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In response to the growing demand for a mobile-friendly solution to capture Photosphere images after the discontinuation of the Google Street View Camera app, ThingLink has launched an extraordinary solution. 

This groundbreaking and free conversion service allows users to effortlessly create virtual tours using 360-degree photosphere images, without the need for specialized equipment.

ThingLink Guided Tour Example

Below is a great example of a ThingLink Guided Tour of a popular co-working space in Helsinki. Click through or scroll around the impressive converted 360 photosphere, originally a panoramic image taken with an iPhone 12 Pro Max.

Discover What Awaits You in Our Webinar

• Unveiling the cutting-edge mobile-friendly solution for converting panoramic images into fully immersive 360 spherical images (photospheres)
• Mastering the new ThingLink Guided Tours: A step-by-step tutorial
• Witness inspirational examples in action: see the possibilities unfold
• Engage in a live Q&A session: Your questions answered by experts

Now On-Demand!

Sign up for the webinar, we’ve got you covered with an exclusive action replay delivered straight to your inbox.

Other posts we think you’ll love

• Check out our up and coming or previous webinars
• Sign up to watch the replay – AI in Immersive Learning
• New ThingLink webinar series: AI-assisted tools for immersive content creation
• Top Six Outstanding Text to Image AI Generation Tools
• The Best AI Content Creation Tools: A Practical Guide

For more ideas, use cases and inspiration on content creation, join our communities on social media! LinkedIn Community, Twitter Creative Learning Design Community and ThingLink Education Facebook Group.

Why have QR codes made a comeback?

QR codes didn’t ever really go away! However, today almost everyone carries a smartphone in their pocket, meaning that the capability to scan QR codes has expanded immensely. In the past, scanning QR codes required you to download a specific QR code reader app from the app store. This meant that they often didn’t live up to their full name of Quick Response Codes!

However, modern smartphones, ipads and other mobile devices now come equipped with built-in QR code scanners in their camera apps. This built-in functionality has significantly increased convenience and ease of use.

The technology behind QR code scanning has also improved significantly. As you’ll see below, it’s now super easy for anyone to generate their own code without having to use a third party app. Scanners in phone cameras today are also faster, more accurate, and capable of deciphering codes even in challenging lighting conditions.

Plus, today there is more wi-fi and enhanced 5G network coverage available across the world. Combine all these factors, and using QR codes is now an all-round faster and more user-friendly experience for everyone. The COVID-19 pandemic may have also accelerated the rebirth of the QR code, with a sudden need for contactless interactions and transactions.

How do you scan a QR code with your phone?

In case you’re not familiar with the process – here’s a quick recap!

On an iphone or android phone, simply go open your camera app and point it at the QR code. The URL will then appear for you to click and follow. On most android devices or phones you can also now use Google Lens to scan the QR code. Originally only available on Google Pixel phones, it’s now standard across almost all android phones and devices.

Note: You may have seen types of QR code with images in the centre – don’t worry, these work in exactly the same way!

What can QR Codes be used for?

Businesses and marketers have known for a long time that QR codes work as a powerful marketing tool. The usefulness of QR codes for marketing campaigns lies in the fact that a different code can be generated for each piece of collateral, meaning that marketers can easily trace which campaigns are working best. Here are ten ways in which anyone can make use of the portable technology of the QR code.

Interactive Business Cards

Revamp your traditional business cards by embedding a QR code. This code can link to your portfolio, social media profiles, phone number or a personalized introductory video, providing an interactive experience for recipients.

Scavenger Hunts and Treasure Trails

Organize a fun scavenger hunt or treasure trail using QR codes as clues. Participants can scan the codes to receive hints or find the next location, creating an exciting and immersive adventure.

Interested in creating interactive, immersive virtual escape rooms? Our blog How to Make a Virtual Escape Room with ThingLink shows you how!

Special Offers

Instead of having to reprint your printed collateral each time your offer changes, simply update the webpage or landing page that your QR points to instead!

Art Exhibitions and Museums

Enhance your visitors’ experiences at your exhibition, gallery or museum by placing QR codes next to each exhibit. Scanning the codes can provide detailed information about the artist, the artwork’s inspiration, or even an audio guide, bringing the exhibits to life.

For more inspiration on how you can use ThingLink in museums, galleries and cultural institutions, take a look at our dedicated page here. Or why not visit the Museums and Libraries section of our blog?

PLUS: Exciting news for museums and galleries!

ThingLink will shortly be rolling out the new AR App – for more information on how this will look, watch the short video below!

Product Packaging

This is of course where traditional barcodes started out – the precursor to the modern QR code! With a custom QR code on your product or packaging, you can offer customers instant access to additional product information, user manuals, instructional videos, exclusive discounts, pricing, offers, how-to videos…the list is endless! For example, why not add to a clothes label in your clothing store, linking to a landing page or ThingLink showing how you can style this item, what it looks like dressed up or down etc?

