University Instructional Designer Sarah Dove proposed creating a virtual tour using ThingLink, to increase the accessibility and inclusivity of the exhibition. It would mean that those who were unable to access the center physically could take a tour of the objects within it. It would also provide an introduction to the building before visitors arrived, to give a sense of navigation around the space.

ThingLink provides not one but two solutions

At the time, ThingLink’s AR (Augmented Reality) app was in the final stages of development, and by good fortune was going to be ready to be deployed just when the exhibition was also in its final stage of preparation.

The dual approach could create multiple ways that people could experience the exhibition and engage with the artworks, whether in person, virtually, or a combination of the two. ThingLink was able to provide the solution to create and host both approaches – a Guided Tour and an AR experience. The two were developed in tandem, saving development time.

The virtual tour was launched in early October 2023, followed by the AR experience at the beginning of November 2023.

AR App – so easy to set up and use

Sarah reports that setting up the AR App was “incredibly easy.” Each artwork was photographed, the image uploaded to ThingLink AR App, and the interactive tags added in the same way as you would in the main editor. (Further instructions and link are provided at the bottom of this blog.)

Sarah created a poster for the exhibition which featured two QR codes: one to download the app, and one to visit the artwork collection.

In the video below, you can see that the tags appear instantly as an overlay when visitors scan the artwork with their mobile device. It was so straightforward that the center staff required no additional training on using, or supporting visitors to use the app – and to date, all visitors have enjoyed a smooth and straightforward experience. Just like in the Guided Tour, visitors are also able to purchase the available artworks via a link in the AR app.

How the Guided Tour was created and how it functions

The Guided Tour 360 images were created with a Go Pro camera, with more detailed images of groups of artworks provided within the tour. Visitors to the guided tour can click the tags on any artwork they would like to learn more about, or see in more detail. If the artwork is for sale, there is also a link to purchase via the Art Possible Ohio Shop site. Explore the full Guided Tour below!

It also contains an introduction video from Art Possible Director Megan Fitze which you can watch here:

You don’t necessarily require a 360 camera to create a similar tour. An instructor at OSU has created an example virtual gallery tour for her course students using the new solution Pano to 360 by ThingLink.

Feedback from creators, museum, artists and visitors

The ThingLink resources have been extremely well received both by the director of the Barnett Center – Scott A Jones, and the Director of Art Possible, Ohio – Megan Fitze.

“We work with artists all over the state, some of whom are homebound due to their disabilities. Having this virtual exhibition provided the artist and their loved ones the opportunity to see and share their work on view. The benefits can literally not be measured. Artists were simply excited to share the works with their friends and families and often left affirmative comments on our [social media] posting.”

Megan Fitze (Executive Director, Art Possible Ohio)

“The virtual tour and related supportive technologies added a rich and meaningful dimension to this art exhibition in the Barnett Center this semester. The initial conceptualization for the exhibition was strictly for an in-person audience. Through the thoughtful efforts of Instructional Designer Sarah Dove, the exhibition became available to viewers from around the world through the web-based nature of the technology. While this was my first interaction with such technology, I found the platform easy to navigate and enjoyable.”

Dr. Scott Jones (Director, Barnett Center for Integrated Arts and Enterprise)

On accessibility:

“The tool itself makes it so easy to include the things that need to be considered for accessibility. The added benefit of people being able to translate it straight into another language just adds even more inclusion.”

Jessica Henderson

“It’s a really nice marriage of UDL (universal design for learning) and accessibility.”

Sarah Dove

On ThingLink overall:

“We have been very impressed and encouraged by how quickly things are updating and how quickly new things are being added. Because ThingLink is very invested in accessibility already it makes integrating these new features so much easier for us.”

Sarah Dove

“You always have the flexibility to find creative solutions with ThingLink”. 

Jessica Henderson

Impact and legacy of the exhibition

Art Possible Ohio intend to keep the Guided Tour active indefinitely as an online fully asynchronous exhibition space. In this way it will also represent archival material – a catalogue of the exhibition and a learning artefact. They will also be sharing it in presentations with stakeholders and potential future partners.

How does the AR app work?

Creating interactive content for the AR app is very straightforward in ThingLink.

1. Take a picture of an object (e.g. a painting)
2. Upload the picture to ThingLink and add hotspots using ThingLink’s main media editor.
3. Go to the AR section in your ThingLink profile, add the scene to an AR collection, and then generate a share code for your collection

For detailed instructions, go to our easy-to-follow article on our support pages.

