mjgreen Posted April 25, 2012 Posted April 25, 2012 Hi all, (Windows 7, Office 2007 soon to be Office 2010) For a while now we have had an 'Examination' user which has been used for Exams when a pupil requires a Word Processor for an exam. This user ONLY has access to Wordpad and cannot access any other programs or the internet etc. This arrangement has been fine for a couple of years, but one of our learning support officers has now told us that the specifications from the exam board state that: * The candidate MUST be able to ensure that thier Name, centre number, candidate number and paper details appear on each page page as a header/footer. * The candidate MUST NOT have access to a spell check tool Our previous arrangment with Wordpad was fine as it did not have a spell checker, but as far as I can tell you cannot enter a header/footer in Wordpad. How do other schools achieve this? Do you use Word and disable Spell Check via GPO? Many thanks
Steve21 Posted April 25, 2012 Posted April 25, 2012 Hi all, (Windows 7, Office 2007 soon to be Office 2010) For a while now we have had an 'Examination' user which has been used for Exams when a pupil requires a Word Processor for an exam. This user ONLY has access to Wordpad and cannot access any other programs or the internet etc. This arrangement has been fine for a couple of years, but one of our learning support officers has now told us that the specifications from the exam board state that: * The candidate MUST be able to ensure that thier Name, centre number, candidate number and paper details appear on each page page as a header/footer. * The candidate MUST NOT have access to a spell check tool Our previous arrangment with Wordpad was fine as it did not have a spell checker, but as far as I can tell you cannot enter a header/footer in Wordpad. How do other schools achieve this? Do you use Word and disable Spell Check via GPO? Many thanks Curious as to which exam board? Never seen that before. But also, isn't that just on the printed version? Aka you could transfer the file to the exam officers and they print it in word? After exams over? Steve
mjgreen Posted April 25, 2012 Author Posted April 25, 2012 The board is JCQ. I have a hard copy of the document but unfortunatly cannot find the exact PDF on the JCQ website to post a link. It might be possible for the exams officer to transfer the written text after the exams, you are right. It just concerns me that the way that the document is written defintely suggests that this process should be done by the candidate and that they should use the word processor "where it is thier normal way of working within the centre"
Steve21 Posted April 25, 2012 Posted April 25, 2012 The board is JCQ. I have a hard copy of the document but unfortunatly cannot find the exact PDF on the JCQ website to post a link. It might be possible for the exams officer to transfer the written text after the exams, you are right. It just concerns me that the way that the document is written defintely suggests that this process should be done by the candidate and that they should use the word processor "where it is thier normal way of working within the centre" Advice: Where a candidate has been granted the use of a word processor, at the end of the examination the candidate should be present when the script is printed off so as to verify that the work printed is his or her own. The candidate must include their name, candidate number and centre number on each page as a header/footer. Each page should be appropriately numbered. Only my two cents, but doesn't say anywhere it needs to be added during the exam. Can be added after as such. Steve
mjgreen Posted April 25, 2012 Author Posted April 25, 2012 Its true Steve, maybe I will discuss that with the appropriate people. Out of interest, did you find a link to that? Wouldnt mind a copy thanks
Steve21 Posted April 25, 2012 Posted April 25, 2012 Its true Steve, maybe I will discuss that with the appropriate people. Out of interest, did you find a link to that? Wouldnt mind a copy thanks http://www.cityandguilds.com/documents/ICE_11-12.pdf Just off one of the main exam boards, but there's copy on edexcel etc etc on all of them really Seems JCQ rules over all the boards as such Steve
mjgreen Posted April 25, 2012 Author Posted April 25, 2012 thank you So is the way you actually do it in your school? Or are you speaking hypothetically?
Steve21 Posted April 25, 2012 Posted April 25, 2012 thank you So is the way you actually do it in your school? Or are you speaking hypothetically? Honestly not sure on that part. I only do the IT part, setting it up etc. We use full Wordpad though, the printing/registration parts etc done by our exam officer. Steve
DeltaBravo Posted April 25, 2012 Posted April 25, 2012 I've had this at my school too, I've got a script which will disable and enable spell checker, I’ll try to dig it out for you.
mjgreen Posted April 25, 2012 Author Posted April 25, 2012 That would be fantastic, thank you. The more research I do here seems to suggest that currently our candidates print the document immediatly at the end of the lesson. If I try and get them to change this process I know that it wont be accepted easily!