For more information on how you can use ThingLink for interactive product marketing, take a look at this helpful case study from Canadian brand Carmanah!

Restaurant Menus

Incorporate QR codes into your menus to allow customers to access digital versions, view nutritional information, or even place orders directly from their smartphones. To reduce clutter you could even print the code onto your tablecloth, or stencil onto the wall next to each table!

Fundraising

For any type of fundraiser, why not print your QR codes onto stickers that you can stick to your phone, print on t-shirts or bags – so that you can share info wherever and whenever and raise awareness and funds on a very small budget!

Travel Guides and Visitor Information

Create a digital guide to your visitor attraction by placing QR codes at various popular spots. Scanning the codes can provide historical facts, local insights, or even audio tours, allowing visitors to explore destinations at their own pace and in a range of formats.

Read how you can create a virtual tour easily and quickly with ThingLink – and share with a QR code! Here’s a great example from the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.

Networking Events

Say goodbye to traditional paper resumes and business cards and create QR codes that link to your professional portfolio, LinkedIn profile, or personal website. Attendees can easily scan the code to access your contact information and connect with you digitally. Again these can be printed onto stickers or labels and attached to anything!

Virtual Real Estate Tours

For real estate agents and property owners, QR codes can offer virtual property tours. Place codes on “For Sale” signs or property brochures to give potential buyers a 360-degree virtual tour, showcasing the property’s features and amenities. Read this blog post to see how this can be done in ThingLink.

How do you create a QR code?

Previously, third party apps were required to generate a QR code, but the process has become much simpler in recent years. Any URL can instantly be converted into a QR code!

Create a QR code with Google Chrome

On your smartphone or mobile device, you’ll find a free QR generator built into Chrome (both the mobile app on the Android operating system and Apple iOS.) It’s also available on every desktop version of Chrome. It’s on the right hand side of the address bar and looks like a window with 4 small square panes. Click on it and a code is generated; click Download to save it to your device or drive.

Use ThingLink’s built-in QR code generator to share your interactive content

Did you know that you can generate QR codes straight from the ThingLink Editor? This means you can easily share your Virtual Tour, Learning Scenario or in fact any piece of interactive ThingLink content – instantly. Simply click “Share” and then “Share link” or “Get Direct Link”, and in addition to the URL, you have your own custom QR code ready to go!

The beauty of sharing your ThingLink content with a QR code is that your ThingLink content is updated in real-time – regardless of where it’s shared. So whenever and wherever you share your QR code, you can be sure that people will always be sent to the current version of your content!

Squaring is Sharing

Hopefully this has given you an insight into the huge potential of the humble little monochrome square, the QR code. Why not get started creating and sharing your interactive content today with a free ThingLink trial? Follow the link below!

Crosshairs as shown above help you create professional looking interactive content

What could you use this feature for?

Do you create interactive infographics for your learners? Perhaps you are looking to produce interactive content for social media or landing pages? Are you a creator of online training and assessment or any other kind of interactive experience? 
Whatever sort of interactive media you create, your target audience will appreciate the enhanced user experience that clear and ordered visual content provides. This is where the Grid Feature comes in!

How will the Grid Feature help in your content creation?

Until now, whenever you added the interactive elements to your ThingLink creations, you had to judge by eye whether tags lined up precisely. Now the default grid lines will appear in the editor as you add the tags or hotspots, to help ensure that your content looks as sharp and professional as possible. Use it in conjunction with our Canva integration to create pieces of content that really impress and encourage exploration.

Benefits of interactive content

Professional-looking interactive content is engaging content, which will immediately grab your audience’s attention and keep them interested for longer. The days of passive content are gone, with audiences looking for interactive videos, images and other pieces of quality content that will engage and stimulate, and enable you to take your audience engagement to the next level. 

In Education

Interactive quizzes, timelines and interactive maps are all great examples of how to engage learners. Our educator community have created some fantastic templates to start you off!

In HR or Corporate Training and Learning

Create interactive content for your learners and immediately see the uptick in engagement, retention and recall vs static content. Use ThingLink’s inbuilt tools to see metrics on learner engagement to constantly adapt and improve your training materials.

In Marketing and Communications

Interactive media should be part of your marketing strategy from the outset. An interactive multimedia approach to content marketing helps you get to know your customers better and how they interact with your content. Use this user data to build a better picture of what your customers engage with and see conversion rates increase. Why not use the new Grid Feature when creating interactive case studies, interactive ebooks and white papers as part of your lead generation strategy? 

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I create interactive multimedia content? Become a Certified Creator?  Take our free ThingLink Certified Creator Course. Click here to find out more. 

What is the first step for interactive media? You can start by signing up for a free trial, then explore our useful guides or begin our 10-module self paced course. 

