Effective communication is paramount and schools continually seek innovative solutions to streamline their efforts. This Consolidated Independent School District (CISD), a prominent school district in Texas, encountered similar challenges and found a solution in Rise Vision's digital signage platform. Led by the Marketing Coordinator, the district embarked on a journey to enhance communication district-wide.
In this case study, we'll explore how this CISD leveraged Rise Vision to revolutionize their communication strategy, making it more efficient, engaging, and automated.
The large district with over 30 schools is home to over 24,000 students all the way from PreK to grade 12 and beyond.
What was the problem they were looking to solve?
Like many educational institutions, the CISD recognized the need for a robust communication tool to disseminate information effectively across its campuses.
The district's Marketing Coordinator embraced the challenge and spearheaded the implementation of Rise Vision across all their district's schools. When the coordinator switched roles from IT to communications, they took the responsibility of digital signage with them, raising an interesting question: who should own digital signage?
Who Should Own Digital Signage?
One interesting aspect of this CISD's approach is the collaboration between IT and communications departments in managing digital signage. In this district, IT owns and manages the media player devices, Chromebooks. Communications manages the day to day of digital signage and some of the more involved tasks.
The Marketing Coordinator sets up the designs and configures the displays. Since then, they have set up specific automation processes and their digital signage talks to the district’s website; they also handle those processes - made easy by their IT background. As well, they train the digital signage managers at each of the campuses.
They don't discount that having an IT background helps the division of responsibilities. They are the first line of defense when the TV display managers need help troubleshooting, eliminating some burden from IT.
Reflecting on this question, the Marketing Coordinator shared, "I think the split is ideal.”
What makes their user case unique?
As a standard district wide solution, the Texas area CISD has at least one display in the lobby and in the library of their sites. From the standard, some campuses vary in terms of the number of locations and the type of content shared. For example, at one of the high schools, there is a new theater. In front of the theater, they have added digital signs to promote the different shows and dance performances.
What sets this CISD apart is its innovative approach to using Rise Vision. Beyond typical applications like displaying lunch menus and event schedules, the district implemented creative solutions tailored to its needs.
At the technical high school, they have different academic programs including automotive, vet technology, and information technology programs. Each of these programs has a “store front” where the public can go to access services that the students are being trained in. At each of these store fronts, there is a TV displaying the various services offered.
Automating Communication Efforts
One of the primary goals at this CISD is to make communication as seamless and automated as possible. The Marketing Coordinator emphasized the importance of automation, stating, "My goal with our signage is always how automated can I make it so that it is the least amount of work."
They empathized with the staff at the CISD mentioning that like the other schools in Texas, they are addressing the roles and responsibilities of everyone. Staff are having more added to their plate and all working to worth with less. To combat this and alleviate some of the stress, they are passionate about finding ways to sync up digital signage with the processes they are already doing.
In the district, digital signage is more hands off than it is hands on. However, quality is not something that they will compromise on. Their digital signage content is always changing and relevant.
By making digital signage hands off, it’s not a burden to the TV displays managers and they can even enjoy the work. The Marketing Coordinator said, “That's always my goal with [digital signage] is how can we get really relevant content in a very easy way”.
Integrating Rise Vision with Website Updates
To achieve automation, the Texas CISD integrated Rise Vision with their website updates using an RSS feed. The TV displays updates based on content updates made to their website. This is part of the baseline or standard presentations that all the displays show.
Using an RSS feed is a great way to ensure you only have to make an update to one platform in order to spread the message across your entire network.
Shoutout System Integration
Another innovative use case is the integration of a shoutout system with Rise Vision. This system allows students and staff to submit shoutouts about students, teachers, and staff via a form, which are then displayed on TVs across the district.
The workflow for their student and staff recognition system is streamlined:
- Anyone can fill out the form that is available through a QR code
- The form is sent to the digital signage manager of that school or campus
- The digital signage manager updates their Google Slides presentation and the shoutout is automatically send to the displays and to their websites
In this school ecosystem, it’s been really helpful that digital signage managers can simply update a Google Slide or delegate the updates to people helping who might not have access to Rise Vision.
Rise Vision is Part of an Overall Communication Strategy
Rise Vision digital signage is just one part of this Texas CISD’s communication strategy. In addition to digital signage for their overall campus communication, the school district uses Alertus for emergency alerts. Digital emergency alert boards are an important component of school safety. Rise Vision can distribute emergency information to a network of interactive classroom flat panel displays, TVs, or digital displays in any campus setting.
The CISD also uses ParentSquare for parent communication outside of the school environment.
Lastly, they use Tagboard to make the most of their social media presence. Another automation tool that the Marketing Coordinator utilizes is linking a web URL embed from Tagboard into the school’s standard digital signage presentations. The end results look just like a social wall and pulls content from all of the district’s social media feeds.
What You Can Learn From This Texas CISD’s Digital Signage Experience
Educational institutions can benefit from this Texas CISD's experience by:
- Adopting a collaborative approach between IT and communications departments in managing digital signage - after all, teamwork makes the dream work!
- Embracing automation to streamline communication efforts.
- Exploring creative use cases tailored to the unique needs of their institution.
Through these strategies, schools can enhance engagement, promote their brand, and ensure consistent communication across campuses.
Conclusion
By leveraging Rise Vision's digital signage platform, this large Texas CISD has transformed its communication strategy, making it more efficient, engaging, and automated. Through innovative use cases and a collaborative approach, the district continues to set the standard for effective communication in the education sector.
