Lunch menus and schedules and test dates, oh my! From K-12 schools to college campuses, there’s a lot more going on than just bare-bones education.
That’s why thousands of schools have adopted digital signage as a way to keep their people, well, educated, without the headache of traditional comms.
This guide was designed to help you set up school digital signage fast, whether you’re replacing your dusty ol' notice board or leveling up hallway displays. We cover benefits, tips, and plenty of example content, plus best practices to follow so you can get an A+ on your setup.
First: a quick definition of school digital signage
School digital signage is exactly what it sounds like: a dynamic way to display important messages, upcoming events, and announcements all on the same TV screen. It’s a powerful tool for educational institutions looking to promote engagement and enhance school communication.
You can use digital signage solutions for schools in practically any application, whether you want to recognize students, display class schedules, or showcase student work. But you can also use content for lots of fun things too, like to promote school spirit or show off field trip highlights with videos (more on this later).
Benefits of digital signage
There’s a lot more to school digital signage than just making lobby TVs look nice.
Use it to the fullest, and you just might:
- Boost student engagement through the roof. If you’re serious about improving school spirit, digital signage is the tool to watch. The signage statistics speak for themselves: 40% of educational institutions say signage will impact the future, and a whopping 96% of college students say that they notice and appreciate digital signage.
- Save moolah. Digital signage keeps students engaged, sure, but it can also help your school save money in the long run. Using screens reduces paper waste, which increases efficiency, which ultimately leads to cost savings. Considering print costs can eat up 1% to 3% of your annual revenue, a digital signage network could end up saving you thousands per year.
- Reach more than just students. You can use digital signage to engage the entire school community with relevant information at practically any time. We don’t just mean students and staff either — think parents, visitors, stakeholders, and more.
TL;DR? By using digital signage solutions, schools can create a more engaging and sustainable learning environment.
It just depends on the use case you want, which we’ll explore in the section below.
The many use cases of digital signage for education
You can put digital signs to use for almost anything, whether you want to attract prospective students, enhance parent-teacher conferences, or advertise event schedules and important announcements.
Regardless, here’s how you can use digital signs to engage students at your educational facility:
Morning announcements
This saves extra time for daily announcements that need schoolwide announcements rather than just a spot on the bulletin board, like inspirational quotes or important details for parents.
Depending on your setup, you can also create an embeddable school TV channel with Fugo. This makes it easy for parents, teachers, and students to keep an eye on daily announcements from anywhere with a WiFi connection.
You can learn more about embeddable TV channels in our guide.
Digital bulletin boards
Get the Student Discount Template here.
You can use digital bulletin boards to showcase student work, recognize students, and promote school events. It helps that they’re easy to use and can be updated in just a few clicks, which is far less frustrating than time-consuming posters.
You can also use digital bulletin boards alongside your morning announcements to cover miscellaneous updates that don't need on-air announcements. That way, your TV screens keep content top of mind for students, and also provide a dynamic way to display information via videos, images, and live news feeds.
Wanna go the extra mile? Try using tools like QR codes, which can help students take action like completing forms or submitting ID numbers.
Emergency alerts
Get the Grayscale Messaging Template here.
You can use digital signage software to create emergency alerts, which can help you quickly communicate critical information to students. For example, you might display safety instructions, provide updates on urgent situations, and otherwise broadcast much-needed messages.
Fugo can help you do this in real time with a feature called content override. If you need to instantly take over screens and display a mission-critical message, just create or trigger a priority playlist in a few simple clicks.
Event schedules
Get the Bake Sale Template here.
Is your track and field team rained out of a race? Or is there an upcoming field trip that students should sign up for? You can use digital displays to convey the message in a quick, easy message.
And if you’re aiming to make engaging content, don’t forget the QR codes.
Digital menu boards for the cafeteria
Get the Healthy Lunch template here.
Give students a heads up about what’s on the menu with digital signage boards that put all your tasty food on display.
If you’re a K 12 school, this might be something like meal options or allergy considerations. If you’re a small college or university, it might be displaying different menus for various locations across campus.
Software like Fugo makes it easy to control digital menus across campus, then set up time-based daily schedules so you’re always displaying the right meals at the right time.
Social media walls
A glimpse at what a social media wall might look like in Fugo.
The modern student is a digital native, meaning they spend around four hours per day on social media. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, as the saying goes. So why not create a social media wall hosting messages from students and teachers?
With Fugo, you can easily connect with apps like Walls.io to set up a social media wall in minutes. You can also connect to RSS feeds to magically update your screens with relevant news and information.
Interactive content
Who said digital signage had to be static? Depending on your hardware, you can create dynamic content that allows students to physically interact with what they see on screen.
You might create:
- Digital directories of room numbers, homerooms, and teachers
- A guide to class schedules as well as recess, lunch, and/or after-school programs
- Navigational materials to help students, staff, and visitors get around campus
- User-friendly visitor registration in K 12 schools
💡Related: How To Collect Data Using Forms On Kiosks
How to set up school digital signage
Digital signage for schools doesn’t have to be time-consuming or expensive, contrary to popular belief.
Here’s a quick breakdown of the tools, tech, and time you need to start showing off your signage as fast as possible.
Digital signage hardware
Before you create anything, you’ll need the right hardware to bring your signage to life. This usually includes:
- Media players (like the Fugo Player, Chromebox, or Android device)
- Displays (like a TV for digital menu boards or interactive displays for touchscreen setups)
- Optional extras (mounting gear, cables, speakers, etc.)