Was this post / article helpful? Check out other useful guides

How to create virtual tours and more

If yes, we have a handy eLearning solution to help your company achieve optimal learning results and motivate your employees more. Immersive, easy-to-create workplace simulations will make your employees more job-ready and save you precious time and money in logistics, translation, and content production.

Simulation tools help companies boost their productivity in many ways, but they also motivate employees to practice new skills and capabilities in a risk-free environment. Let’s take a closer look at why now is the time to invest in a better online learning experience.

Workplace Simulation – The Need of the Hour

Since the pandemic, traditional training programs have become untenable for employees. If anything hasn’t changed, though, it’s the ever-growing need for developing new skills for operating in increasingly complex, multicultural environments. In addition to practice, context-specific knowledge, employees need to constantly train soft skills, including leadership, teamwork, and conflict resolution.

However, since in-person education is now a not-so-accessible option, what other alternatives do firms have? Immersive learning technologies are found to be the next best option for corporate training, but so far companies are hesitant to invest hundreds of thousands in VR headsets when the creation of training content is expensive and slow.

ThingLink’s new eLearning solution is designed to change this. Focusing on easy content creation and content sharing to any LMS, it is a must-have for your corporate training purposes. Below are the top 10 reasons why any organization with more than 100 employees should get it.

1.    Improved Work Relationships

Even in your local work environment, the atmosphere inside your organization depends significantly upon the flow of communication. An investment into a better digital learning experience leads to greater team unity and understanding between the employees. When there are no language barriers, there will be better communication and coordination between your employees.

ThingLink’s eLearning solution features an integrated Immersive Reader with an automated language translator that makes your training materials accessible in more than eighty languages. These features guarantee more accessibility, better message delivery, and lesser misunderstandings at the workplace.

2.    Faster Knowledge Sharing

For technical and maintenance training, companies previously had to rely on manuals and technical drawings that can be sometimes cryptic and hard to understand. Employees with more experience knew the tricks of how things work, but transferring that knowledge to new recruits is hard.

ThingLink’s eLearning solution comes equipped with an easy-to-use mobile app that lets employees snap a photo of any device and record a short instruction with video or audio to share with their colleagues. In addition to improving knowledge sharing and coordination at your workplace and subcontractors, it also helps save money significantly. Interactive manuals that are instantly accessible on tablets lead to faster learning, fewer errors, support requests, and maintenance breaks.

3.    Self-Paced Learning in Real-Life Environment

When employees are learning remotely, it can be tricky to find ways to inspire and motivate them. ThingLink’s new eLearning solution with Scenario Builder takes care of that and ensures exciting and captivating learning experiences that draw the learner’s interest and attention.

Immersive simulations that use interactive media help employees learn practical and decision-making skills by simulating them in a real-life work environment. Nothing boosts learning better than a personal experience. It is the most effective way to learn, as we’re sure you will agree. With our tool, you can bid goodbye to remote learning sessions that fatigue your employees out in several ways. Our solution helps your employees learn things that are truly relevant and substantial to their job. It also helps maximize their commitment and involvement more actively towards your organization.

4.    New Insights with Advanced Learning Analytics

The responsibility of companies towards their employees does not end at merely providing them with learning resources. As employers, it is your prerogative to constantly improve training materials and ensure maximum facilitation in your employees’ learning journey. For this, you need better data on how your employees learn in context.

Our eLearning solution is highly useful in this regard too. It features an in-built data collection that provides new insights on your employees’ learning process throughout a virtual walk-through or workplace simulation, which helps optimize your training programs. With ThingLink’s new Scenario Builder, you can easily add options, questions, and checkpoints to build linear or non-linear learning scenarios. You can be sure that a learner has seen all relevant information points before they can move to explore the next scene. Employees can see their own progress as their reach check-points that increase their progress score.

With learner-specific data, you can take swift action and step in where necessary, thus optimizing the learning progress and results.

5.    Improved Knowledge Retention

Immersive workplace simulations are an instructional method that helps employees apply new skills and knowledge to real-life situations. Text-based tools do not offer this advantage, and learning is not as rapid and realistic as it is in contexts.

Personal experiences in real-life work environments help support learning better than recall techniques. When employees get to make choices and apply their knowledge in a simulation, they retain knowledge more effectively.

Better knowledge retention is another cost-saving benefit for the company. When employees do not need to retake corporate training programs, the company saves up on costs in many ways. Our tool makes it easy to update content and synchronize with other learning tools.

6.    Faster Learning Content Creation 

For the time and money you spend in creating one computer-generated simulation, your training team can create multiple image-based simulations that are easy to view on any device, easy to share, and easy to update when needed. Why pay more for less when our solution gives you the chance to supercharge your own trainers and learning experts?  

ThingLink’s new Scenario Builder features an easy interface for building branching scenarios and simulations using various types of visual media: images, video, 3D models, and 360 media. Anyone with basic digital skills can use it, which decreases your team’s dependency on external agencies. To get started, our team can offer assistance in training your experts on scenario building and learning design.