Should I choose a Virtual Tour or Guided Tour?

One aspect of inclusivity and accessibility which can often be overlooked is the fact that museums and galleries can be overwhelming, confusing or intimidating for some visitors. Feedback about a virtual tour of the Orton Museum on campus (explore below!) showed that most of the recent in-person visitors had explored the virtual tour first, suggesting that familiarity with the space encouraged a subsequent physical visit.

For this reason the team decided that Guided Tours would be even more useful in this regard than the free-form self-guided virtual tour alternative. The guided tour welcomes viewers to the Barnett Center virtually before coming to the physical exhibition, guiding them through a route that they would take from arrival to the exhibition – rather than relying on the visitor to navigate their own way around the spaces.

On the other hand, Virtual Tours work well when you have a lot of information that you would like to include on each object, such as in the Orton Museum tour above.

Thank you to Sarah Dove and Jessica Henderson for their help in putting this case study together.

Further case studies and blogs you may be interested in

Royal Ontario Museum’s New Virtual Tour

How Stuhr Museum’s Blizzard Scenario Brings History to Life

Highland Folk Museum’s Virtual Tours

Budapest’s Major Museums Create Virtual Tours for Schools

V&A Dundee Widens Access with ThingLink

How Museums and Technology are Collaborating

ROM’s Virtual Tours Solve Access Issues

Join the Conversation!

Get involved with our active groups and communities on social media and explore some inspiring examples of interactive content from our 10 million creators worldwide!

ThingLink LinkedIn Page 

LinkedIn Community

X / Twitter ThingLink Page

X / Twitter ThingLink Edu Page

X / Twitter Creative Learning Design Community

ThingLink Education Facebook Group

Or follow our YouTube channel for tutorials

Established in 1914 in Toronto, the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) exhibits global art, culture, and natural history. It’s one of North America’s leading cultural institutions, and Canada’s largest, most comprehensive museum. It is home to an unparalleled collection of 13 million pieces spanning art, cultural artifacts, and natural history treasures across its 40 galleries and exhibition spaces. ROM is also Canada’s foremost institute for field research.

In 2021 we showcased the fantastic Great Whales Virtual Exhibition in the case study ROM’s Virtual Tours Solve Access Issues. In the wake of this project, and incorporating feedback from users of that virtual tour, ROM’s Coordinator of Digital Content and Experiences Sarah Elliott and her colleagues have created another exemplary virtual museum tour with ThingLink: Sustainable Style. You can explore the entire virtual tour below. Click on the fullscreen icon bottom far right to view it fullscreen!

A truly virtual museum tour

The Sustainable Style virtual tour fulfils three main purposes. Firstly, it was made to create a virtual climate change “gallery” of objects throughout the museum. Simultaneously it preserves and archives in digital format a temporary climate change art installation in the museum – Noelle Hamlyn:Lifers. Thirdly, it also serves as the knowledge base for a number of educational activities that the museum are developing.

Sustainable Style can therefore be considered a truly “virtual exhibition” as it groups together otherwise distinct displays, and both permanent and temporary exhibits.

Addresses diverse learning needs

Sarah and her colleagues have designed the tour format and navigation based on the previous virtual tour user feedback, in particular to address more comprehensively the diverse learning needs of the museum’s audiences. The tour now includes more ways to navigate around the featured areas depending on your preference. They also updated and expanded their “how to use” video which was a very popular feature of their Great Whales tour. This is shown below and is a must-watch for all virtual tour creators!

“We are really confident that this tour addresses more of the diverse learning needs of our audience.”

Sarah Elliott, Coordinator of Digital Content and Experiences, ROM

Thanks to Royal Ontario Museum for allowing us to share this fantastic case study. 

How you can blend physical and digital spaces in a virtual tour or exhibition

Technology has paved the way for blends of digital and traditional museum experiences, in almost limitless variations. Forefront of these innovations is the emergence of the virtual museum concept. As this example from ROM shows, the concept isn’t just an online exhibit that mimics the physical spaces; it’s an enhanced, mixed reality user experience that bridges geographical and physical gaps. And ThingLink is one of the easiest-to-use tools that is transforming the way that museum educators and content producers create and share virtual museum tours.

