Texas State Technical College Launches First U.S. Digital Signage Degree Program Focused on Marketing Strategy and Design

Scala software provides easy-to-use teaching aid and drives campus system.

Abilene, TX (PRWEB) June 29, 2010

Industry experts have been anticipating huge growth in the digital out-of-home market this year, and industry-wide sales figures suggest that the market may be entering a “break out” growth phase. Now, Texas State Technical College (TSTC) West Texas has launched the United States’ first digital signage technology program as an associate degree.

TSTC’s two-year degree is offered completely online in a virtual classroom environment and includes courses on digital marketing, design and scheduling. This is the first time a college is pairing a graphic design degree with marketing strategy and applying it to the digital signage medium. Students will use Scala software to create content and manage playlists, as well as learn how to identify audiences and measure and track digital marketing results.

The college evaluated software from five digital signage software vendors before choosing Scala. “After seeing the application in action, our college was so impressed with the ease of operation, we knew it was a great choice for our four campuses,” said Patricia Lister-Golin, Program Specialist in Digital Signage Technology at TSTC. “Scala presented a webinar for our instructors and took us through the process of building an advertising program. Everyone was amazed at how easy the software was to use to create content, build a playlist, get feedback and more.”

Scala Designer allows students to quickly design dynamic content for digital signage in an attention-grabbing environment using ScalaScript. Students enjoy creative control over their content and can make real-time edits. Combined with Scala Content Manager and Player, this will allow TSTC students to create, schedule and manage the transmissions of multimedia content to more than 50 digital signage displays from any Internet-connected computer. Students will also learn how to develop a single, master playlist that can be broken out into individual sections and scheduled to play in different locations at different times using Scala.

In addition to serving as an easy-to-use teaching aid to students of TSTC, Scala is powering the college’s campus-wide digital signage network. The network consists of a variety of displays across multiple campuses throughout the West Texas region. Screens will be placed in locations such as the bookstore, student center, learning labs and outside certain campus buildings.

“The No. 1 reason we selected Scala is that Scala is the undisputed industry leader with proven technology,” Lister-Golin said. “The Scala name strengthens our curriculum. Also, our students will be prepared to work with Scala in their jobs, so it’s another way we help them get ahead in the business world.”

Currently, TSTC has five students enrolled in the program with 10 more applicants that are expected to start in Fall 2010.

For a full case study, visit http://www.scala.com/news/studies/texas-state-technical-college-launches-digital-signage-technology-degree-program.

About Texas State Technical College
Texas State Technical College West Texas’ TSTC Corporate College offers new experiences and challenges for individuals to keep abreast of development in their present occupations or to further their education for new careers. In addition to the courses offered to the general public, there are programs available to augment the staff development and job skill training programs of business, industrial, labor, governmental, and professional groups. Training programs can be tailor-made and offered "in house" if desired, to meet specific job upgrading and mobility needs of individual organizations.
The TSTC Corporate College programs offer training continuing education units. For more information, visit http://www.westtexas.tstc.edu

About Scala
Driving more than 500,000 screens worldwide, Scala is a leading global provider of digital signage and advertising management solutions. Scala is the world’s first connected signage company, offering the leading platform for content creation, management and distribution in digital signage networks and the first unified platform for advertising management of both traditional and digital signage networks. The company's digital signage customers include Rabobank, IKEA, Burger King, T-Mobile, Virgin MegaStore, Warner Brothers, The Life Channel, Rikstoto, Repsol, NorgesGruppen, Audi, ECE Flatmedia, Kaufhof (Metro Group) and thousands more. Advertising management customers include CBS Outdoor, Clear Channel Outdoor and Magic Media, among others. Scala is headquartered near Philadelphia, USA, and has subsidiaries in Canada, The Netherlands, France, Norway, Germany and Japan, as well as more than 450 partners in more than 60 countries. More information is available at http://www.scala.com.

©2010 Scala, Inc. 350 Eagleview Blvd. Exton, PA 19341. Scala and the Exclamation Point Logo are
                                                                 registered trademarks of Scala.

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