We ensure fast creation of dynamic learning experiences, including the possibility of making changes even after publishing. This eliminates the need for hiring external agencies to take care of the editing and saves the added costs.

7.    Opens Gateways for Advanced Training

ThingLink’s new eLearning solution helps employees set their learning speed and make progress faster than in traditional learning programs. With self-paced training resources, learners can take lessons when and as is convenient for them. This helps them complete their basic level training faster.

Virtual tours and walk-throughs are ideal for learning key concepts, what things are and how they work. Immersive scenarios help employees apply and practice their knowledge in real-life contexts and situations. When learners rapidly make headway using virtual tours, scenarios, and simulations,  this can free up their time for more advanced coaching and training programs alongside.

8.    Improves Customer Communication

Visual and interactive learning materials and simulations not only boost learning for your employees but also for your clients and partners. With more accessibility to access and experience your products and facilities in interactive 3D and 360-degree environments, you now get to host more clients from all over the world. ThingLink is a great tool for sales support and helps your sales team close more deals faster. What more could you ask from a digital content creation tool?

9.    Makes Existing Tools Work Better

ThingLink’s new eLearning solution is compatible with your existing eLearning infrastructure. You can embed interactive training materials and simulations easily to any Learning Management System (LMS) or Microsoft Teams. In other words, ThingLink helps bring immersive learning experiences to any of the other platforms you are currently using and makes them more engaging.

Smooth interoperability with other tools makes everything easier. Employees can log in to ThingLink materials seamlessly using Office 365, G Suite, or via your LMS using LTI 1.3. Setting up and learning our solution does not take your resources and can be done with our expert team within hours. All eLearning accounts come with dedicated same-day training.

10.    Bigger Digital Leap, Faster Results

If your goal is to quickly improve your company’s online learning experience and take the much-needed digital leap, there is no better solution than ThingLink’s new Scenario Builder to help you with that. You can create impactful visual learning experiences and rest assured of instantaneous results at fraction of the cost that you would normally spend on employee training. With ThingLink, you can take a giant digital leap confidently and cost-effectively. Isn’t that an incredible advantage?

Take a quick tour of ThingLink’s Scenario Builder

See how it works

Interested in piloting ThingLink Scenario Builder in your organization? Contact our team to get a demo and see how you can use it, or join our live demo on Wednesday, November 17th at 12PM EST/7PM EEST!

From improving surgical training to creating better treatment plans, there are limitless ways annotated 3D models and interactive media can be used in the healthcare industry. With new easy-to-use technologies, healthcare professionals are able to support and educate patients, improve communication with their teams, teach medical students of all ages and make their working lives easier. Visual media tools such as ThingLink allow professionals to annotate 3D models of body parts and medical scenes creating ‘in context’ experiences. 

Let’s take a look at 5 different ways to use annotated 3D models and interactive media in the healthcare industry.

1. Effective and efficient patient care 

3D models with multimedia annotations can help patients to understand a diagnosis or procedure to better prepare them for their treatment, whether surgery or an ongoing course of treatment.
Having an easy-to-use tool like ThingLink allows you to create interactive 3D models to educate your patients about their specific issues or a detailed overview of what the treatment will involve,  in just a few clicks.  Helpful information can be presented in an accessible way without the need for specialist software. It can be shared with patients by email or text and viewed at any time on a personal device such as a mobile phone or computer with any modern browser.

2.  Teaching tool for professionals at all stages of their careers, from students to interdisciplinary teams

Using annotated 3D models is an engaging way to teach different anatomical and biological structures. To challenge students further and to check learning outcomes, they are able to label and annotate their models themselves. The benefit of using ThingLink in this process is that even students who are learning remotely can access realistic 3D representations without the need to access software on campus. They can also work collaboratively in real-time and in groups. Interactive 3D models can also include questions and they can be embedded into branched scenarios.

Explore a Covid 19 particle in a 360 scene of a real-life testing lab:

3. Plan surgical cases with surgery team – intraoperative planning made simple

Intraoperative planning is one of the most useful applications for annotated 3D models in healthcare. Using annotations allows you to interact with a patient’s actual medical information, providing a more detailed view of what will be undertaken during surgery. Adding annotations to a 3D model can allow physicians to point out specific details – tiny cracks on an artificial hip, for instance—and create virtual overlays that enhance contextual understanding. 

Surgical teams can plan together using the same 3D model in real-time or add notes for discussion.

4. Supplement medical scans to help identify issues or to demonstrate to fellow healthcare professionals

A 3D model can be rotated and zoomed in on a specific area. Annotation on a digital model allows healthcare professionals to see issues or aspects of anatomical structures that might be difficult or impossible to see with just x-rays and MRI scans. Because tools like ThingLink feature accessibility and ease of use at their core, it is simple to share hypotheses or specific examples with other professionals in the field – for a second opinion or to demonstrate an atypical or textbook case.