You can fully customize ThingLink content and format to suit the unique requirements of each virtual museum tour. You can include multimedia elements such as videos, 3D models, forms, quizzes, embeds, links and audio in your tags. Why not provide visitors with videos of artists discussing their creations or 3D models that allow a 360-degree view of sculptures? The blending of various media forms enriches the online museum experience, making it more immersive than ever.

The museum with no walls: share anywhere!

ThingLink content can be embedded seamlessly into web pages using HTML – just click “share” and the link is instantly generated for you. This ensures that museum exhibitions can be easily integrated into any website, blog post, or even shared on social media platforms. That way your content can reach wider audiences faster and more efficiently. You can also share in virtual reality mode easily for sharing to VR headsets.

Enhancing accessibility for all

Virtual gallery and museum tours, by their nature, already bridge some of the accessibility gaps of a physical museum. ThingLink’s functionality is designed with inclusivity in mind, with Microsoft Immersive Reader built in to every text and media tag, and a web view accessibility link available for every ThingLink scene you create.

Explore more examples of Virtual Museum Tours and Experiences in ThingLink

• V&A Dundee virtual exhibitions

• Highland Folk Museum virtual exhibitions

• Explore the Smithsonian’s interactive exhibit

• Petofi Literary Museum Budapest links artefacts from major art museums across the city

• Vermont Art Online showcases artworks from the entire state in their virtual exhibition design

More inspiration this way

Join our active groups and communities on social media for more inspiration:

• ThingLink LinkedIn Page | LinkedIn Community
• X / Twitter ThingLink Page | X / Twitter ThingLink Edu Page | X / Twitter Creative Learning Design Community
• ThingLink Education Facebook Group

KAESER Compressors is one of the world’s leading manufacturers and providers of compressed air products and services. They manufacture compressed  air system solutions for customers worldwide, across a number of different industries. 

KAESER’s challenge

When there are space, environmental, or time constraints, KAESER offers air systems in weatherproof enclosures, which are built at KAESER’s main US facility site and then transported to the customer’s location. The enclosures are complete systems which may contain compressors, blower packages, boosters, or vacuum packages. In addition, each enclosure comes equipped with piping, ducting, controllers, ventilation systems, and other features. Because of the scale and customization abilities of KAESER enclosures, they found that customers had a hard time visualising the end product.

Solution: 360 virtual view inside the product

To help their customers more easily visualise the complete set up of an enclosure, KAESER turned to ThingLink. They now create 360 visuals in ThingLink of every unique enclosure that they build, and in total over the last 3 years have created around 30 unique visualisations this way. Further information by way of text, images and videos, as well as links to more detailed information and specifications is contained within the clickable pop-up hotspots or tags. 

KAESER sends or presents these to the customer to give a realistic representation of how the components  within it work together, and to showcase  the quality engineering of the system. The 360s can be shared either directly with customers via a link through email, or shown in more detail by the local sales rep on laptops, tablets or any other mobile device. 

The version above shows a custom instrument air package used in advanced pharmaceutical research.

Multi-purpose virtual visits

In addition to using these as a sales tool, KAESER uses them for two other main purposes:

1. For training sales staff off-site, who haven’t had an opportunity to view enclosure builds at the US headquarters. 
2. For trade show displays and events to demonstrate the customizable solutions KAESER offers. Sales teams report that visitors enjoy engaging with the interactive content.

A powerful social media marketing tool

A selection of the 360s are also embedded in their website and shared on social media. From a marketing perspective, KAESER finds that the ThingLink content they share usually gets higher engagement than a static image post. 

“ThingLink has been a great tool because our products aren’t available for prospects to view in person, outside of trade shows. The content is easy to create, and easy to use.”

KAESER

Kaeser has also recently created 360s of the interior of the compressors themselves. These are used as training tools for sales staff, and to show features of the machines to their customers.

How ThingLink has provided the ideal solution

For a product so large, when there is simply no easy way for the customer to view it in person, 360 tours provide immersive experiences for solutions that most customers have never seen, considered or imagined. The interactivity of the material also makes it a useful tool for engaging potential new customers, via a number of different channels. For a complex product with a number of different possible configurations, ThingLink provides an accessible way to explain key elements efficiently. 

Further reading

You may be interested in these additional case studies which showcase more virtual tour examples where ThingLink provides easy-to-use virtual solutions for companies and organisations whose customers or other users can’t visit a site in-person.

