Innovative Uses and Best Practices to Go Beyond the Ordinary
You have likely seen some version of digital signage already: an electronic bulletin board meant to share basic information with people passing by. However, implemented and used strategically, digital signage can do more than simply share information, it can create a culture of belonging, bolster school spirit, and even inspire creative problem solving.
Vivi recently hosted several of our customers in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States for a series of online conversations about their innovative uses of Vivi Digital Signage.
Get ready to be inspired!
Displaying exam clocks and student work
At Wyong Christian Community School in New South Wales, Australia, Vivi digital signage hangs back-to-back in the breezeways, in their cafeteria, classrooms, staffroom, multi-purpose space and gymnasium. In addition to news updates, school values, team rosters, etc, Wyong uses the signage as a giant countdown clock for exams that’s queued up in a playlist and ready to go in seconds. In their multi-purpose room, the Vivi screens are a place where students can share presentations easily and wirelessly to large groups, putting student-centered learning at the forefront.
Example of digital signage showing timers for exams at Wyong Christian Community School.
Implementing Vivi’s digital signage across the entire school was “Very intuitive, very simple,” says Lance Gierhart, Director of IT. “The big thing is that it’s very functional for anyone. It didn’t take long to understand the whole system, and to be able to implement digital signage with Vivi. We have one system everyone can go to.”
Showcasing student work and highlighting achievements
Barker College, a large, multi-campus school outside Sydney, Australia, has taken digital signage to new heights. Barker has been using Vivi since 2016 and now has over 300 digital signage Vivi screens throughout its campus. Thanks to savvy management by their communications team and graphic designers, a lot of thought and care has gone into the importance of holistic digital signage as a place where their school community really comes together. A beautiful, bright piece of indigenous student artwork is the main splash page for all of the main area screens.
Examples of digital signage from Barker College
Many times per week, a math problem is posed to students, who can then race to solve the question and submit their answers for the chance to win a prize. In the backstage areas of their auditorium, students who are practicing for the school play look to the digital signage screens showing live footage of the stage to know when it’s their turn to go on. In the cafeteria, the signage displays the days’ menu as well as options for upcoming days. Main area displays show data around how many trees the school has saved thanks to its many solar panels.
Building enthusiasm, starting conversations and more
Nova Education Trust, a multi academy trust in the United Kingdom, leans heavily on their Vivi digital signage to foster a strong sense of community and engage students in many ways. Nova’s signage delivers updates; reinforces messages, rules, or themes; attracts parent and community engagement; and celebrates successes of current and former students.
For example, when the staff wanted to encourage slightly higher history scores but students were struggling with enthusiasm in the subject, staff used their Vivi screens to drop fun facts from history and current events to drive that interest. Students were then “learning by accident” just by walking past.
Examples of digital signage shared by Nova Education Trust.
Similarly, they post art challenges, book recommendations, and opportunities for community engagement, such as local charity food drives. Notes Michael Sanderson, Director of IT and Data Services, these types of posts “….really strike up conversations. Kids walk past [the Vivi signage] in groups of three or four and it becomes a talking point.” Images and quick facts on successful alumni of the school inspire students to keep showing up and working hard.
Lest you think digital signage is only for fun and games, it also works brilliantly for safety-centered messaging as well. When you have a shift in rules on how students are to move about the building, for example, digital signage can simplify that messaging. Nova used a map of their corridor with arrows pointing the way students were to travel. Sanderson shared: “Try explaining this to a bunch of students: ‘We’ve made this corridor one way. Please only walk that way. If you need to get back downstairs, go to the end and go down those stairs. Confusion everywhere. But if you put that monitor up at both ends of the corridor, it makes it really simple for everyone, and removes any excuses for missing the message.”
A big part of their school’s success implementing Vivi’s digital signage, Sanderson says, is getting content creation buy-in from staff and educators. “Because we’ve been able to delegate the management, it becomes a very small job for multiple people which just encourages the signage to be up-to-date. Your content becomes far more varied and will draw in a wider audience.”
A little fun can go a long way
Examples of how Regis Jesuit High School is using digital signage.
Back across the pond, at Denver, Colorado’s Regis Jesuit High School, Jason Beyer, the Director of Educational Technology shares some of the fun ways he and his colleagues are using digital signage to lower stress for students, spotlight key themes, and spark some conversations. In particular, he mentions how he likes to display bad jokes (“the more cringeworthy the better”) as well as incorporate live feeds from the Aquarium of the Pacific as a way to relieve some stress for teachers and students or align to events, such as Earth Day. Other creative uses include interactive polls and brain teasers.
In Vancouver, British Columbia, Lisa Cunningham, the Visual Identity Manager at Mulgrave School, talks about the benefits of targeting their messaging to specific screens to get really granular on where they display which message. This allows them to display their more parent- and community-focused messaging on their screens in public areas, especially during community events versus other communications that might only be shown on screens in Grade 3 classrooms. She also advocates including QR codes on their digital signage to add a layer of interactivity to some of their communications, enabling students to do things like purchase tickets for a school event, vote in a student election, or access an online program, which has an added benefit of saving money that might otherwise be spent on printing posters or flyers.
Want even more inspiration? Check out Vivi’s webinars to learn from educators around the globe on how they are leveraging Vivi’s digital signage and wireless screen mirroring at their schools.
Want even more inspiration? Check out Vivi’s webinars with educators around the globe for further examples and ideas on how digital signage can bring positive experiences for learning and communicating to your school community as well.