5. Improving outpatient and follow up care

Healthcare professionals can use 3D modeling to demonstrate changes and improvements in conditions as treatment progresses, directly comparing one 3D model to another. Personalized messages and detailed notes can be added throughout. Physiotherapists and occupational therapists could add reminders of specific exercises with personalized audio, placing tags on anatomical 3D models to show where the effect will be targeted. Tags could contain links to videos of the exercise being completed in good form. 

In conclusion

Virtual reality, augmented reality, scenario-based eLearning, and 3D models are becoming much more commonplace across all industries, particularly healthcare. 

ThingLink is a tool that makes annotating medical images, videos and 3D models easy to create and share among patients, staff and students. Medical professionals can enhance 3D models with informational tags, including text and voice notes, video embeds, links and questions, and share them on websites, LMS, social media, and Microsoft Teams by embedding them. 

Are you interested in testing the creation of interactive 3D models? Contact us at info@thinglink.com or book a demo with our team to activate a demo account on the same day and learn about the right solution for your organization.

Save time and simplify your interactive media with ThingLink Saimaa

The ThingLink Saimaa interface has been designed to support the creation and management of large amounts of interactive media. It introduces several features that simplify routine tasks, saving time and effort in the creation process. These include:

1. A Stunning 360° Image Library
2. Streamlined upload and Content management
3. Improved folders
4. Improved user management
5. Reworked groups
6. New School account features: Forms & Modules. To learn more about the School account, contact us here. 

1) New Expeditions: ThingLink Releases a Stunning 360° Image Library

Now available in ThingLink Saimaa – our 360° Image Library is a curated collection of professional 360° images from culturally relevant natural and historic sites. You can use the images to build immersive learning experiences and to travel virtually across the world.  Watch the video below or view this blog post to learn more!

2) Streamlined upload and content management of interactive media

The first functional change is a reworked uploading process, which we’ve striven to make as easy and as fast as possible. It features:

a) Microsoft One Drive and Google Drive upload options:  link up your cloud storage to ThingLink for easier uploading or when content doesn’t live on your hard drive.   We are working on integrations to offer free images (Unsplash) and design options before adding hotspots (Canva).

b)  Bulk upload: You can now upload multiple items at the same time. Simply click ‘Upload file’ and select all files you’d like to upload:

c)  Automatic media type detection: Once you’ve selected your files, we will determine media type automatically based on your upload specifications.  You no longer need to choose the media type prior to uploading.

d) Upload files directly into folders: It’s now possible to upload files directly into a folder.

e) Other bulk actions: The previous improvements go hand-in-hand with another major update; you are now able to select multiple files (or all files within a folder) and carry out bulk actions, such as changing privacy settings, deleting your media or moving it into a folder.  We expect these changes to save you a lot of time, especially if you are using ThingLink for creating virtual tours, courses or other projects that include large amounts of images and videos.

f)  QR code sharing: A small update introducing a new quick way to share interactive experiences instead of sharing an image link or URL. Automatic QR code generation in the sharing dialog also makes it faster to create interactive media tours in physical locations such as factories, schools, museums and galleries!

3) Improved folders for your interactive media

Over the last year we saw a major increase in folder usage and addressed the feedback in this release.  Saimaa brings four key updates to those who use folders for collaborating with colleagues, students and peers:

a)  Simplified access settings: All settings related to accessing folders are now displayed within one menu.  From here, you can share the folder with selected individuals, the whole organization, or specific groups – more on that below.

b)  View-only access: You can now permit users in your organization to view a folder and all its content without giving editing rights.

c)  Subfolders: You can create folders within folders. This makes it easy to organize images into sets and manage collaboration with colleagues throughout the creation process.

d) Improved sharing options for Classroom and School accounts : All plans that include shared folders will now be able to share them with specific users or groups. This means that the feature is also available on Premium Classroom and Premium team accounts.

4) Updated user management 

With more large organisations using ThingLink to create interactive media, we are introducing two important updates for account owners and administrators.

a) Bulk user management: You can now select multiple users and perform bulk actions, such as deleting multiple student accounts at once (e.g. if you need to remove all students from last year). In addition, we added a few filters to help you find the users you need.  Email invitations for Marketing & Editorial and eLearning accounts have been simplified and improved. Furthermore, both account types have access to new ways to add users. You can now assign or revoke admin rights with a single action.

b)  New organization settings: We reworked organization settings to make sure that they are easier to navigate. Furthermore, there are two new organization-level settings: “Editor version” and  “Default editor language”.

5) Reworked groups

In addition to improving user management, we also made it easier to manage Groups. These feature updates include the ability to:

a)  Assign a group-level access permission to  folders: You are now able to give access rights to folders for all members of a group.

b)  Easier controls for adding existing users to groups: There is now a simpler way for adding existing users to groups. This works similarly to how you would add users to folders in the current interface:

c)  Easier way to join organizations with existing accounts: The prompt to join an organization (or a group) is now permanently visible on the top navigation bar of Saimaa.