• Carmanah create interactive content for trade shows and website

• Vaisala create virtual walkthroughs of their extraordinary campus

• Create Real Estate virtual tours – without expensive virtual tour software pricing

• How to create a virtual exhibition or art gallery

• Adding floorplans and maps to your virtual tours

• Virtual reality mode for your ThingLink tours

• ThingLink’s solution to the closure of Google Street View Camera app

Need help to create your own tour?

• Go to our YouTube channel for easy-to-follow tutorials and webinar recordings!

Follow us or join our groups and communities on social media

• ThingLink LinkedIn Page | LinkedIn Community
• X / Twitter ThingLink Page | X / Twitter ThingLink Edu Page | X / Twitter Creative Learning Design Community
• ThingLink Education Facebook Group

For FAQs and advice from our experts, go to our helpful Support pages.

Vaisala was founded in Finland in 1936 and is now a global leader in the fields of weather, environmental, and industrial measurements. Their 2,200 employees are stationed across 25 offices worldwide and their operations cover an enormous breadth of sectors – from government to energy companies, from pharmaceuticals to space agencies. To give some idea of its reach, “Vaisala operates on two planets and in every country on earth.”

Innovation, Research and Development at Vaisala HQ

29% of all Vaisala employees work in Research and Development (R&D) and this team includes professionals from many different fields – from physics to AI and machine learning. Of this total R&D staff, 67% of them (300 people in total) work at the new R&D and Innovation Center which opened in 2021. It’s sited next to the company HQ and production facilities in Vantaa, Finland.

Vaisala technology is used in the most inhospitable environments on earth – from the Sahara Desert to Antarctica. For this reason, as well as building custom designed testing equipment that mimics real-world conditions, the 7,900m2 R&D Center contains 37 custom-made laboratories. These range from an EMC (electromagnetic compliance) lab, a rain tower that simulates natural rain, a vibration and freefall laboratory, environmental chambers where instruments can be tested under extreme temperatures and humidity, and system testing laboratories.

Virtual Campus Tour attracts top talent and showcases scope of the organisation

This is a world-class and truly one-of-a-kind campus. To give a flavour of the facilities and operations on-site and what it is like to work there, Vaisala designed a virtual intro to their site by which the curious online visitor can take a self-guided tour. The tour was designed jointly by the company’s Communications, Brand and Talent Acquisition teams, accordingly with three main purposes in mind. These were:

• Primarily, to attract new talents from across the globe to join its international team, and subsequently to act as part of the onboarding program for those who start.
• To showcase the full scope of Vaisala’s operations to their customers and partners, either directly or via their sales and marketing teams.
• To give an insight into daily life at HQ for for employees at the regional HQs and many small Vaisala satellite offices worldwide who may never visit the site in person.

The tour below was launched in September 2023. It was shared on social media, was shared with all global employees via intranet internal news, has been added to the Vaisala website careers page and is used by sales teams worldwide at events and industry shows, and shared with regional customers via local offices.

We highly recommend that you activate full screen mode to fully appreciate the extraordinary spaces within the campus. The EMC lab is particularly worth a visit: there you can watch videos about how Vaisala technology is used on Mars.

Navigation around the tour

The public tour starts with a 360 aerial map which gives an overview of the location of each building. They include a brand video which gives a flavour of the company and their vision and values.

As with all ThingLink media, in each scene you can choose what to learn more about, or which area to move to next, via the clickable tags or hotspots.

From the initial aerial view you can choose to visit the factory or the R&D building. Within R&D you can visit the EMC lab, the “clean room” and many other rooms that give a fascinating insight into the unique, high tech and genuinely space-age environments at Vaisala.

Results of the virtual tour

External results: High engagement and visibility

• In its first 2 months the tour has had almost 7000 views. As well as being a marketing success, this is also a far higher number of guest visits than the campus can normally accommodate in a year – roughly 450.
• It was one of the most popular posts this year on LinkedIn for Vaisala, with about +30% views, +50% reactions, as well 10 times more shares compared to a usual LinkedIn post.
• Sales teams have reported back that it is an invaluable tool for industry shows and events, demonstrating the breadth and reach of Vaisala’s expertise to customers who may only be familiar with one specific application or vertical.

