Often when people speak of K-12 digital signage solutions, the conversation typically revolves around how the technology will benefit students. While empowering learning is a strong benefit of digital signage, this teachers’ appreciation week, we wanted to detail how digital signage can benefit your staff!
Using digital signage to bolster your internal communication network can benefit teachers and aid them in performing daily tasks. By making teachers more aware of important information regarding your facility, they can better prepare lessons, ensure the safety of students, and organize classes more efficiently. This can have a trickle effect to the students as well, as teachers will be able to use their information to better prepare students for upcoming deadlines. In addition, teachers will be able to adapt lesson plans accordingly based on information such as upcoming field trips, fairs, and sporting events. This can help give students a more balanced workload, while also giving teachers a reprieve from some grading responsibilities.
Additionally, internal screens can be used for non-school related purposes as well. Live TV streaming can entertain staff, giving them a break from daily stressors and reenergizing them to perform. Or, you can integrate weather radars and traffic routes so teachers can better plan their commute or after school plans. You can even introduce interactive elements to gauge teacher attitudes or learn more about your school.
SEE DIGITAL SIGNAGE IN ACTION
Want to experience the power of digital signage firsthand? Request a free demo today and explore how REACH Media Network can enhance communication and engagement within your school.
WHERE TO PLACE INTERNAL SCHOOL SIGNAGE
Before implementing internal digital signage in your schools, it’s important to consider the location of each display. One of the more obvious locations to place a screen would be the teachers’ lounge. This is likely the most common area your teachers and staff will visit throughout the day. Whether it’s to have lunch, grab supplies, or just to socialize, teachers routinely visit the lounge for a variety of needs.
By placing a screen here, you have a direct line of communication without relying on email blasts or physical outlets. In fact, digital displays capture 71% more attention than traditional displays, meaning important information is more likely to be absorbed through your displays. Here, anything can be promoted. Important deadlines can be highlighted, grading deadlines can be set up as important reminders, and internal social media channels can give staff an idea of what everyone is up to.
Alternatively, entertainment options such as news, tv, or other means can be utilized to destress your staff. You can even make use of some of our pre-made templates to highlight staff members based on excellent performance. Calendar applications can condense upcoming events, while weather apps can help teachers plan outdoor activities. However the signage is applied, the teacher’s lounge is a great location to get the most use out of it!
But what about outside the teacher’s lounge? There are still plenty of other locations that would be excellent fits for internal school displays. For instance, the main office is another great use case for internal communications. Secretaries can use screens to keep digital directories for staff, allowing for easy contact if they need to get a hold of a coworker.
Additionally, school programs and events can be promoted here, allowing visitors to know what is going on when they walk in while also keeping the main staff informed on special occasions. Bus routes can be posted to help train new drivers and edit routes based on traffic or weather. Nurse offices can have displays that convey important health tips and reminders. For each aspect of your facility, a digital display can adapt to fit your needs!
THE BENEFITS OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS FOR SCHOOLS
Once you have a signage solution up-and-running, the benefits of effective signage implementation can be unending. Highlighting important or well-performing staff can make employees feel appreciated, motivating them to reach that same level of performance. Additionally, the more informed staff is about your facility, the more smoothly your community will run overall.
In fact, having dedicated sources of reliable information will create repeat visitors for your displays. This presents an opportunity to create hubs of information where staff can come too each day for new content. This creates not only a reliable vehicle for sharing information, but also for disseminating other important information your teachers may find useful.
AN EXAMPLE OF SUCCESS: AURORA PUBLIC SCHOOLS
One of our clients, the Aurora Public School District, exemplifies great use of a signage network in an education setting. Aurora allows each school to utilize signage how they see fit, allowing them to maintain branding standards and decide what content to display. This has yielded some creative use cases. For example, one school uses internal displays to share bus routes and driver schedules for its bus drivers. This allows staff to quickly see who is working, what routes to cover, and what weather conditions to be aware of.
Additionally, many schools utilize digital menu boards to entice students with delicious meals and share nutritional information. Break rooms and lobbies are filled with TV’s that share news and entertainment to teachers looking for a reprieve. Integrated, third-party calendar solutions are connected through API keys that keep teachers up-to-date on important events. No matter where you look or what school you visit, Aurora Public Schools fully integrate digital signage into its strategy.
HOW TO GET STARTED
When you’re ready to dive into the world of digital signage, there’s a few things you should be aware of before starting. Our hardware is hardware agnostic, so if you have a capable player, you can immediately integrate our software with your hardware. However, if you do not have hardware, we can provide you with enterprise-grade media players. In fact, we highly recommend BrightSign players as being some of the more affordable and reliable media players on the market. However, REACH has its own option as well.
Our REACH DS3 players will give you an enterprise-grade signage solution at an affordable price. Once your hardware is set up and REACH is installed, we will then walk you through our training process to ensure your team is equipped to make amazing signage content! From that point on, you’ll have access to our 24/7 support to help you with any other needs you may have.
READY TO START YOUR DIGITAL JOURNEY?
Discover how digital signage can transform your school. Reach out to REACH Media Network today to learn more about our solutions, explore custom integrations, and see how we can help you connect with your students in meaningful ways.