! DEPRECATED FEATURES !

Features that are no longer supported in the new interface:

• Courses and Projects on Classroom accounts
• Collections

Going forward, we will focus on supporting deeper integrations with LMS so that ThingLink images, videos and modules can be directly embedded to courses on 3rd party platforms. Note however that if you have created courses and projects on ThingLink, they will remain accessible in the old interface. Also existing collections will remain accessible, but you won’t be able to create new collections.

What happens to the previous interface?  It’s good to remember the ThingLink Saimaa interface does not impact the core editing experience on ThingLink. Most feature updates concern user and content management. There are no immediate plans to deprecate the interface you are currently using, and we will  keep you updated on the schedule for permanently transitioning to the new interface. Both interfaces will continue to have documentation in our support center.  

Our team hopes you enjoy using ThingLink Saimaa! If you have any questions about the new features or account types, please get in touch here or email support@thinglink.com

]]> https://www.thinglink.com/blog/360-image-library/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=360-image-library Tue, 09 Feb 2021 13:11:54 +0000 http://blog.tlsrv.net/library/ ThingLink’s 360 Image Library is a curated collection of professional 360 images from culturally relevant natural and historic sites. You can use the images to create virtual tours and immersive learning experiences that let your learners travel virtually across the world.

How can you access the 360 Image Library?

You now have access to the 360 Image Library in all account types in ThingLink. You will find a link to the library on the left navigation sidebar. Simply browse through the images and choose one that you could like to clone. In addition, you can choose images for annotation from the 360° Image Library during the image creation flow.

We first launched ThingLink’s 360 Image Library in 2017, which allowed teachers and students to build virtual expeditions and field trips. Using ThingLink’s ‘Clone’ feature, users could create their own interactive versions of the library images. For instance, they could add notes and narration, or connect several scenes into a virtual tour. It was so popular that subsequently we made the 360 Image Library available to all users – not just those in education.

Create virtual tours that users can access anywhere

We know educators would like to create their own virtual tours using 360 imagery, but may not have access to a 360-degree camera. The library features over 50 new scenes such as Antarctica, California State Parks, Desert Habitats, and Medieval Europe. You can also find a stunning series of shots from selected destinations such as CERN, The Palace of Versailles and Taj Mahal. Now anyone can use ThingLink’s 360 Image Library to explore historical landmarks, visit international capitals and Unesco World Heritage Sites from wherever they are.

Teachers can guide the tours from their home, by recording a voice narration in the background of the images. This means that students are not required to wear headsets, or be online at the same time. They can view the guided VR tours at their own pace from an iphone, android phone or any mobile device.

How do you create a virtual tour?

Watch this short video and become a virtual tour creator!

You can easily create a new tour using ThingLink 360 Image Library: start by following the steps below. Most importantly, when you use our library images there’s no need to worry about copyright, you’re covered!

1. Search images from ThingLink 360 Image Library
2. Clone the image to your own account and open it in the tag editor
3. Record your guided tour in the background of the image
4. Share with learners via direct link, LMS, Google Classroom or Microsoft Teams. You can also embed your virtual tour in a website or landing page, share via social media or with a QR code.

Taking your own 360-degree images

If you want to create your own virtual tours from scratch you can use a camera or phone that takes 360 jpgs as photospheres. Models to look at include the Insta360, Ricoh Theta V or Ricoh Theta z1 cameras or the Google Pixl phone range.

NEW! Creating virtual tours, exhibitions, escape rooms and other immersive content just got even easier! ThingLink has now launched Pano to 360 by ThingLink: an easy way to create a 360 photosphere from a panoramic image using any smartphone. For more information, including step-by-step instructions see this helpful support article.

What can you use Virtual Tours for?

Using ThingLink’s new “Conditional Transition” functionality, it’s now easy to build tests and learning games that include a question for the viewer before transitioning to the next scene. This can be a fun project for students working in small groups, and they can share their games with each other!

Further reading on creating virtual tours with ThingLink

Read how featured educator Jennifer Ivory brought literature to life through escape rooms created with ThingLink and how you can do the same with ThingLink 360° Image Library! Read our round up of this and other tours in our blog How to Make a Virtual Escape Room.

Virtual Tours in ThingLink are being used across a huge range of sectors, from real estate to safety and security training. Realtors can create virtual staging tours that provide a walkthrough of a site for potential buyers who can’t attend in person. Our new floor plan feature adds extra navigation for the viewer.

ThingLink is the simplest and easiest to learn virtual tour software for Higher Education users, who use it to create high quality 360-degree tours at low cost that are instant and easy to update.

