DSF Member Rise Vision provided this article to share with the DSF about how members are helping learning communities staying connected through digital signage.
Keeping connected amidst the global pandemic has become critically important for schools. Central Lyon School District in Rock Rapids, Iowa has leveraged its digital signage to facilitate sporting events and maintain a community spirit – even while observing official health and safety guidelines.
Central Lyon is a unique K12 school district that serves 780 students, from preschool to high school, in one large campus building. While they were fortunate to be able to open for the fall 2020 school term, they needed to adapt to new protocols and guidelines for social distancing.
Read the full case study on the Rise Vision blog.
In addition to mandatory mask-wearing for students, there are also limitations on attendance for sports and other events. School safety is of utmost importance so digital signage has been an important ally in communicating the social distancing regulations and attendance capacity limits.
Another way digital signage has helped with keeping the school community connected is through live-streaming. “We live-stream everything, and then we’ll embed the live-stream,” says Geoff Kruse, Technology Administrator at Central Lyon. “We use it during our events in the gym. And so people watching the concession stand can watch the live stream of the game at least.”
In addition to live-streaming, the Central Lyon school district has put its digital signage to work in other ways to help build school spirit and keep students engaged. Rise Vision digital signage software is their key to managing their signage and making sure the signs are always up to date. Kruse uses many of Rise Vision’s customizable, school-focused templates for:
- Weekly breakfast and lunch menus
- Sporting event updates and scores
- Student videos created in Tech Ed class
- Updated daily calendar of school events
- Announcements of major events
The school has 3 displays. For Kruse, the best part is that he can plan and manage all of the notices, for all the displays, very quickly – and even remotely when necessary. “I’d say no more than an hour a week. I mean, it’s pretty easy to update them.”
With many schools and school districts stretched to capacity these days, saving time while keeping informed and updated is incredibly important. Kruse appreciates the ability to schedule content in advance. He also values the flexibility that Rise Vision provides with its library of over 400 templates, with new ones being added each week. “You can just pick and choose and then modify and make it look like it’s yours [that’s a] really nice feature. And the fact that [it] is always up to date, and they’re constantly coming out with new things that you can do with it.” he says. “I’m not a very creative person, so having the templates makes it way, way easier.” This, combined with the school-friendly price point makes Rise Vision a highly valuable solution for keeping the Central Lyon school district effectively connected, while ensuring students are kept safe.
