Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University: Big News and Small

When a tornado struck the Florida campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Brian Wilson and his team began working in earnest to expand their use of their university digital signage powered by AxisTV digital signage software.

“The tornado took out a couple of buildings on campus, and people had to be relocated,” explained Wilson, Classroom and Lab Support Technician. “Right after students came back from holiday break, we used the AxisTV system, posted signs and set up a computer and monitor in different areas just to get information out.”

Getting updated communications to areas not using AxisTV during this impromptu set up was largely manual and time consuming. Wilson believes AxisTV would have made the difference if the system had been more extensive. “We knew if we had this tool implemented across campus, we could get the information out in about three minutes.”

Wilson and his team are fans of AxisTV since they successfully replaced a bulletin board for printed student advertising with digital signage. They’ve also tied AxisTV into the school’s cable TV system to broadcast notices for student organizations.

Embry-Riddle runs three Visix media players – two at its Daytona Beach campus and one at its campus in Prescott, Arizona. “They have their own player there, connected to our server here, and they update their content remotely. I run the screensaver and pull content from our player in Arizona,” Wilson explained.

Embry-Riddle uses its player in Prescott to feed a 63-inch screen in the school’s visitor center. One player in Daytona is connected to displays in the student union and also feeds the school’s cable channel, so that AxisTV messages can be seen everywhere on campus. The third player is connected to screens at the College of Aviation.

The school’s College of Aviation has expanded the use of their own digital signage. The college has three large displays showing a split screen with half devoted to campus-wide communications and the other half broadcasting messages specific to the College of Aviation. The campus-wide and student organization playlist is run by the school’s Information Center through the Dean of Student Life on Campus, and it presents the same content that runs on its campus cable channel.

Wilson set up the college’s AxisTV access so that they could update content on their own. “They are loving it,” offered Wilson. “They can put up whatever they want. Maybe a notice about a guest speaker, reminding students they need to register, a welcome for visitors. And they can update it right from their offices.”

Wilson elaborated, “Right now the main content creator at the college is the Administrative Assistant to the Dean. It took me about four minutes to train her on how to post. She had a couple of follow up questions but she was up and running quickly. Their favorite feature is AxisTV’s scheduling interface that allows messages and postings to come off playlists automatically. The Dean’s Office schedules events anywhere from three months to a year and half out. They create welcome screens for when they’re going to happen in the future, and it’s nice not having to go back and delete them after the fact.”