• Read how universities worldwide are using ThingLink to create virtual campus tours.
• Read how an academic at Queens University Belfast created virtual field trips
• Read how Southampton University created virtual field trips for marine biology students
• Virtual Tours in ThingLink can also be used with a VR headset: Read our round up of the latest research into using Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality in workplace training
• NEW for Unity users: ThingLink Unity plugin lets you share your Unity 3d tours with anyone

As well as an updated user experience, we are introducing a new, nature-inspired scheme for naming versions of the ThingLink interface. Each interface will be named after a lake in Finland, ThingLink’s home country. The  2020 interface is called Saimaa, which is the largest and most beautiful natural body of water located in Eastern Finland.

The ThingLink Saimaa interface has been designed to support the creation of and management of large amounts of interactive content.  It introduces several features that simplify the routine tasks, saving time and effort in the creation process.  These include:

1. Bulk upload & Content management
2. Improved folders
3. Improved user management
4. Reworked groups
5. New enterprise account features: Forms, Modules, and Organizational Profile page. 
   (To learn more about the enterprise account, contact us here.)

1) BULK UPLOAD & CONTENT MANAGEMENT 

The first functional change is a reworked uploading process, which we’ve striven to make as easy and as fast as possible. It features:

a)  Bulk upload: You can now upload multiple items at the same time. Simply click ‘Upload file’ and select all files you’d like to upload:

b)  Automatic media type detection: Once you’ve selected your files, we will determine media type automatically based on your upload specifications.  You no longer need to choose the media type prior to uploading.

c) Upload files directly into folders: It’s now possible to upload files directly into a folder.

d) Other bulk actions: The previous improvements go hand-in-hand with another major update; you are now able to select multiple files (or all files within a folder) and carry out bulk actions, such as changing privacy settings, deleting your media or moving it into a folder.  We expect these changes to save you a lot of time, especially if you are using ThingLink for creating virtual tours, courses or other projects that include large amounts of images and videos.

d)  QR code sharing: A small update introducing a new quick way to share interactive experiences instead of sharing an image link/URL. Automatic QR code generation in the sharing dialog also makes it faster to create  interactive tours in physical locations such as factories, schools, museums and galleries! 

2) IMPROVED FOLDERS 

Over the last year we saw a major increase in folder usage and addressed the feedback in this release.  Saimaa brings four key updates to those who use folders for collaborating with colleagues, students & peers:

a)  Simplified access settings: All settings related to accessing folders are now displayed within one menu.  From here, you can share the folder with selected individuals, the whole organization, or specific groups – more on that below.

b)  View-only access: You can now permit users in your organization to view a folder and all its content without giving editing rights. 

c)  Subfolders: You can create folders within folders. This makes it easy to organize images into sets and manage collaboration with colleagues throughout the creation process.

d) Improved sharing options for Classroom and School accounts : All plans that include shared folders will now be able to share them with specific users or groups. This means that the feature is also available on Premium Classroom and Premium team accounts.

3) UPDATED USER MANAGEMENT 

With more large organizations using ThingLink, we are introducing two important updates for account owners and administrators:

a) Bulk user management: You can now select multiple users and perform bulk actions, such as deleting multiple student accounts at once (e.g. if you need to remove all students from last year). In addition, we added a few filters to help you find the users you need.  Email invitations for Marketing & Editorial and eLearning accounts have been simplified and improved. Furthermore, both account types have access to new ways to add users. You can now assign or revoke admin rights with a single action.

b)  New organization settings: We reworked organization settings to make sure that they are easier to navigate. Furthermore, there are two new organization-level settings: “Editor version” and  “Default editor language”.

4) REWORKED GROUPS 

In addition to improving user management, we also made it easier to manage Groups. These feature updates include the ability to:

a)  Assign a group-level access permission to  folders: You are now able to give access rights to folders for all members of a group.

b)  Easier controls for adding existing users to groups: There is now a simpler way for adding existing users to groups. This works similarly to how you would add users to folders in the current interface:

c)  Easier way to join organizations with existing accounts: The prompt to join an organization (or a group) is now permanently visible on the top navigation bar of Saimaa. 

5) NEW SET OF FEATURES FOR ENTERPRISE ACCOUNTS: FORMS,  MODULES, ORGANIZATION LANDING PAGE 

ThingLink leads the development of user-generated visual learning environments that are accessible and affordable for everyone. From individual users and small organizations we have moved to serve large enterprises, districts and cities that have advanced requirements in regards to security, customizability, data collection, content organization and sharing. The following set of features introduces new elements to ThingLink’s enterprise account designed to support learning and skills development in both private and public organizations.

a)  Forms: Forms introduces ThingLink’s native data collection framework for measuring learner progress and performance throughout the viewing experience. In the first phase, enterprise or eLearning account holders can create simple questionnaires and checkpoints to check activity and retention. These questionnaires can be embedded to images, videos, and 360 media the same way as other content. The feature also allows simultaneous data collection from multiple sites such as school website or LMS. 

b)  Modules: ThingLink’s Content Modules are designed for creating personalized learning experiences. They can be assigned to specific users or groups and made visible on the organization landing page. The novelty of this feature lies in the ability to se original files in multiple learning experiences, courses, presentations or tests.  ThingLink Content Modules can be published externally on websites and LMS.

c)  Organizational Landing Page: Organizational Landing Page is a customizable ThingLink experience for organizations that functions as the signup and landing page for members of the organization . The Profile Page houses all Modules assigned to each learner.