Internal results: Increased employee engagement

When it was shared to employees worldwide via company internal news, it got ca. 50% more views compared to a piece of average internal news. Feedback has been extremely positive, summed up by this example below:

“Thanks to the whole team for a great job with the virtual visit! It will be a really good tool in many ways, some of our people here outside the Vantaa Campus have never had the opportunity to see our head office production and R&D facilities, now they can visit virtually!”

Employee feedback

The educational legacy and vision that inspired the tour

This English language version was based on an original tour in Finnish created in collaboration with Otaniemi High School to support STEM education, which has now been expanded to high schools nationally. Vaisala is third-generation owned and has continually striven to support scientific education via engagement, awards, sponsorship and collaboration, so this project was a fitting reflection of their founding values.

The learning content was designed to directly link specific areas of Vaisala’s operations and research to related areas of the curriculum, to help students better understand how their school subjects can be applied in the real world. The content has also been used in ThingLink’s Scenario Builder to create thematic learning journeys and we will explore this educational project in more detail in a separate case study.

Pro tips for virtual tour creators

We break down exactly how Vaisala took this virtual tour to the next level with thoughtful content creation and simple but clever design of the component elements. These are all methods which even a complete beginner to ThingLink could easily replicate!

• Candid short interview clips with Vaisala employees help to paint a picture of the work environment and the work that goes on in all parts of the site – from the factory to the labs and beyond. These personal stories bring the tour alive and give a strong impression of an international workplace, and the passion which the employees have for their work.

• The variation of media types. As well as 360 scenes and static or interview type videos, there are also video walkthroughs of some of the areas within the tags, and tags containing simply text and images.
• Vaisala have used static text labels instead of tags, to highlight what is at each tag before you open it. Read how to do this here.
• Anchor points have been used so that the text labels don’t obscure the important elements. Read more on these here.
• A map in the top right corner assists navigation. This feature allows you to add a floorplan or map to any ThingLink content and helps the users see exactly where they are and/or move to a new location. read more on this feature here.
• The Vaisala virtual tours can also be viewed in VR so can be used with virtual reality headsets for a really immersive experience!
• Finally, for advanced ThingLink creators: notice the structure which they have applied within all the lightbulb tags. A Video ThingLink, embedded in a tag in a 2D image ThingLink, which is in turn embedded in a tag within the main 360 image ThingLink! Click on any lightbulb to see how well this structure works and consider using in your next creation!

Creating your own virtual tour

Whether you manage an international organisation, a small business or anything in between, virtual tours like these are an ideal way to demonstrate the working environment to potential candidates as well as new joiners. ThingLink is the easiest way to create a 360 tour like this, with no need to download virtual tour software. Simply access our cloud-based solution via your browser and share to anyone via a simple link or embed!

You don’t even need a 360 camera to create impressive, high resolution 360 images. The amazing – and completely free – Pano to 360 by ThingLink allows you to convert any panoramic image to a 360 photosphere in seconds.

Further virtual tour examples for you to explore

• How to create a Virtual Lab
• How to create an interactive virtual tour
• Hyria create a virtual recruitment forum
• Carmanah creates interactive content for trade shows and website
• How to create a virtual exhibition or art gallery
• How to create virtual tours for real estate
• Using ThingLink virtual learning environments in healthcare

Need help in creating your own tour?

• Go to our YouTube channel for easy-to-follow tutorials and webinar recordings

Follow us or join our groups and communities on social media

• ThingLink LinkedIn Page | LinkedIn Community
• X / Twitter ThingLink Page | X / Twitter ThingLink Edu Page | X / Twitter Creative Learning Design Community
• ThingLink Education Facebook Group

For FAQs and advice from our experts, go to our helpful Support pages.

The industry expert judges were impressed by ThingLink’s evidence-backed submission. It demonstrated that ThingLink is not only a trusted solution but has also evolved with emerging technology, guiding their customers to develop impactful training experiences.

“We’re thrilled for this honor and the recognition of the bridge we built from the 2D internet to the Metaverse with the easiest suite of immersive eLearning and content creation tools available for businesses, brands, and educational institutions.”

Ulla-Maaria Koivula ThingLink Founder & CEO

ThingLink – Top XR Firm

XR or Extended Reality is the perfect term to conceptualize what ThingLink is and offers. A fast and easy way to create Interactive and immersive learning experiences that can be delivered in highly impactful ways, and accessible on any device. Whether in-person or in synthetic spaces, on-site or off-site, ThingLink provides the tools to enable organizations to tailor content for every training scenario.

