of forms. Deletion of individual records and group records is achieved by clicking in the far left vertical tan bar in a vertical entry form. When the vertical bar turns black, the delete key can be pressed to delete just one record. This process is not reversible.
A class set of records is deleted by selecting all records by holding the Ctrl function key and pressing 'A'. Then press Delete on the keyboard. Please check the number of records before agreeing to the action. It should correspond with the number in the group. This process is not reversible.
I wrote a lesson plan, scheme of work or set of records. When I reopen the form the first record is blank.
This is caused by the space bar being hit and a record being created on an empty form. If the space is in the surname field then the record will be alphabetically sorted and appear as record one. This is easily rectified. Delete the blank record using the delete function for one record. The records should now reappear in alphabetical order.
A new student has joined my class. How do I create a record?
Go to the last record and scroll using the navigation keys to the next record. A new form will appear. Alternately, use the navigation keys to select a new record.
What about the Key Stage 3 Review?
Elementum Scriptor D & T is fully updated to meet the needs of the new National Curriculum 2008.
How can I spell check?
Press the F7 key. It is useful to add names to the dictionary when a unknown forename or surname appears.
What do I do at the end of the academic year?
Archive the copy of the Elementum Scriptor database in a safe folder on your network. Give it a name that you can relate to in case you need to retrieve information at a later date. This is a task for a network administrator or the Elementum Scriptor Manager.
I have been using Elementum Scriptor for one year and want to start again with a fresh Mark Book but not lose any of the planning or schemes written by teachers at my school. How do I do this?
This is a task for the Elementum Scriptor Manager only. Archive a copy of the entire Elementum Scriptor database to a secure location and give the folder a name that you can relate to in case you need to retrieve information at a later date. (The Elementum Scriptor Manager may wish to print a copy of the entire database before deleting records.) Open up Elementum Scriptor as normal and go to the Mark Book. Open up each class group and select the long tan coloured bar on the far left of the page. To delete all records for the class press and hold the ‘Ctrl’ key and tap the ‘A’ key on your keyboard. This will select all records. Now press the ‘Delete’ key. You will be asked once if you wish to delete a specified number of records. This process is irreversible. On doing so you will have a new blank set of records into which you can type data.
Why do my student records not get carried over to next year?
The author of Elementum Scriptor has replicated a common mark book approach to the Elementum Scriptor Mark Book whereby a paper version would be replaced each year. In practice teachers often change teaching groups at the start of the year and prefer to be responsible for their own Elementum Scriptor Mark Book. Erroneous data such as a misspelled name will not be carried over. Likewise, the reports produced by Elementum Scriptor will be totally empty ready for the new reporting schedule.
Why do the homework and class work titles not get replicated for each student in the class?
This was a deliberate strategy to encourage teachers to give differentiated homework tasks or to give grades and rewards for a range of different class based activities. Teachers can however simply replicate the homework from student to student by copying and pasting from field to field. Simply copy the title you wish to replicate across all records by highlighting the text and holding the ‘Ctrl’ key and tap the ‘C’ key on your keyboard. Use the navigation keys to scroll to the next record with your mouse. The next record will have the flashing caret in the correct field. Now tap the ‘V’ key on your keyboard to paste each title in without having to type it in. Again, tap the ‘V’ key on your keyboard for each student record until all students have the homework or class work title. Remember that you can still edit a title later.
Why are the longer homework and class work titles I type in shown in the Elementum Scriptor Mark Book title field?
The field itself will take long titles and these are displayed in the Elementum Scriptor Report for each student clearly. Simply for the purposes of layout the Elementum Scriptor author has reduced the size of the field so that the whole form for each student is easy to navigate. Up to forty homework and class work grades can be entered because of this layout.
We have a Personal Tutor/Form Tutor system at school and I would like a copy of the report to be sent to the Personal Tutor/Form Tutor. How can this be done in Elementum Scriptor?
After the student surname field enter the initials of the Personal Tutor/Form Tutor. On both the Elementum Scriptor Mark Book and Report the Personal Tutor/Form Tutor initials will be clearly shown.
Does the Elementum Scriptor Mark Book have access to comment banks?