If you have specific questions or interest in ThingLink eLearning, submit a quote here. 

DEPRECATED FEATURES

Features that are no longer supported in the new interface:

• Courses and Projects on Classroom accounts
• Collections

Going forward, we will focus on supporting deeper integrations with LMS so that ThingLink images, videos and modules can be directly embedded to courses on 3rd party platforms. Note however that if you have created courses and projects on ThingLink, they will remain accessible in the old interface. Also existing collections will remain accessible, but you won’t be able to create new collections.

How do I gain access to ThingLink Saimaa? This new interface will be available to all users before end of the year, including free accounts.  The interface is currently under beta testing, meaning that nearly all features are ready but we are still polishing it for the general release.  In this first phase, we would like to invite ThingLink enterprise customers, trainers and Certified Educators to test the new features and give feedback. If you are interested, please submit a request here. When the interface is available for everyone, we will update this post.  

What happens to the previous interface?  It’s good to remember the ThingLink Saimaa interface does not impact the core editing experience on ThingLink. Most feature updates concern user & content management. There are no immediate plans to deprecate the interface you are currently using, and we will  keep you updated on the schedule for permanently transitioning to the new interface. Both interfaces will continue to have documentation in our support center.  

Our team hopes you enjoy using ThingLink Saimaa! If you have any questions about the new features or account types, please get in touch here or email support@thinglink.com

4 Ways to Support Distance Learning with ThingLink

How can teachers stay in touch with their students and create materials for self-paced online learning? Here are four ideas.

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 ThingLink’s remote learning tips and Q&A for Microsoft Office users

This Q&A summarizes how Office 365 schools and campuses can activate ThingLink to new routines and best practices via Microsoft Teams.

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ThingLink featured on Google for Education’s Chromebook App Hub

Find ThingLink on Google for Education’s Chromebook App Hub and watch a video on how to use Google’s & Microsoft’s accessibility features together.

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Microsoft Partner Apps for remote learning

Remote Learning Apps and Content from Microsoft’s Partners: ThingLink, Discovery Education, Kahoot, Prezi Video, and Pear Deck.

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UNESCO: Distance learning solutions

A list of educational applications and platforms to help parents, teachers, schools and school systems facilitate student learning and provide social caring and interaction during periods of school closure.

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Free access to Finnish ed tech solutions

Koulu.me lists free apps and resources to support distance learning in schools affected by the coronavirus outbreak.

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ThingLink and Tablet Academy are delighted to announce their partnership which will be officially launched at the forthcoming Tablet Academy’s Transform, Innovate and Inspire Convention on the 5th March at RAF Cosford, Telford, UK. 

Tablet Academy is the leading provider of platform agnostic consultancy, teacher training and student engagement services to schools in the UK. In 2019 it assisted over 1000 schools in developing a strategic transformation plan and trained over 18,000 teachers in how best to use technology in teaching and learning. With an International coordination office in the Canary Islands and franchises in Benelux, France, Germany, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey and the UAE, over the past seven years this privately owned company has grown to become one of the most diverse education training companies across EMEA and is supported by a rich array of international industry and other educationally focused partners.

ThingLink is a pioneer in interactive image and video technology for education and eLearning. Millions of teachers, students and educational content professionals use ThingLink to create accessible visual learning materials and virtual courses for schools and workplaces.

Ulla-Maaria Koivula, founder & CEO of ThingLink: “We are delighted to partner with Tablet Academy,  as they work closely with our other edtech partners such as Microsoft and ClassVR.   ThingLink as a visual learning platform can be an integral part of multiple types of transformational activities at schools and workplaces, and Tablet Academy can help our customers understand  how the different tools together can be used for best learning results.”

Professor Steve Molyneux, co-founder and CEO of Tablet Academy: “Our partnership with ThingLink will allow us to not only train educators to create immersive content of their own, but also to put this power in the hands of learners, allowing them to demonstrate, using interactive images, videos & 360° media, their understanding of the subject in ways previously unseen. Our challenge now is educating government, examiners, and school inspectors, that this is the way ahead as we enter the 2nd quarter of the 21st Century”.

To sign up to attend the Tablet Academy Transform, Innovate and Inspire Convention on the 5th March at RAF Cosford, Telford, UK.

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Want to learn more about creating engaging content for your learners or enabling your learners to develop their creativity skills with ThingLink?