The menu on the left might be changed to display these links
Brochure Old way Design Using Comment Bank Concerns Advantages

To see what Pupil Reporter's main window looks like click here.

The exact appearance of Pupil Reporter depends on the design of a school's report form. The design is decided upon before writing the reports, and blank files are given to the teachers. The teacher does not have to adjust the form layout or program appearance, but can start typing right away. Whatever the design, there will always be a class list on the bottom-left of the screen. The teacher adds the names of pupils in a class to this list, which will be saved together in a single file. Then when a name is clicked on all the other areas then correspond to that pupil.

The screen displays the titles of the topics to be reported on. By clicking on a title, a box expands to show the appropriate text. This can be edited as in a standard word processor. By clicking on different names and titles you can compare and edit your reports. A sentence or paragraph can easily be transferred to another pupil with paste and copy. However unlike a regular word processor the name and pronouns will be altered to the new pupil. For example, 'Peter has performed very well in his homework. This has clearly paid off for him, and he has averaged over 80% in class tests.', becomes 'Emily has performed very well in her homework. This has clearly paid off for her, and she has averaged over 80% in class tests.' This means common phrases do not have to be retyped for each pupil, although of course personal details must be altered by hand.

Groups of pupils can be predefined and text sent to a group. You might group the pupils by ability, or by the table they sit on, or by which project they are working on. You can define and name 10 groups independently, with any number of pupils in each group. These groups can be temporarily adjusted, or text sent to names selected from a list. The text is updated for each pupil. The groups can also be used in the Comment Bank.

The screen also displays a word count for each report topic, and a bar representing how much of the available space has been used. There are also a 2 tiny boxes whose colours can be changed to signify what stage of writing the report text has reached.

Pupil Reporter is simple and straightforward. It makes getting to and editing text very quick, and enables you to move text around easily. However the teacher must still do the work and write the reports. When you are satisfied with the text it can spell checked and printed. A rough print can be made, which is text only, or prints made with the schools report form design. The program can also create web pages of reports; schools can then use them to develop an easy method for teachers to look up the reports of pupils.