The author of Elementum Scriptor has considered the use of comment banks and has in the interests of variety of comment has not included this function. In practice this has enhanced the personalisation of feedback to the students. However, teachers can write and paste a common generic statement at the start of each project. Simply copy the generic statement you wish to replicate across all records by highlighting the text and holding the ‘Ctrl’ key and tap the ‘C’ key on your keyboard. Use the navigation keys to scroll to the next record with your mouse. The next record will have the flashing caret in the correct field. Now tap the ‘V’ key on your keyboard to paste each generic statement without having to type it in. Again, tap the ‘V’ key on your keyboard for each student record until all students have the homework or class work title. Remember that you can still edit a generic statement later.
On reading the Elementum Scriptor Reports from my staff, I am unable to identify who wrote each comment.
Ask the teachers using the Elementum Scriptor Mark Book to type their name and date it at the end of their comments. This will print clearly on the Elementum Scriptor Report. Many teachers will copy and paste a generic statement and include a space for a personal comment then put their name and date on the final line. Once all students have a copy of the generic comment they will return to the report facility in Elementum Scriptor Mark Book and fill in the space left for a personalised and focused comment.
I have looked at the Schemes of Work written by my staff and they are not in a logical sequence. How do I sort this out?
Use the numerical sequencing box to place the schemes in the order that makes sense to you. Many teachers forget to do this. Previous versions of Elementum Scriptor had automated sequencing but this did not allow the flexibility to change project orders easily. This issue has been addressed in previous faq’s and in detail in the Elementum Scriptor Instruction Manual.
How do I know my data in the Elementum Scriptor Mark Book is safe?
The Elementum Scriptor application saves your work on exiting each form or the Elementum Scriptor application. As long as your network is reliable you should have no technical problems. Secondly, there should be enough hard disk space available on the network or standalone machine.
When should I back up the Elementum Scriptor application?
Everyday is a good routine to get into. Make sure you do this before users start the application.
How do I prevent staff/students from other curriculum areas from accessing the Elementum Scriptor application?
Discuss this with your network manager.
I am worried about some of my team not using the application properly. What should I do?
Become familiar with its working and look carefully at the FAQ’s. Educate your team members in good practice and raise the profile of the Elementum Scriptor application positively. In schools where it has been used the impact has been very favourable.
I have been told that I am the Elementum Scriptor Manager. What do I need to do?
Elementum Scriptor must have a school based Elementum Scriptor Manager to look after the day to day maintenance and daily back up. This is a simple daily procedure. When there are no users in Elementum Scriptor, simply copy and paste the application to a secure area of the network. You will also need to have an overview of the entire application and be able to provide printouts for others in some cases.
The Elementum Scriptor Manager also needs to perform some annual maintenance.
At the start of each Academic year the Elementum Scriptor application will need to be backed up and archived to a secure location on your school network. Simply copy and paste the Elementum Scriptor application to action this. Never copy and paste the application whilst someone is working in Elementum Scriptor. You can see if there is activity by a temporary lock file shown alongside the Elementum Scriptor application in the folder where the application is normally kept. This procedure will maintain and secure any Mark Book records in this version. The original version of Elementum Scriptor can now have the Mark Book records deleted using the delete function as explained in the instruction booklet.
Make sure that all class names and records have been deleted before allowing staff access to Elementum Scriptor for the start of the new academic year. You will need to do this for all classes in Design & Technology and Art & Design. If all class fields are used, this is a maximum of seventy classes per subject.
It is important to discuss the use and security of this application with the network manager in your school.
Can I have a separate copy of the Mark Book
Yes, you may download a blank copy of the Mark Book and an ESDT2008 copy without Mark Book. Click here to go to the downloads page. Select the copy you want to download and then select, ‘Download this media.’ The key you have purchased will work with all three copies.
I have downloaded the trial and extracted, when I double click I get the message\" This database is an unrecognised format\"
I am running Access 2000.
I have also tried to open from Access.
What should I do?
The database has been developed to work with Access 2002 - 2007. You can install the Microsoft Access Runtime application. This is free from Microsoft and will sort out running the application without Access on your computer.
Click here to download it.
I have read the frequently asked questions and cannot find an answer to my question. What do I do now?
Click here to visit our contact form where you can ask a question. The result of which will be posted for other users to view.