When you hear the words “digital signage” you might just think of hallway or cafeteria displays, but modern signage options offer more than just an informational screen. Many new signage models are Google EDLA certified, meaning they can natively offer Google Play Store apps, making these smart signage solutions ideally suited for both classrooms and common spaces.
What is Google EDLA?
Firstly, let’s explain what Google EDLA is: it stands for Enterprise Devices Licensing Agreement, a Google certification program that ensures a device is approved to run Google Mobile Services (GMS). GMS is Google’s suite of popular apps and APIs for Android devices, including essentials such as Google Search, Drive, Chrome, YouTube, and the Play Store.
This certification guarantees reliable access to these core Google apps and services, along with native Android app installation and Google’s built-in security features.
What that means for your digital signage is:
- Google ecosystem integration
- Education apps at your fingertips
- Device security from Google
With EDLA-certified signage, your displays transform into versatile learning tools.
Effortless Google ecosystem integration
Google tools are a cornerstone of today’s classrooms, enabling everything from easy creation, distribution, and grading of assignments to feedback, differentiated learning, and teaching material storage. The numbers speak for themselves:
- 150 million Google Classroom users as of 2021 and counting
- 170 million using Google Workspace for Education in 2021 and growing
- 50+ million students and teachers are using Chromebooks
With EDLA-certified smart digital signage, you can access core Google tools, including Classroom, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Calendar, and Drive, directly from the display in just a couple of clicks. This not only saves you time but also eliminates the need for extra devices, cables, or connection troubleshooting during class, which can lead to students becoming distracted and losing focus.
Related: Thinking of Using a TV as Digital Signage? Read this First.
Education apps at your fingertips
Need to display a real-time Google Form for student check-ins? Want to run Kahoot!, display a timer, or pull up YouTube for some supplemental video content? Want to run design apps natively for higher education classes?
With Google Play access, you can run educational apps, time management tools, communication platforms, and more directly on the signage device. This includes the thousands of educational apps in Google Play’s Teacher Approved program, all without the need for dongles or unstable third-party workarounds.
To keep app usage and user data safe, IT admins have complete control over which apps are allowed on smart displays such as the BenQ SH04 Pantone® Validated Pro Signage and SL04 Pantone® Validated Signage. IT can manage app permissions remotely through options including:
- Allowlisting
- Blocklisting
- Disabling Google Play
Related: How to Manage App Usage on BenQ Smart Displays: A Quick Guide for IT Admins
Device security from Google
Google Play isn’t just a place to download and update apps: in fact, its built-in Google Play Protect service also helps with device security.
Google Play Protect checks app downloads for suspicious behavior and prevents you from downloading potentially harmful apps to your devices. It also scans and removes previously installed apps that exhibit malicious behavior for an added layer of protection.
The above means your devices stay safer, automatically, without you having to lift a finger.
Related: Solutions Guide: Better Security with BenQ
