If you’ve ever walked into a school and seen a screen in the hallway looping a lunch menu or a slideshow from last month’s events, you’ve already seen the promise of digital signage — and the problem.
Most districts have the screens. Many even have interactive flat panels in every classroom. But the communication still doesn’t get through consistently, and in a critical moment, “Check your email” is not a safety plan.
That’s why I’ve been excited to work with Rise Vision — and why we’re kicking off a 3‑part podcast series (featuring conversations with Blake Freeman, Chris Warden, and Kate Haddad) leading into ISTE.
What is Rise Vision?
Rise Vision is an all‑in‑one platform built for K–12 that helps districts communicate, collaborate, and improve safety using three core pillars:
- Digital signage for hallway screens, offices, cafeterias, and common spaces
- Screen sharing for classroom collaboration and instruction
- Emergency alerts that can take over every assigned display instantly
The part that matters most for schools: Rise Vision is designed to work with the hardware you already have. Whether your district is a mix of devices, older TVs, Chrome devices, or interactive flat panels, the goal is the same — turn every screen into a reliable communication endpoint.
Why this matters right now (especially heading into a new school year)
In the last few years, districts have added more tools than ever — and many of those tools don’t talk to each other. You end up with:
- One system for signage
- Another for emergency alerts
- Another for casting/screen sharing
- A pile of logins, training needs, and support tickets
And here’s the real cost: every extra tool adds friction — and friction kills adoption. If only a few people can run your system (or if it requires IT to update a screen), it won’t scale across buildings.
Rise Vision flips that by giving districts one platform that can be centrally managed while still allowing schools to own their day‑to‑day content. District office can push district‑wide messaging, while each building can run announcements, celebrations, schedules, and community updates without creating a bottleneck.
Built for busy schools: templates + integrations
One of the most practical wins is how quickly schools can get up and running. Rise Vision supports what many schools already use — like Google Slides, PowerPoint, Canva, and calendar integrations — so you don’t have to reinvent your workflow.
And with a deep template library, teams can build great‑looking signage without needing a designer on staff.
Safety isn’t a feature — it’s infrastructure
Rise Vision’s emergency alerts can integrate with existing CAP providers (for example, tools districts already use for alerts) and display clear, visual messaging across assigned screens — including classroom displays — so staff and students can see what’s happening even if the room is loud or the PA system is inconsistent.
In other words: the same screen your teachers use every day can also become part of your emergency communication plan.
What Rise Vision is doing at ISTE (and how to connect)
If you’re heading to ISTE, I’d love for you to stop by and see what a “multi‑channel, centrally managed” district communication system looks like in real life.
Find Rise Vision at ISTE — Booth 2357.
We’ll be sharing what districts are doing to:
- Make hallway and classroom screens actually useful (not just “there”)
- Reduce fragmentation by consolidating tools
- Improve consistency across schools
- Strengthen safety communication when it matters most
And if you can’t make it to ISTE, we’re publishing everything from this series (podcast episodes, videos, and resources) at: https://www.teachercast.net/risevision
Start here: the 3‑part Rise Vision podcast series
This Sunday’s post is just the start of our summertime kickoff — but the deeper conversations are coming next. Please subscribe to Digital Learning Today on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to listen to all of my interviews with Rise Vision and others during the ISTE Conference this summer.
In the series you’ll hear:
- From Blake Freeman on the big picture: using existing displays as district‑wide communication and safety endpoints
- From Chris Warden (a working K–12 tech director) on the real cost of fragmented systems and what it takes to simplify
- From Kate Haddad on implementation: onboarding, training, templates, and what success looks like once the system is live
If your district is trying to communicate more clearly, reduce tool overload, and build systems your staff will actually use, this is for you.
