Executive Summary:
Oakhill College wanted to communicate and engage with students and staff throughout the day without adding complexity for internal teams. Already using Vivi for wireless screen sharing in classrooms, they added Vivi to common area screens for digital signage. This let tasks be distributed among staff and elevated signage content by allowing multimedia content to be shared, all while keeping management in Vivi Central.
Background
Founded in 1936, Oakhill College serves approximately 2,200 students and employs 250 staff members. The institution operates as a boys’ College from Years 7 to 10 and becomes co-educational for Years 11 and 12. As a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) school, students bring either a Mac or Windows device, reflecting the same technology usage among staff.
The College has 185 learning spaces equipped with 92 projectors, 29 interactive panels, and 23 non-interactive panels. They have been using Vivi since 2017 and currently have 161 displays equipped with Vivi which they use for both wireless screen mirroring and digital signage.
Challenges
Increase connection with students during the school day
With a large campus and student body, it was important for Oakhill College to be able to engage with their students beyond just the classroom environment. Oakhill’s Director of ICT, Anton Kraus, noted that one thing they needed to consider when developing their campus communications strategy was that students digest information differently.
“Some students are receptive to information via plain text, whereas others through email or through learning management systems or portals, but other students are very receptive to screens,” explains Kraus.
Simplify tech management
Having worked in Education for over 20 years, Kraus is also no stranger to the challenges of creating a tech stack that works seamlessly and meets the needs of both staff and students.
“I previously worked at a school that managed digital signage with PC sticks plugged into TV HDMI ports. This solution was extremely clunky, hard to manage, and uploading content to those devices was a significant challenge. Seeing this, I took a step back and realized how impractical it was.”
Solution
Integrating Vivi’s digital signage across Oakhill College was a strategic move. Already familiar with Vivi’s wireless screen mirroring in classrooms, the team found it easy to bring the same technology to public spaces through Vivi Central. This platform keeps everything connected, simplifying how the college communicates across various campus areas.
Digital screens are now a common sight around the campus. You’ll see them in stairwells, labs, and meeting rooms, where they keep everyone up to date with the latest announcements and information. These displays help ensure that no important message is missed.
Out on the sports fields, digital signage does more than just showcase game scores. They bring the community together by sharing updates, event schedules, and celebratory messages, adding to the excitement of school sports.
Vivi also makes a difference in labs, where clear and immediate communication is key. It supports everything from group projects to important discussions, making sure everyone stays on the same page.
Getting different teams involved
Developing and executing a comprehensive campus communications strategy can be complex initially, prompting Oakhill College to distribute tasks across various teams. “We have two teams handling the content for our screens. The ICT team leads Daily Notices. They gather information from administrative and educational sources each morning to create the necessary slides,” explains Kraus.
“For notifications that need to be displayed over longer periods—whether daily, weekly, monthly, or indefinitely—the marketing team takes over. Our Marketing Manager designs appealing slides and organizes them into a Google Slides deck, which is the backbone of our digital signage system.”
“So, the ICT team manages the daily updates, while the marketing team oversees broader community communications, pulling content from a variety of sources to keep our screens current.” Assigning roles and permissions in Vivi Central makes distributing responsibilities manageable.
Once the strategy was set and responsibilities assigned, maintaining the content has become routine for both teams, streamlining their daily operations, and ensuring consistent communication across the campus.
Reaching more students with different media
In addition to standard text, Oakhill College has not been afraid to get creative and play around with videos and images for their digital signage to allow students who dissect information differently to better engage with their messaging. “Having the same information distributed to students, but via different means, certainly strengthens the community. You are targeting all students irrespective of how they like to digest their information. And when you consider the school community, it is really effective to distribute information via those different media types.”
Outcomes
More communication, less disruption
Using Vivi for digital signage has allowed Oakhill College to increase their volume of communications, while limiting classroom interruptions, something teachers appreciate. We’ve configured Vivi to keep all screens displaying a continuous slideshow throughout the day. When a teacher needs to present their own content, they can easily take control of the screen using Vivi. Once they disconnect, the system automatically returns to the slideshow.
A seamless all-in-one solution
Since the College was already using Vivi for wireless screen mirroring, they didn’t require any additional tools to get up and running with digital signage. Plus, it was already a system that their team was familiar with, allowing digital signage and their campus comms strategy to be ramped up quickly and seamlessly.
Increased sense of community
The limitless options that digital signage offers have allowed Oakhill College to use it to create a positive campus culture. From sharing important messaging around mental health (including Kids Helplines) and e-safety campaigns, to engaging video content starring the College’s Principal to launch Book Week, it has allowed the school to connect with students beyond the classroom and involve more staff members and departments.