Customers consistently express their trust and confidence in ThingLink’s ability to enable them to deliver impactful training.

The platform has notably transformed education and elearning by reshaping how learning and training is created and consumed. ThingLink has made it incredibly easy for everyone and anyone to do this, from creating 360 photospheres of environments to creating real world contexts for scenario based learning with interactive content.

Think you know ThingLink? Think Again!

ThingLink’s Suite of Products in 2023 includes essential features for creating impactful employee training and essential assets for processes and information. 

1. Advanced Multimedia Editor for adding interactive hotspots with layers of information on your images, videos, 360 media and 3D objects. 
2. ThingLink Scenario Builder for creating branching scenario based learning experience, perfect for decision making in high risk situations, includes learner data and analytics. 
3. New! Guided Tours, for creating virtual tours with single click with built-in narration. 
4. New! Augmented Reality AR App for an in-person onsite experience to gain essential information by overlaying info on machinery or objects.
5. Panoramic Images to 360 Photospheres converter, enabling anyone to create 360 images with their mobile device.
6. AI Assistant Tools Via text prompts in the ThingLink Editor or through our 360 image generator with Skybox AI partnership

Three Essential Resources

• Build Scenario Based Learning and Training with ThingLink’s New Templates
• Create Powerful Moments of Insight: A Masterclass in Creating Immersive Scenario Based Learning Experiences
• How to Create Immersive Online Employee Training in 5 Days Using AI

Looking for more training and elearning inspiration?

For more inspiration, make sure you’re following us on social media. In particular, please do join our LinkedIn Community.

The future of immersive learning is not just about consuming content—it’s about creating it. Finding a school or team-friendly yet powerful solution for creating with AI can be challenging. Enter ThingLink’s integration with Skybox AI. Here’s why educators and students alike are raving about this dynamic duo, here’s some helpful ideas to making the most of it!

About Blockade Labs Skybox AI

Blockade Labs specializes in AI-assisted 360-degree image generation technology. With Skybox AI, Blockade Labs aims to make the world of 360-degree imaging more dynamic, interactive, and accessible to all using simple text prompts.

10 Key Pointers for Skybox AI 360 Generation Prompts

1. Keep it simple for effective results.
2. 3-4 phrase prompts are ideal; too long can override style.
3. If prompts are too short, they may lack coherence; add descriptive phrases.
4. Specify location context: “indoors” or “outdoors”.
5. Adjust camera altitude with tags like “aerial view” or “street view”.
6. For night time scenes, use words like “moonlit” or “bioluminescent”.
7. Emphasize context in prompts.
8. Clean up messy images using negative prompts with words like “blurry” or “broken”. (Negative prompts available only in SkyBox AI Interface currently)
9. Explore presets for cleaner images,
10. For sky presets, describe clouds and aim for flat horizons.

Even Better with Enhanced Prompts!

Using Enhanced Prompts is now available in the ThingLink Create with Sky Box Interface. Here’s an example with Enhanced Prompts

Helpful Tip for Teachers! Learners can copy paste the Enhanced Prompts into a ThingLink Info Tag to create vocabulary lists and further research. Original prompt simply ‘George Orwell 1984’. Enhanced Prompt – VR360: Ominous Big Brother billboards, giant telescreens in dystopian cityscape. Style: gritty realism, industrial bleakness, high-contrast light. VR360: Dead trees, gloomy skyscape, towering brutalist architecture.

Another Helpful Tip for Teachers – View in VR! Imagine learners and educators being able to create 360 worlds and view with your VR Headsets.

Click to download the PDF.

Common tips and tricks to getting the most out of your Skybox AI generations!

More Ideas to Follow

Join our ThingLink and Skybox webinar or watch the replay! Sign up here We’ll be collating ideas for games based learning, storytelling and sharing all!

Connect and Collaborate

For more ideas, use cases and inspiration on content creation, join our communities on social media! Twitter / X ThingLink Education and Blockade Labs Skybox AI LinkedIn Community and ThingLink Education Facebook Group. Discord Blockade Labs Community.

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In the world of eLearning, branching scenarios have emerged as a powerful tool to amplify employee engagement and real-world decision-making skills. By allowing learners to “pick their own path”, these scenarios mirror complex situations, making learning deeper and more memorable. Dive in with us to discover how the ThingLink Scenario Builder can be your secret weapon in designing these transformative learning experiences.

