Education Through Digital Signage: A Case Study With the 4th Largest School District in Washington
Improving campus-wide communications.
This Washington state school district has one mission: successfully preparing all students for their futures. To reach this mission in today’s digital world, the district believes that electronic resources are critical.
Introduction
This includes the delivery of educational programming, access to digital resources and leveraging technology to aid in the overall learning experience. With research proving that a one-to-one laptop-to-student ratio increases student achievement, this school district implemented an initiative that provided all students in grades 7-12 with their own laptop.
After this initiative provided every student with a laptop, the District’s leadership quickly realized the computers were only getting used during school hours. With over 50% of students enrolled in free or reduced lunch, the District found that many students didn’t have Internet access at home. To help alleviate this barrier and enhance equitable access to online resources, this Northwest school district turned to Visual Communications software.
school kiosks
community kiosks
digital signage displays
The Challenge:
This Washington state school district set out to find a software solution that could power a kiosk and be leveraged by students, parents, local businesses and the community. In addition, the kiosk needed to have a Wifi signal for students to utilize with their District-issued laptops. The software platform also had to:
- Power content on the kiosk.
- Communicate a wide variety of information through both interactive and non-interactive screens.
- Increase student participation and parent engagement.
- Provide consistency, security and scalability that can seamlessly grow and expand with the initiative.
The Solution:
The decision to move forward with a digital signage solution ultimately came from this district’s Business Analyst and User Interface Designer, who turned to Four Winds Interactive (FWI) for their industry-leading interactive and non-interactive Visual Communications solutions.
Aiming to enhance student and parent communication, the District’s Visual Communications network goes hand-in-hand with their mission to increase equitable access to digital resources. It reaches across low-income housing and has the highest impact to students and families in need. Each kiosk provides students and parents access to calendars, district news, videos, careers, technology programs and more at apartment complexes, community centers, bank lobbies, restaurants, grocery stores and church lobbies. Currently, this school district has three kiosks implemented throughout the community, and seven Kiosks on the elementary, middle and high school campuses.
Components Used
The Results
The kiosks provide a high level of equitable access to digital resources, and that has a direct benefit to the quality of education provided by the District.
The kiosks are able to reach a wide audience in the most convenient way. The District’s Visual Communications network provides an intuitive interface that allows parents and students alike to use the kiosks for a variety of purposes. Parents can access a child’s grades, attendance, assignments and upcoming tests, and with this information, parents can give assistance and support where it is needed most. Children can use the Kiosks’ Wi-Fi on their district issued laptops for access to digital resources and continued learning outside the classroom.
Added Benefits
Increase Student Achievement
The kiosks give parents an avenue to become more present in their student’s education, as well as an access point for students to complete homework.
Enhance Communication
Parents can access district news, upcoming events, family resources, lunch balances, district videos, job openings and more—all from an intuitive interface.
Improve Device Management
Sponsored by local businesses, the kiosks allow partners to showcase advertisements when the screens are not in use.
FWI’s digital signage platform allows HHS to seamlessly update content to communicate important information—and given the challenges presented by COVID-19—that flexibility has been essential to ensuring the health and safety of our team.
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