The college campus is both an imposing introduction to the world of education, and a familiar home to those studying there. And so whether in a college or university, access to information is a huge part of the experience.

Increasingly, educational institutions are becoming wise to the benefits of digital signage, and in particular digital wayfinding signage. But these digital displays go beyond campus wayfinding.

When implemented strategically, educational organizations can leverage digital signage for a range of functions. From presenting information on future events to improving communication with students.

Essentially, digital signage solutions can make the entire college or university experience that much smoother for everyone involved.

Let's find out more...

Benefits of a Digital Signage System for College Campus

Digital signs can come in various forms, from TVs or monitors in break rooms or mess halls, to weatherproof billboards or displays, or interactive kiosks.

Typically, these digital displays serve as a versatile replacement for traditional notice boards and signs. This allows for streamlining various tasks such as:

• Promoting upcoming events
• Welcoming visitors during open days or freshers weeks
• Campus wayfinding and directional information
• Real time information such as weather alerts

Most importantly, using digital signage offers the flexibility to showcase content remotely and enables real-time updates from any location. Think of factors such as room changes for lectures, reminders about crucial dates, or even information about maintenance on campus, or security reminders.

Instead of needing to send out a reminder by email, put up a printed sign or even rely on announcements in classes, administrators can make instantaneous sign changes from their office or even remotely from home, with the updates reflecting immediately across screens on campus.

Content Ideas For Digital Signage In College Campuses

As we've seen, the potential applications for digital signage could be many and varied. But, we're not going to leave you hanging.

We've looked at some of the most popular uses for university and college digital signage, from campus wayfinding to departmental announcements. These are some of the most useful application ideas for digital signage for colleges and universities.

1. Departmental Social Media Feeds

Whether you embrace or resist it, social media has become an unavoidable aspect of modern communication. Using app integrations such as Walls.io, you can aggregate all your social media channels, including user-generated content like student posts, and seamlessly display them across your digital signage playlists. This dynamic content updates in real-time and can be scheduled to appear at designated times.

Consider using a dedicated school social media account to orchestrate student competitions, share exciting updates about school events, or disseminate faculty news.

With moderation features, you have the power of selectively displaying content from specific accounts, images, or content tagged with particular hashtags. Additionally, you can filter out content containing certain phrases or images from being displayed.

2. News

Incorporating digital signage into campus spaces at educational institutions offers students a valuable opportunity to remain informed about current affairs and global events beyond the confines of their academic environment. With digital signage software, you have the capability to seamlessly integrate a news app or run a news ticker along the bottom of your screen alongside other content.

You can enrich students' experiences by providing access to a diverse array of news and world event apps. Options range from reputable sources like BBC News and CNN to business or sports news, ensuring students are well-informed and engaged with the broader world beyond campus. 

Use our Headline News app to display breaking news from your chosen news channels.

3. Welcome Boards

A welcome sign is nothing new. But digital welcome boards offer a highly visual and engaging way to offer a mixture of saying hello, as well as providing crucial information about their visit such as where to go or what's happening.

Welcome boards can offer a flexible and engaging form of campus communications, whether it's displays in the lobby, lecture halls or meeting spaces.

Display real-time information about upcoming events, class location changes, campus news, and other relevant details. Additionally, room signs could also feature student testimonials and achievements to foster a sense of community and engagement.

Leveraging business intelligence tools such as Tableau or Grafana can offer a benefit of sophisticated analytical perspective on aspects like game results or student engagement surveys. These tools aggregate data from various sources and present it in a user-friendly visual format.

Say 'Welcome' or whatever else you want with the Noticeboard app, included with all ScreenCloud plans.

4. Room Bookings 

An important part of wayfinding signage is highlighting availability of meeting rooms or studios, or even signposting the way to them.

Digital signage offers a streamlined solution for managing room bookings within educational institutions. Whether thats for design studios, research labs, study spaces, or club meetings.

