Photos courtesy NEC Display Solutions
By Katie Allodi
Digital signage is not merely a commercial medium. It is also being used in educational facilities, where it is intended to help faculty better engage students, apply modern learning principles and reflect the changing world of technology.
In early 2011, for example, administrators for Chase Secondary School in Chase, B.C., realized they needed to support their teachers and students with more reliable, user-friendly display technology in the classroom, including new monitors and projectors. At the time, many of the school’s teachers were still using outdated overhead projectors, chalkboards, whiteboards, videocassette players and cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors and TVs. There were also three digital projectors, but teachers had to sign these out to use with their classes.
Winning a makeover
Chase Secondary’s administrators learned about a $25,000 ‘makeover’ contest through the NEC Star Student program for school districts. Mark Wereley, one of the teachers who specialized in multimedia technology, decided to submit an entry on behalf of the school.
The contest called for video submissions. Wereley worked with his students to incorporate their input and creative ideas into a video that could win the makeover. Inspired by this input and TV commercials, he wrote a brief script that would showcase the school’s needs in a creative, humorous way.
“Instead of showing our meagre facilities and equipment,” he explains, “I used ‘frustrated’ students to communicate their plight of being stuck with outdated whiteboards and overhead projectors in the 21st century. From there, I spoke about what could be done to enhance the school. It seemed to me this method was creative, conveyed a message and met the requirements of the contest.”
Wereley then solicited further help from his students to record, edit and submit the video entry. When it outlasted hundreds of entries from other educational institutions and was named a top-five finalist, Chase Secondary’s administrators jumped at the opportunity to use the school’s website and newsletters to encourage staff, students and their parents to vote and show their support.
The school was officially named the grand-prize winner in April 2011, having received the most votes of any of the top five finalists.
