Digital signage in the classroom - with Enplug!

Enplug is a super simple digital signage software that's used in all sorts of places. I first saw it in the Goodwill store in Dinkytown where they use it to engage their customers with social media. The wedding venue I work in, also uses it so that guests can upload live photos and messages during a wedding. I've done more research into what it can do, and it turns out the answer is: a lot.

Enplug can be used for menus, social media feeds, graphics, news feeds and more.  I would mostly use the social media feed and graphics with the idea of having a constantly updating digital screen in the classroom that provides a fresh feed of content every day. It doesn't need to be a super fancy screen either, for the most part any t.v. screen would work.

The social media aspect would be used as a way to engage the kids with conversations taking place outside of the classroom. The nice thing with a system like Enplug is that it's filtered, and I can choose what content comes through from the vast unpredictable world of social media. I always imagine working with young kids, so this would be especially important for keeping offensive content out. As for the content that is let through, I can imagine a couple of fun educational uses.

The first would be in a sort of vocabulary capacity. The idea is for the students to choose specific words or subjects and to simply catch any content that is using those words or phrases. Depending on the subject matter, this could bring in some new ideas and interesting discussions.

Another option would be to have parents and students participate with a specific hashtag, and contribute content to a specific idea or project. This could be showing their families, their work, their home, something from home they are proud of, etc. It could be an ongoing show and tell project even. These screens wouldn't be part of an active lesson, but would instead create passive content for children to engage with before class, during recess/lunch, or even after school. If I can get kids to engage in the learning process outside of 'structured learning time,' then I think it would be an experiment that I'd consider a success.