7 Ways To Display Digital Signage on Campus

Colleges are successfully deploying multiple forms of digital signage to establish a brand and attract potential students.

February 16, 2015 Jessica Kennedy Leave a Comment

Boston College

Upon replacing Alumni Stadium’s old video boards with new, NFL-sized video boards, the college also installed video board ribbons. Each ribbon lines the perimeter of the stands, and displays the past “bowl” championships the college has won. This type of digital signage can also be found in professional stadiums, and are often used for advertising, displaying the game score and messages to get the crowd fired up for the home team.

North Carolina State University

Inside the Hunt Library, North Carolina State University is loaded with digital signage environments: a game lab, teaching and visualization lab, immersion theater, creativity studio and auditorium. For example, the immersion theater houses a 20-foot long microtile wall for faculty and students to collaborate during a lesson. Aside from its length, this video wall’s most impressive feature is its 7K capabilities.

Case Western Reserve University

The university recently installed a multi-boarded, three-floor tall video display within its Tinkham Veale University Center. This digital display serves as the focal point of the entire building, and rotates university-chosen information, from game scores to the weather to the time. The lower tier of the display is programmed with gaming features that enable students to compete against each other or play by themselves. Displays like this create a bold, transparent presence on campus for prospective students, and keeps current students engaged with the university.

UMass Amherst

Instead of taking the video wall route, UMass Amherst opted for a digital kiosk to boost knowledge about its football program. The kiosk offers interactive touch capabilities for current students to look up player stats, stay up to date with football-based news, and research the team’s history while also amplifying awareness among visitors and attracting prospective students.

Middle Tennessee State University

Since the university is already equipped with FWi Content Manager, it has the abilities to display any and all types of information via its digital signage solutions across campus. One type of solution the university specializes in is interactive wayfinding directories, which help students and faculty navigate campus with a simple touch of the screen. The university’s wayfinding solutions have the abilities to locate where students are currently standing, map out a commute to a faraway building, publish that building’s operating hours, class hours, and upcoming events. Wayfinding capabilities like this make navigation simpler and user-friendly, especially for visitors and prospective students.

West Virginia University

Digital signage can be used for applications other that teaching and learning, as in the case of West Virginia University. After the Virginia Tech shootings, the university wanted a solution that served as a mass notification tool to prepare campus for imminent danger. However, since the video wall is located in the school’s visitors’ center, it is also used to welcome campus visitors, and display the names of prospective students during a campus tour.

St. Xavier University

St. Xavier University’s campus library is home to its geometrically shaped video wall. The wall features 32 simultaneous touch points, and is used to display students’ artwork to encourage discussion, interaction and collaboration between students and faculty. The video wall also consists of multiple square and rectangular patterns to create a unique, interesting shape to capture attention, and display Ultra HD images.

In higher education, where there’s a need, there’s a form of digital signage.

Bland white walls are now lit up with Ultra HD images and content designed by the university. Sports stadiums are framed by giant video boards and video board ribbons, and equipped with kiosks to inform fans about player stats and team records. Visitors centers house eye-catching, digitalized welcome signs and interactive gaming features to keep current students engaged with the university.

With the list of uses climbing high, it seems that digital signage is more of a must-have instead of a luxury item.

Digital signage solutions grant a college the creative license to conjure its own content, and control who sees that content. Doing so enables the college to personalize the campus experience to visitors, such as through welcome messages to visitors, or keep students up to date with campus news through rotating announcements.

Video boards and beyond help colleges create a brand and establish a presence, making them stand out among the competition.

Schools like Boston College invested in giant digital signage solutions to amp up its football presence and create a name for itself in the college sports culture.

“Digital signage packages an entire stadium,” says Ray Leakes, Vice President of Protective Enclosures Company. “People can find things easier and stay informed about a game if they’re not in the seating area during that game.”

Whether a university decides to use digital signage for sports or to simply welcome newcomers, the ultimate ROI is attracting prospective students to enroll.

Spencer Graham, the manager of operations for West Virginia University‘s Information Stations says the school uses the video wall in its visitors center is to create connections with rising college students.

“It supports content targeted at the potential student,” he says. “It has an infographics tour, information on student life, scholarships we can give and visuals of the beautiful places on campus.”

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Jessica Kennedy

Jessica Kennedy is an editor at TechDecisions Media, targeting the higher education market. Jessica joined the TechDecisions team in 2014 and covers technologies that improve teaching and learning.