The Magic of Branching

Ever reminisced about those “Choose Your Own Adventure” books? Branching scenarios function similarly. Learners are presented with situations and make choices, with each decision leading them down a unique path. This interactive method boosts decision-making skills, critical thinking, and retention.

ThingLink Scenario Builder: Branching Made Easy

Navigating the terrain of branching might seem complex, but with the ThingLink Scenario Builder, it’s as intuitive as it gets. Its user-friendly interface supports the creation of intricate paths, ensuring that each learner’s experience is tailored and impactful.

Couldn’t join us?

Sign up anyway and we’ll make sure you receive a link to the action replay!

Check out this sample branching scenario!

By the end of this masterclass, participants will be able to:

• Grasp Branching Fundamentals: Understand the underlying principles and benefits of branching, or “pick your own path”, learning experiences.
• Navigate ThingLink with Confidence: Identify and utilize the primary features of ThingLink’s Scenario Builder, especially those that facilitate branching scenarios.
• Design Engaging Branching Scenarios: Apply best practices to generate context-based learning modules with multiple decision points using ThingLink.
• Incorporate Multimedia Elements Seamlessly: Embed 360 degree media, videos, images, and other multimedia components to support and enhance the branching experiences.
• Evaluate and Iterate Branching Modules: Gather feedback on their branching scenarios, analyze learner paths, and refine for maximum engagement and effectiveness.
  Integrate into LMS: Ensure smooth integration of ThingLink branching scenarios into various Learning Management Systems (LMS).

Other Ideas for learning about ThingLink you’ll love!

• Free ThingLink Certified Creator Course
• Previous ThingLink On Demand Webinars
• Search Support Articles or Request Support

Connect and Collaborate

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.

Manel Rives is an educator based in the Spanish city of Vigo in Spain’s Galicia region. As well as being a Primary School Teacher, he is an Apple Distinguished Educator, an Apple Professional Learning specialist,  and a LinkedIn Learning Author. Over the academic year 2022-23, Manel has managed a project across 25 different primary and secondary schools and universities: I Deserve a Street in VR. Within the schools, groups of students worked together to present the cases for a number of streets in their own city or town to be re-named after a woman of their choice. This could be someone who for one reason or another had been overlooked in the past and whose story had been forgotten. 

The inspiration for the virtual guides

The idea behind “I deserve a street!” came from fellow educator Rosa Liarte, who had previously developed such a project with her own students and other schools. In this original version, students researched women who they believed deserved to be recognized and memorialized with a street being re-named after them in their home town, and then wrote to the town authorities with their research collated into a final presentation. 

However, Manel saw the potential for the material to be created and presented in a digital and interactive format, potentially using the format of 360 images with embedded multimedia content created by pupils, to create more of a virtual reality experience. The students could carry out independent research, and work together to create a persuasive argument to present to the city authorities. Why not also include images or videos of the street in question too, perhaps with the students even presenting the content in situ, in the street itself?

In fact Manel had previously developed such an interactive project for his students to create together: CreaRVigo. From 2015 onwards, groups of 8-9 year old students have been presenting different sites and points of interest in Vigo by creating virtual site visits in ThingLink. They add images, videos and voiceovers to introduce and explain the context and sites – acting as virtual tour guides to their own familiar city.

Explore on of the ThingLinks below!

What do you need to create virtual tours and presentations like these?

For the project to work well, Manel knew he had to provide students with the perfect combination of robust hardware and easy to use content creation platforms. It was important that they were able to author the work independently IT specialists GoldenMac EDU Grupo K-Tuin provided all-in-one suitcases, each containing an iPad, as well as a Ricoh Theta 360 camera so that the students could easily capture 360 images and video of the streets they had chosen. They also contained a 4G router to connect camera and iPad in case any school didn’t have such capability themselves.  

Each iPad was ready-loaded with content creation apps including Garageband for audio, iMovie for video, Photos to store the content and photo retouching, and ThingLink for the final assembly. ThingLink also provided Manel with an organizational account to include all the seats he required across the 25 centres.

Manel created his own set of video tutorials which he uploaded to each of the iPads, showing the students how they could create the final 360 content. 

“(I needed) tremendously powerful devices, as well as software platforms that are extremely simple to use. For the final content, ThingLink was the answer that did it all!”. 

