Communication in schools: the benefits of a communication platform

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

The summer holidays are over, which means millions of students, kids, and staff members are heading back to school. In a school, many different audience groups come together – and, with them, the need for all kinds of information. Providing all these different people in a school or university with the right and relevant information can sound like a daunting job. However, with a communication platform, it’s not that bad. Here are the benefits of a communication platform for communication in schools.

1. Reach students and staff through one platform

Staff and students may initially sound like very different audiences. It would be a crazy idea to try to inform them through the same channel, right? With a multichannel communication platform, you reach both target audiences through different channels, driven by the same communication platform and content management system.

For example: use digital signage screens in the auditorium, hallway, or lobby of a school or university to quickly inform students (even as they enter) of the latest important news, such as roster changes or upcoming exams. Use a screensaver on laptops for staff and bring them up to speed without having students sneak a peek.

Or, vise versa: a digital signage screen in a staff room and a screensaver on your students’ laptops. Or mix and match! The possibilities are very extensive, but there’s one thing we know for sure: if you use the Netpresenter platform to manage all of these outputs to get the message to the right target group, you’ll only ever use one CMS. How convenient!

2. Reach various audience groups, faculties, or departments

As we’ve said before: a school is a community of many different audiences. Students or pupils (from different schools or courses), teaching staff, educational support staff, management, facility and HR departments, and so on. In some cases, all of these audience groups need the same information. In most cases, however, your message must go to specific people.

A great solution to reach various audience groups is a multichannel communication platform, which allows you to target different audiences. Do you need to bring information to a specific department, faculty, or class? Use a platform with targeting functionality, create your target groups in advance and aim your message at the relevant target group. Your message will be delivered to those who need the information via digital signage in specific locations, corporate screensaver on personal or shared computers, or smartphones and tablets. Great for busy employees and studying students!

3. Quickly find out your staff’s and students’ opinions

Need your students’ opinions on a particular topic? Conduct a poll or pulse survey. They can easily indicate their feelings about a topic using emoji, star, or number ratings. Ask for opinions on your new school catering’s menu and improve if necessary. Or ask your staff for their opinion on your new communication platform 😉. It’s easy and fast and can be anonymous or not.

4. Increase intranet traffic

Students are a tricky target group. There, we said it. They enjoy using their phones and computers, but they’re probably not using them to look at their school email or the intranet. So how do you dish up those important intranet items to students? By linking your digital signage screens or screensavers to SharePoint.

Our integration automatically extracts important news items from SharePoint and displays them on screens of your choice. Indeed, on the screens in your reception area, lobby, or cafeteria and on your students’ or employees’ laptops. This way, the information is presented to them without any effort. A link to the full item ensures they can read the news with even less effort as it will directly take them to the right article on the intranet. They can no longer get past the intranet: you’re directly bringing the intranet to a screen near them. Important information on, for example, exam material, test weeks, or curriculums can no longer be ignored!

5. Help students and staff find their way

Are students late to class or college because they couldn’t find their way or didn’t know their class had been moved to a different location? Say no more! From now on, your students will know where to go. Put the information on screens in your lobby, auditorium, or on busy walking routes in your building, or on screensavers on their laptops.

Publish roster changes on screensavers and digital signage screens, and use digital signage screens in hallways for wayfinding. The days your students are late for class are over! They won’t disrupt your lessons by rushing into the classroom halfway through, and you won’t have to punish them. We call that a win-win situation!

6. Draw the attention with visual content

If one audience is used to visual content, it is students and pupils. These digital natives are on their smartphones whenever they can and frequently use social media platforms such as TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram. These are all platforms that mainly show their users photos and (short) videos.

Why not use similar content to reach your target group? You will certainly draw this hard-to-reach target group’s attention with visual content such as short videos or tweet-length messages accompanied by an eye-catching picture. Our corporate screensaver and digital signage solution are perfect channels for this visual content: they are dynamic and show moving images to attract attention. You can even include GIFs, very popular among this target group, in your presentations to make your content extra attractive to these young people.

Our platform is designed to get the message across in about twenty seconds, leaving little room for extensive text. You put the full article on your intranet or in a Mobile or Desktop App, and redirect your audience to the full article by linking it in the short message. Great for staff in a hurry or students with a shorter attention span.

7. Effective crisis communication for everyone

Are students and pupils aware of what to do when there’s a crisis situation? With desktop alerts on all screens in your building, you can add instructions. This way, students will always know what to do if there is an emergency. However, our Desktop Alerts can also be used for less serious matters: to make students aware that the school library is closing soon, to announce the start of a sports event, for example.

Are you convinced of the advantages of a multichannel communication platform for communication in schools? Our consultants are happy to explain how the Netpresenter platform can be used at your school or university. Get in touch or schedule a free 30-minute demo to see what Netpresenter can offer! Or download our free guide to find the right communication tools to reach your employees.