Saint André College Episcopal improves student engagement with Airtame

The challenge

Like most schools, teachers at Saint Andre previously had to come with a VGA or HDMI cable to project their content to their students. Teachers change classrooms every hour while the students do not move, which means the teachers must move their equipment and cables from room to room. HDMI cables are fragile and do not hold up well to repeated connections and removals. 

In addition, the cables brought by the teachers were not always long enough to be securely connected between the HDMI / VGA socket and their equipment. The HDMI and VGA wall plates also could cause image quality degradation. Overall, the wires had to go – Saint Andre required a cross-platform solution compatible with macOS, iPadOS, Windows 10 and Android.

A cross-platform screen sharing solution

Saint Andre chose Airtame devices, as they offer native support for AirPlay, Miracast, and Google Cast, to work with any operating system. The Airtame app also gives users the ability to share from any device. Airtame devices are now installed in 44 classrooms in the high school, the teachers’ lounge, and a reception hall. 

With the Airtame devices installed in the high school classrooms, the teachers no longer need to plug in an HDMI cable. “The intervention rate of our technical service has been reduced, as the HDMI and VGA wall outlets are no longer defective,” says Béryl, IT Manager for Saint Andre.

The Result: Improved student engagement 

“The high school students are all equipped with a computer – with Airtame devices, students can wirelessly share the content from their screen with the whole class. This improves knowledge exchange and overall learning,” states Béryl. 

Increased student engagement isn’t the only benefit. Through Airtame Cloud, the IT department can manage several device functions, such as remotely restarting Airtame devices and checking that updates are running correctly. Saint Andre is also using Airtame devices for digital signage, as Béryl shares, “The ability to display a website of your choice in the background is a big plus. We have our own website which disseminates information to the educational community on all screens when not in use by teachers.” 

The school is now considering installing Airtame in their meeting rooms and upgrading their devices to Airtame Cloud Plus to simplify their digital signage. They also plan to continue deploying Airtame devices in the Secondary school classrooms, to replace a current solution that is not natively multiplatform.