Display Technology

Carousel Digital Signage keeps students informed at Maine high school

Provided by Carousel Digital Signage

September 7, 2021

Carousel Digital Signage deployed its Carousel Cloud network recently at Mount Desert Island High School in Bar Harbor, Maine, delivering digital signage content to 63 displays in classrooms and several common areas, according to a company press release.

Mount Desert High School previously relied on email and public address audio to keep staff and students informed. This became increasingly challenging at the start of the 2020-21 school year as in-person classes resumed following a period of remote learning due to COVID-19-related lockdowns. With staff and student safety a priority, the number of announcements increased as classes were often given updates on social distancing and release schedules.

The shift to digital signage provides students, staff and teachers with immediate access to information that often changes quickly, while also fostering a sense of community and school spirit.

"There is an increased feeling of celebration in our school since transitioning to digital signage," Mark Arnold, educational technology director, Mount Desert Island High School, said in the release. "Our PA system was older and complicated to use, and we wanted to relieve teachers and students from intrusive audio announcements that disrupted the learning environment. We reached a point where announcements were often happening in four-minute intervals, and digital signage was our best path forward."

Mount Desert Island had been working with Jamf, a mobile device management company focused on the Apple experience, for several years. A Carousel Digital Signage partner, Jamf recommended that Arnold use Carousel Cloud to deliver digital signage content to Apple TV devices. Jamf specializes in converting Apple TV devices to digital signage players, and Carousel Digital Signage offers a native iOS app for playing out digital signage content.

Mount Desert Island High School already had televisions and Apple TV devices within their classrooms for educational purposes.

"We added televisions inside classrooms over the past five years, and we tested some free alternatives for playing video messages on these screens from hard-wired computers," said Arnold. "We really needed a system though that offered a professional content management workflow, design templates and a comfortable user interface that would reduce my creative responsibilities. It was important for other users to develop and manage content with ease. Carousel Cloud allows staff inside the main office, principal's office and guidance office to create and contribute high-quality content instead of running it through me to manage. These are the people that really offer the most important information to our entire school population, and Carousel Cloud makes it very efficient for users of any skill level."

At the school, the digital signage content, which includes a mix of video, graphics and text, is also shared on social media channels.

"It's a difficult connection to make between where students ingest their information versus parents and community members," Arnold said. "Emails often go unread, and a small percentage regularly visit our website. The ability to reach students directly with important messages during school hours and then share that same content on social media means that we are now consistently reaching a much broader population. Students are also sharing what they see on the screens with their parents. The reception to what we are doing with digital signage has been very positive."

Carousel Digital Signage is a division of Tightrope Media Systems. Founded in 1997, the company is based in Minneapolis.