A simple way to do this is by displaying upcoming bookings on a screen outside a room, with links - often via QR code - which allows visitors to book their own session easily. You can also display a central room availability checker which allows for at-a-glance views of any meeting rooms that are free or that could be booked out.

Displays showcasing available room slots simplify the process of booking out space, optimizing space use and streamlining related processes.

Access the Meeting Rooms app with all ScreenCloud plans.

5. Digital Menu Boards

We've all seen digital menu boards in fast food restaurants, and these are increasingly making their way into common usage. Using menu boards in campus cafes can help to boost product sales and speed up service, and by extension improve customer satisfaction.

With digitized menu boards, it's simple to make real-time updates for specials, menu changes, and allergen information, and allow for seamless transitions between breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus.

And when it comes to promoting products in the mess hall, menu boards allow you to highlight new drinks on offer, or push a meal deal.

ScreenCloud's digital menu board app allows you to manage menus with ease.

6. Video & Image Galleries

One of the most fun uses of public digital displays is to keep everyone aware of goings-on around the college through images and videos. It's easy to share a diverse range of visuals ranging from sporting events to dance competition, away days and dances.

With ScreenCloud it's simple to organize images and videos into fun and engaging displays using our templates and playlist editor. This tool enables efficient content management, allowing you to curate playlists and schedule content for any sign with ease.

7. Digital Notice Boards

By integrating our Noticeboard app via your signage software, you can seamlessly showcase all the content typically found on a traditional noticeboard directly on your screens. Whether this is event reminders, requests for information, impending deadlines or simply a note to say 'Well done' to the college football team.

Using digital signage as a noticeboard also means you'll have the ability to update and upload content in real-time, such as posters created with apps like Canva.

Using digital notice boards with signage displays is easy to set up and manage, and an engaging solution for universities and colleges.

8. Presentations

Of course, presentations rely on screens - and digital signage can be the perfect solution for seamless and glitch free presentations. Whether this is by lecturers for class, guest speakers or visitors giving a talk, or for students presenting their studies, digital signage software makes it easy to share in an engaging visual style.

ScreenCloud can be set up using consumer grade tech such as Amazon Fire sticks or Google Chromecast, and connecting a device is as easy as entering a 6 digit PIN.

Easily create content using our range of templates, and then share easily to your connected screens.

ScreenCloud integrates easily with:

• Google Sheets
• Google Slides
• Microsoft Excel
• Dropbox
• YouTube

9. Improve Campus Wayfinding 

Navigating a sprawling campus can be daunting, but digital wayfinding signage provides a versatile solution for effective campus navigation.

Some useful applications include:

• Interactive maps
• Room or location signage
• Directions
• Instructions and information

And with the flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances, such as crowd control measures, construction or facility maintenance, digital signage plays a vital role in ensuring smooth operations across the campus environment.

10. Security and Emergency Notifications

Like many public spaces, colleges and universities are subject to outside influence and so having access to a portal for security announcements can be crucial. Whether it's simple reminders about remembering not to leave bags blocking emergency exits, the location of muster points or the time of the next fire drill; to up to the minute announcements in the case of a critical emergency.

Digital signage is a highly effective way to create both engaging reminders and real time updates about specific situations.

Using ScreenCloud for your University Digital Signage

From compact colleges to a sprawling university campus, digital displays are an increasingly popular and effective way to convey information.

And what's more, getting set up with digital signage for information and campus wayfinding is actually straightforward with ScreenCloud.

Whether using made for purpose digital kiosks or video walls, or harnessing the power of idle screens in public spaces, connect them all with the leading digital signage management software. Create specific content for local zones, display content across multiple sites and get your message across easily using templates and easy to use content editors.

Find out how easy it is to manage informational and wayfinding signage in your campus.

Sign up for your free ScreenCloud trial today.

Or, request a demo and find out how ScreenCloud's best in class digital signage software can work for your college or university.