The Challenge

Today’s schools have needs for some form of signage that can capture attention better than hand outs and paper posters. Addressing this challenge, schools are utilizing digital displays to improve the quality of communication between the school, students, and faculty. Paper handouts and static signs — people just pass straight through them and they don’t read them. Everyone is drawn to screens.

This leads them to explore digital signage in the elementary schools using mounted TVs, PowerPoint, and USB sticks. This process is usually cumbersome and time-consuming, with a lot to go wrong. It also requires a lot of time: someone must walk around every screen on campus, and someone had to create the images that would be used from scratch using a desktop publishing program. The benefits is clear, but there had to be a smarter way.

The Solution

As the screens network expands, they are searching for an affordable, solution that would save the school time and help them achieve their communication goals. When looking for a solution, schools choose Digital Signage solutions because of the ability to centrally manage the content displayed on the screens. Displays are usually set up in the lobby of the school, with announcements and important updates, in the office displays show upcoming events, displays in the guidance office, displays show job fairs, college visits and registration instructions to keep track of current job openings, displays in the hallways share messages about student accomplishments and broadcast live announcements.

Outside the gym, screens are set up because when people come to play sports, the team lineups are right there; they can see team praise and advertisements for future games. Schools use its digital displays to provide information based on time of day and location. At the start of the day, the player network shows breakfast menus for the free breakfast. After that, they switch to showing the Instagram and Twitter feeds of director, followed by messages recognizing students.The elementary school uses displays mostly for announcements, but the Parent Club can also use the displays to advertise different events to advertise different events.

Across the district, the admin assistants, guidance counselors, athletic director, IT, principals, the parent club, and more are all heavily involved in keeping the school up to date via Digital Signage. They keep content targeted to the age group, location, and time, and they use Digital Signage’s templates and integrations to help reduce the burden of keeping content fresh. The strategy of getting everyone involves in school communication has saves IT time and ensures that digital signage is an effective communication channel for the school.

Increased Awareness of Events and Important Updates

With Digital Signage, schools are now able to draw attention to important announcements and target their messages to students, parents, and community members. Many students now find events, clubs, and activities they didn’t know they were interested in, and would never have been aware of without the school- wide network of centrally-controlled screens.

During the pandemic, digital signage was invaluable. Last year the high school and middle school went to a hybrid model. There were students that were all remote, some hybrid, and some always in school so it became a very complex schedule and the signage helped keep everyone informed on what was going on. The digital signage also helped keep students connected during this time. The hybrid students who came in every other day were able to see on the displays what was going on the day prior which helped them stay connected to the school and other students.
Student Recognition and a Positive School Culture

One of school most ambitious and effective initiatives is Wall of Praise, based on the experience that there’s a ‘lost middle’ in schools. High-achieving students are accustomed to positive attention. And low-achieving students who are often in trouble get additional attention too. The majority of students are at risk of ‘disappearing’ in school, rendered invisible by the fact that they fit in — yet these students are the majority, and often those most responsive to the effects of a little positive feedback. Wall of Praise delivers that.

If any student or teacher sees a student perform a positive action, however small, they can write it up and take it to the principal. The principal signs off on it and it’s entered into a prize draw. The winner gets a prize, usually a gift certificate, and their photo is taken against the Wall of Praise.

That photo and the record of their positive action are then displayed on digital signage around the school. The reward is not really the point: it’s the recognition that’s valuable, letting everyone in the school know that the student is leading by example. To see their face on the displays is a great feeling for them and their friends and family as well.

Digital Signage in the Classrooms

Many school classrooms are usually equipped with interactive displays or projectors from various manufacturers. The Digital Signage content management system also allows you to turn them into an additional source of information for students to be shown between lessons.

Digital signage for schools doesn’t have to be difficult. Communicate better, fast with the best digital signage for education!