DeltaBravo Posted April 25, 2012 Posted April 25, 2012 You just have to make the following into a batch file To disable spell checker the script is: c: cd "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12" move msproof6.dll msproof6.dll.bak cd "C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\OFFICE12\Office Setup Controller" move setup.exe setup.exe.bak pause To enable spell checker the script is: c: cd "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12" move msproof6.dll.bak msproof6.dll cd "C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\OFFICE12\Office Setup Controller" move setup.exe.bak setup.exe pause Seems to do the job here without any issues. 1
RichCowell Posted April 25, 2012 Posted April 25, 2012 (edited) * The candidate MUST be able to ensure that thier Name, centre number, candidate number and paper details appear on each page page as a header/footer. Depends how you interpret that... so long as pupils know to enter it at the top or bottom of each page before printing it should be fine - exam boards can't tell whether it's actually entered in the software as a Header/Footer... I read it as though it must appear on each page as a header/footer, so doesn't state that it has to be set that way in the software... Edited April 25, 2012 by RichCowell
mjgreen Posted April 25, 2012 Author Posted April 25, 2012 Depends how you interpret that... so long as pupils know to enter it at the top or bottom of each page before printing it should be fine - exam boards can't tell whether it's actually entered in the software as a Header/Footer... I read it as though it must appear on each page as a header/footer, so doesn't state that it has to be set that way in the software... But does Wordpad seperate pages? Isnt it just one long document as far as the user can tell?
Achandler Posted April 25, 2012 Posted April 25, 2012 We use Ubuntu laptops and openoffice, then just delete the spellcheck files.
mjgreen Posted April 25, 2012 Author Posted April 25, 2012 You just have to make the following into a batch file To disable spell checker the script is: To enable spell checker the script is: Seems to do the job here without any issues. Thank you, I will look at that as an option Do you know if it works with Office 2010 as well (if I update the file locations obviosuly)
mjgreen Posted April 25, 2012 Author Posted April 25, 2012 We use Ubuntu laptops and openoffice, then just delete the spellcheck files. Thank you, but we dont have any spare laptops so our users need to use an exisiting 'regular' networked pc
DeltaBravo Posted April 25, 2012 Posted April 25, 2012 Thank you, I will look at that as an option Do you know if it works with Office 2010 as well (if I update the file locations obviosuly) It should do, never tried it on Office 2010 though sorry!
Steve21 Posted April 25, 2012 Posted April 25, 2012 It should do, never tried it on Office 2010 though sorry! I wouldn't suggest doing it on Office 2010. Never tried it as a student (so may be different), but I know when I tried that before word "will" self autoheal and create new files thus reinstalling itself. Steve
RichCowell Posted April 25, 2012 Posted April 25, 2012 There's another thread on here somewhere with all the instructions / GPO info needed to disable the various features that need to be removed... can't find it at the mo, but it's fairly recent... Worth checking out...
AngryTechnician Posted April 25, 2012 Posted April 25, 2012 Have you called the exam board and asked them for a recommendation? Because frankly, if they don't have a recommended solution, they shouldn't be making it a requirement.
Steve21 Posted April 25, 2012 Posted April 25, 2012 Have you called the exam board and asked them for a recommendation? Because frankly, if they don't have a recommended solution, they shouldn't be making it a requirement. £10 says the answer is "typewriter" Steve
mjgreen Posted April 25, 2012 Author Posted April 25, 2012 £10 says the answer is "typewriter" Steve LOL! Yes i was going to contact the Exam board but my colleague is in a meeting at the moment so I cant be noisy on the phone. I will see what they say though as I agree, they should have reccomendations. Thanks for the heads up about GPO, that would be my prefered method. Will have a dig for that thread.
mjgreen Posted April 25, 2012 Author Posted April 25, 2012 Just spoke to the Exam board and the solution is....... The candidate hand writes the name/candidate information etc on each sheet as they collect them from the printer! They were a bit cagey about it though and did not really want to specify a 'standard' way to do it,which I think is ridiculous!!
sjatkn Posted April 25, 2012 Posted April 25, 2012 The candidate hand writes the name/candidate information etc on each sheet as they collect them from the printer! They were a bit cagey about it though and did not really want to specify a 'standard' way to do it,which I think is ridiculous!! As you say this is ridiculous. I always thought the exam boards were in a world of their own when it came to this requirement. How can they expect anyone to meet their standards if they cannot offer any solutions to this problem. I know it would never happen but perhaps all the boards should join together and go Microsoft & LibreOffice / OpenOffice and ask them to produce an easy way to disable the spell checker.
wickit Posted May 24, 2012 Posted May 24, 2012 Just like to add a few things that we currently do, just in case someone is having the same sort of issues we do the whole renaming the dll thing for the spell checking, but we also added a nice safeguard, I have created a macro on the main document that saves every 5 mins to a folder on the root of the drive with a date and time stamp, that way we have a backup if laptop crashes usb fails student meltdown ect ect Im more than happy to share this if anyone would like it.
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