While the jump from wireless screen mirroring to school communication may not seem to be an obvious one, the foundation for both is the sharing of content, whether it is a student or teacher sharing content from their personal device to a classroom display, or a school leader sharing content to a network of connected displays across a school building.
Indeed, the idea for Vivi to expand its capabilities to address a school’s broader school communication needs originated from a customer who wanted to leverage Vivi’s screen sharing beyond classroom walls. And thus, the original concept for sharing information across a school’s campus came to be. Over time, this concept has expanded beyond digital signage to include emergency alerts and integrations via API with other emergency alert systems. Now, Vivi has added Video and Text Announcements to its feature set, allowing school leaders even more flexibility in the types of communications and content they can share via Vivi.
Kari Moulton, Technology Integration Support Specialist at Bourbonnais Elementary School District #53 in Illinois, highlights the value of creating opportunities for connecting principals with students and staff as well as the power of video as a medium to do so:
“Having our Building Principals be able to play a live video to all the classroom screens simultaneously creates a chance for a shared experience without the disruption of bringing everyone together physically. It allows the students to put a name with the faces of the building leadership. It’s a fantastic and scalable way for our building principals to engage with our students and teachers.” Bourbonnais has been using Video Announcements since it became available as a beta release in early 2023, with some principals using it daily.
Zackary Livingston, Principal at Zion-Benton High School, part of the Zion-Benton Township High School D126 in Illinois is also another early advocate of live video, especially in key situations. In the video below he shares how they are using Vivi to keep their community safe during an emergency and then use the live video to address everyone after an incident in a “Fireside Chat” format.
These examples of how school leaders are leveraging video underscore the need for more opportunities, both big and small, to reinforce the concept of school as a safe and welcoming community. Says Natalie Mactier, Vivi Chief Executive Officer, “Many of our customers are still grappling with a loss of connection within their school community brought about from the events of the last few years. Our customers drove us to extend the work we do connecting students to teaching and learning in classrooms, across their school buildings. Traditional ways of communicating, such as public address systems can be disruptive and ineffective, while in-person assemblies are not scalable. Vivi’s communication tools provide schools effective and efficient ways to reach students and staff throughout the school day.”
The full set of Vivi’s communication capabilities includes Announcements, as well as Digital Signage for routine, planned communications and Emergency Alerts for more urgent communications. Together they provide a robust school-wide communication platform for leaders to touch base with their community members, remind students of goings-on at school, share timely information, or simply call a student to the office.
New to Vivi? Request a demo with a member of our Sales team to see how Vivi can unlock school communications and classroom engagement for your school.
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