Executive Summary:
With Vivi’s wireless screen mirroring, digital signage, and emergency alerts, Prahran High School has fostered a stronger sense of community across their vertical campus.
Background
Prahran High School is a new vertical school just 10 minutes from Melbourne’s central business district. The five-story campus, connected by cascading stairs, includes classrooms and learning spaces on every level. With modern technology to support project-based learning, the school features TVs, projectors, and whiteboards. Smaller classrooms have at least one TV display, while larger ones have two or more for team-teaching.
Challenge
Prahran’s vertical layout offered particular challenges for fostering a sense of community within the building. With various learning spaces—smaller and larger classrooms—in one part of the building, and walkways and hallways in the other, Prahran sought to turn their vertical layout into an advantage. Essentially, they wanted one solution whereby they could build community, amplify school values, and increase student engagement for their more than 600 students.
Solution
Prahran High School implemented Vivi across every classroom, attracted by its rich engagement features designed to align with the school’s core values: Creativity, Curiosity, Challenge, and Character. Vivi’s wireless screen mirroring for both teachers and students, interactive whiteboard capabilities, timers, and mindfulness tools provide a more dynamic learning environment. In addition to enhancing classroom experiences, Prahran sought a solution that integrated seamlessly with digital signage and streamlined emergency alert delivery. To this end, they deployed Vivi for digital signage on screens in public areas with high foot traffic.
The school now operates 55 Vivi boxes throughout its campus, utilizing Vivi’s powerful suite of tools: Vivi Central, Wireless Screen Mirroring, Digital Signage, and Emergency Alerts. According to IT Infrastructure Technician Dragisa Sinikovic, they adopted “a mixture of displays in primarily team-teaching classes, so we’re able to have the main display with shared broadcast functionalities at the front of the classroom, and the interactive element with the touch screens at the back of the classroom.”
For digital signage, Prahran HS strategically placed TCL TV displays in high-traffic areas, including wide hallways and ground-floor reception, where four screens are installed. The content on these displays is updated twice daily, featuring announcements, student work, and achievements, all of which serve to build a sense of community and reinforce the school’s core values.
Outcome
Improved classroom engagement and more dynamic public spaces.
Every classroom, regardless of size or whether it’s the design lab, the performing arts room, or the food lab, is equipped with Vivi to boost student interaction. In the food lab, four TVs allow seamless screen mirroring via Vivi, ensuring all students can see content clearly. This setup promotes free movement and group collaboration without cables, creating a more dynamic learning environment. In larger classrooms, students can share their screens during group work, fostering both engagement and a sense of community through active participation.
The presentation areas between floors create dynamic public spaces. Teachers present to larger groups in a theater-style setting before breaking into smaller groups for project-based learning. These spaces also display digital signage between classes, during recess, and lunchtime. Dragisa Sinikovic notes, “We know that there is often high visibility, particularly in those presentation spaces. So we really value that ability to reach students regularly, as these screens are the first thing they see when they walk up or down.”
Easy-to-use digital signage and more effective emergency alerts across a vertical campus.
Prahran High School improved their communications by integrating dynamic digital signage throughout the campus, including the reception area and hallways, and the presentation areas between floors. These screens display tailored messages that change before and after school hours, ensuring relevant content at all times. Additionally, they regularly refresh their Vivi splash pages to maintain student interest during non-presentation periods.
The school has also significantly upgraded its emergency alert system. In addition to a PA system with manually triggered sirens, staff members now have Emergency Presenter access via Vivi Central. This allows the IT department to instantly override all presentations and broadcast emergency information across every screen, ensuring that critical messages are visible to students and staff, regardless of their location—whether inside or outside the classroom, on the ground floor or the fifth floor—even if the sirens aren’t audible.
Improved IT management and productivity with enhanced IT efficiency.
Prahran High School’s IT team values Vivi’s ease of use and compatibility across devices, including Apple, PC, iPads, and laptops. They chose TCL TVs over IFPs due to their lower cost and HDMI CEC feature, which “integrates beautifully with Vivi’s power-saving features. We have a rule set to power down displays before 7:45 in the morning to after 4:15 in the afternoon,” reducing both power usage and costs.
Staff love Vivi for its compatibility and tools that enhance student interaction and simplify teaching. Sinikovic ensures all staff are well-prepared with access to an internal knowledge base and regular training on features like screen sharing, timers, and whiteboards, helping teachers support the school’s learning and engagement goals while reflecting its core values.