Most of today’s signage hardware is plug-and-play, meaning you can set it up in minutes.
This trick is finding software that’s equally plug-and-play.
Which leads us to the next section:
Digital signage software
Next on the list is finding a user-friendly platform that can help bring your signage to life. It should offer a range of features that make life a little easier, like the ability to create interactive displays, QR codes, and daily schedules. But it should also accompany some quality-of-life features:
- Easy-to-use templates
- Support for various media formats
- Real-time updates for safety instructions
Content creation
Now for the fun part — to create content for your school! This is your chance to promote events like pep rallies and PTA meetings, showcase student work, and highlight daily lunch menus across various media formats.
You’ll have lots of different platform options depending on your software, but tools like Fugo are often the easiest option. For example, you can use drag-and-drop design tools or pre-made templates to make your slides look polished without needing a graphic design degree.
Our digital signage platform requires minimal technical skills so you can make content in just a few clicks. Just one of the reasons why they call us ‘Canva for TV screens.’ 😉
Try Fugo yourself with a 14-day free trial.
Implementation and management
Once your signage is up and running, the final order of business is keeping things humming. This usually means:
- Scheduling content by day, time, or screen to enhance communication efforts
- Making real-time updates from one central dashboard to avoid outdated content
- Troubleshooting issues and/or contacting support if necessary
- Performing regular digital signage maintenance, especially for sensitive hardware like media players
Pro tip: Assign a few key team members (like admin staff or student leaders) to keep tabs on your screens and provide updates throughout the school year.
Best practices for school digital signage solutions
No student wants to stare at a screen of outdated information. Coupled with clip art, Comic Sans, and some not-so-inspirational quotes, and you might have a recipe for poor communication and low engagement.
The good news is, it’s relatively fixable. If you want to make the most of your school’s digital signage, you’ll want to adhere to the following best practices:
Keep your content smart and snappy
Your audience is busy, so grab their attention fast! You might use bold visuals, short headlines, and clear calls to action to explain your point fast.
Use templates to save time
No need to reinvent the wheel every Monday morning. Instead, look for school-friendly templates you can customize in minutes, especially ones that let you swap colors, logos, and content without design skills.
Tools like Fugo make it easy with a digital design studio housing hundreds of templates. And if you don’t feel like making said content yourself, you can always let AI agents do all the work. You’re welcome to give it a go by signing up for our AI Beta Program.
Set a regular time to update content
Keep forgetting to tear down old posters in the hallway? Then you ought to set a schedule for updating digital signage content in your CMS.
Be sure to choose signage software that lets you update screens remotely and instantly so your digital signage is always relevant, timely, and fresh.
Schedule upcoming content so you never forget
From bake sales to band concerts, it’s easy to use digital signs to promote events in the future. This makes it easy to queue up content early and instantly display it whenever the time is right.
Remember: Fugo can help you schedule content in advance so it pops up on the right screen at the right time (no reminders needed).
Fugo: The best digital signage software for schools
We might be a wee bit biased here, but we genuinely believe that Fugo makes it easy to create and manage digital signage content for schools of all sizes. We offer powerful tools that help you inform, celebrate, and connect with your school community all from behind a single, simple dashboard.
With Fugo, you can tap into:
- Drag-and-drop content creation tools with simple, real-time updates
- Reusable school templates for menus, announcements, holidays, and more
- Multiscreen content for both campuses and classrooms
- Free tools for setting up QR codes, social feeds, and web apps
But why let us tell you when you can see for yourself?
Start your free trial with Fugo today and get your first screen up in 15 minutes or less.
Frequently asked questions about school digital signage
Q: What are the ADA guidelines for digital signage?
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) recommends that digital signage be accessible to everyone, including people with visual, hearing, or mobility impairments. That means:
- Using high-contrast text and large fonts for better readability
- Avoiding blinking/flashing content that could trigger seizures
- Adding closed captions for videos and audio
- Making sure touchscreens are within reach (usually between 15" and 48" from the floor)
Q: Is there any free digital signage software?
Plenty of schools start out with budget-friendly tools like Google Slides, PowerPoint, or even YouTube playlists on loop. But as your signage needs grow, you might end up needing something more scalable (like Fugo 👋), which gives you playlists, scheduling, QR codes, screen management, and other pro tools to keep your content current without a million manual updates.
Q: What signs must a school display?
It varies by district and state, but most schools are required to display:
- Emergency evacuation maps
- Title VI, Title IX, and ADA compliance notices
- Non-discrimination policies
- Crisis hotlines or student support services
- Visitor sign-in instructions
Beyond the required stuff, schools can have signage showing off anything and everything, from lunch menus and birthday shoutouts to weather updates and club announcements.
Q: What is the best digital signage?
The best signage setup is the one that works for your school’s needs. That said, thousands of growing businesses say that Fugo is a perfect fit. We offer drag-and-drop design tools, playlist scheduling, screen grouping, and integrations for everything from Google Drive to social media, making us one of the simplest ways to keep school communications timely, engaging, and stress-free.
Q: What hardware is there for school digital signage in Singapore?
Schools in Singapore can access a wide range of digital signage hardware, from affordable display screens and mounting systems to media players that power your content behind the scenes.
Here are a few popular options you might see:
- Commercial-grade display screens from brands like LG, Samsung, or Philips
- Digital signage media players like Fugo Flash or BrightSign
- Interactive kiosks for student check-ins or campus navigation
- Wall mounts and stands for classrooms, halls, or common areas
Learn more about digital signage in Singapore.
