6 Creative ways to use digital signage & gamification to engage K12 students

With student attention spans decreasing and digital distractions growing, schools need innovative ways to capture (and keep) students’ interest. Combining digital signage and gamification provides a powerful tool that makes learning, visual communication, and school involvement more interactive and exciting. Think for a moment about your school’s level of student competition, rewards and celebrations you provide to students, and how you get students’ attention in real-time. Schools that create an environment where students feel motivated and connected, reap a huge return on every penny spent on display panels and full-featured, online visual communication software.

Ready to get started?  Let’s get creative and turn your screens and displays into supercharged engagement powerhouses.

1. Digital Leaderboards or Students Who Complete School-Wide Challenges

Imagine yourself as the principal of an elementary school. You want to increase the number of books that students read.  You start by offering a cool, school pencil after the child reads five books.  A month or so goes by and there’s still plenty of pencils in your stash.  You pause…you ask yourself, “What if I celebrate each student who reads 10 books with their very own recognition that gets broadcast across all of our digital signage displays?”

You make the announcement about the reward for reading 10 books.  You wait a couple of weeks with very little change.  Then, one student finishes her tenth book.  Her picture shows on all of the screens.  Students take notice.  Now, students meet you in the hallway asking “How can I get my picture up there, Mr. Banks?”  Your simple reply–read 10 books.

Before long, every week sees new students achieving the goal and getting to see themselves on the screens.

Tap into students’ competitive spirit along with their desire to see themselves celebrated. 

Work with teachers across your school to identify school-wide challenges or unique ways to showcase rankings for attendance or participation that encourages school spirit.

2. Building Automaticity and Interactive Quizzes & Polls

As educators, we know that the first level of Bloom’s Taxonomy focuses on recall, helping students get to the point where they automatically pull the answer from their brains without even thinking about it (automaticity).  What if the screens on your first and second grade hallway, reinforced newly-learned addition and subtraction facts with fun, dancing school mascots?  Using the power of visual communication to reinforce these facts increases retention and student success.

Want a quick and easy way to get students’ input and involvement? Use your visual communication software and QR codes to:

• Ask students questions and collect answers via the QR codes or school apps;
• Display subject-specific facts or pop culture trivia; or,
• Poll students on things like spirit day themes or new cafeteria choices

3. House Points or School-Wide Reward Systems

Think back to watching or reading any of the Harry Potter books.  Who was your favorite house? Your favorite character?  Students take comfort in belonging, connectedness, and in finding their “superpower”.  Remember, even Neville Longbottom, the shyest Harry Potter character, grew into a leader as the series progressed. Herbology anyone?  

Divide students into “houses” or teams and display points earned for positive behavior, academic achievements, or participation in school activities.  Assign students based on grade level, homeroom, or even random selection.  Then, award points for things like completing assignments, volunteering, or displaying kindness. Share the standing on digital displays and update them in real-time or every Friday. 

Incentivize students, houses, teams with extra recess time, school merchandise, or a pizza party for the winning “house.”

 4. Gamify School Announcements

Face it, school announcements sit toward the bottom of a list of things students like about school.  If your school still relies on PA systems or paper announcements read by teachers, try a shift to visual communication and join the 21st century.  Broadcasting school announcements empowers school administrators to make them fun, tell jokes or even turn them into games.

Include daily riddles or trivia questions where students submit answers to win prizes.  Use a digital “Wheel of Prizes” to reward students for some type of achievement.  They want to see their name drawn or show up on the wheel.

Or, take it one step further with a hidden message or a fun surprise hidden in the announcement.  Students have to watch in order to find the hidden message or surprise.  This might be a weekly bingo-treasure hunt where every student gets a card and they keep track throughout the week to listen for the day’s special number and mark it on their cards.  HINT:  Always announce the number at a different time during the announcements.

5. Recognize Student Achievements

Recognition motivates students.  Use digital signage to celebrate their achievements and highlight their talents, such as:

• Display daily kindness challenges (e.g., “Compliment three classmates today.”)
• Recognize students who actively contribute to creating a positive school culture.  This includes those that go unseen, but never get into trouble.  They may not be first in your mind, but recognizing them for something as simple as “Always being polite to others” goes a long way in boosting their personal self confidence.
• Remember, according to The Collaborative for Academic Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL), SEL instruction happens best in safe environments characterized by positive, caring relationships among students and teachers. Seek to broadcast messages and challenges that understand and appreciate the unique strengths and needs of each student.

Conclusion

Visual communication, digital signage, and gamification stand as powerful tools for engaging K12 students.  Use moving elements, QR code interactives, recognition programs, and friendly competition to start transforming the way students engage with their learning environment. 

Want to implement these ideas in your school?  Start small with a leaderboard or a move to visual announcements and build from there.  Need help deciding on the right number of screens or how to roll things out?  Reach out to your TSN team for more information.  We’re always happy to help.  

Want to celebrate your school and how it’s already using visual communication?  Let us know, we’d love to hear from you and share your story.