Manel Rives

Results of the project

In providing all the physical and online tools, as well as thorough guidance in how to use them, the students were able to create wonderfully engaging and immersive content. It places their research directly into context for viewers –  in what Manel describes perfectly as “an immersive canvas”. 

Manel has been invited to talk about the success of the project at the 2023 Apple Professional Learning Summit. 

Benefits of the project for the students

Manel is a firm proponent of “learning by doing” and considers both the virtual city guides and the “I Deserve a Street!” project as an ideal channel to combine and develop a multitude of skills that are essential for young people in the 21st century. These include: 

• Research skills
• Creative and presentation skills
  • Learning how to use verbal and non verbal language such as body language, in combination with the written word and images to develop a convincing argument. 
  • Using reasoning and argument to present your case in a compelling and convincing way.
  • Considering how you can present the content in different languages and modes to make it accessible for all.
• Technology skills – recording, editing, uploading and combining content in a range of multimedia formats.
• Teamwork, social and collaboration skills to create the virtual experience as a joint enterprise – some of the soft skills they will need in the future in a modern society.
• Teaching skills: students can use their final content to teach each other; they can be reviewers of each other’s work and give constructive feedback.

“Students also have the opportunity to obtain better results by using these techniques to develop processes. This is because multimedia materials help students understand the content more deeply, offering a variety of useful resources for their learning. This includes videos, interactive graphics, multimedia presentations, photographs, animations, music and audio.”

Manel Rives

Alternative possibilities to widen access to this sort of content creation

The packaging and delivery of all the tools required in a ready-made pack is the ideal way to provide schools and students with all they need to create their own similar interactive content! However here are some other alternatives if this is not a possibility for your school:

• If students have limited access to 360 devices, they can take a panoramic photo on any mobile device, then upload and convert for free with the new ThingLink Pano to 360 app. It’s completely free and no ThingLink account is required!
• They could also use the free ThingLink 360 image library to create an online tour of famous sites around the world. Choose from high-quality scenes from national parks, heritage sites, capital cities and more! 
• Make use of the free tutorials available on the ThingLink YouTube channel, as well as ThingLink support pages, to demonstrate to students how to create their first ThingLink.
• Make sure you join the Facebook Education Group to meet and be inspired by fellow educators!

Next steps for the project 

Manel hopes to continue the project as more students from more education centers create more interactive guides and content.

Further reading

You may also be interested in:

• Hungarian students create their own joint virtual exhibition
• What is Project-Based Learning in the Classroom
• Explore this example from Finland where students created their own virtual art exhibition

Now On-Demand!

Watch anytime in comfort! Register to receive all the replay links.

Registration

We’re excited to extend an invitation to watch our special webinar that aims to bring new dimensions to interactive and immersive learning. Join us as ThingLink collaborates with Blockade Labs to introduce you to the transformative potential of Skybox AI technology.

Special Guests: 

– Marguerite deCourcelle, CEO of Blockade Labs

– Co-Hosts: Louise Jones, ThingLink & Dan Fitzpatrick, The AI Educator

Couldn’t Make It?

Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Sign up anyway for the action replay!

Webinar Outcomes

1. Immersive Learning: Discover how text-to-360-image generation can be used to craft interactive learning materials that transcend traditional teaching tools.
2. The Gamification Factor: Learn how to incorporate elements of gamified experiences or games design into your curriculum to boost student engagement and enhance learning.
3. Ease of Technology: Learn how this is all pretty uncomplicated! We’ve simplified the tech aspects so that educators of all tech skill levels can integrate these new tools into their teaching methods effortlessly.
4. Deep Dive into AI: We’ll be discussing the role of AI in educational technology and going through some compelling examples.

And! A Special Bonus: Stay tuned until the end for a chance to win in our exclusive giveaway!

Who Should Attend?

This webinar is tailored for educators, course creators, games-design enthusiasts and learning technologists interested in adopting new approaches to learning and teaching. Whether you’re new to tech tools or have years of experience, this session is for you!

Key Takeaways:

1. Create learning assets with 360° interactive images for immersive experiences
2. Unlock strategies for boosting student engagement through gamification.
3. Gain insights into integrating user-friendly technology into your classroom.

Don’t miss this opportunity to explore new horizons in educational approaches.

We look forward to seeing you there!

In Action: Case Studies

• How to Create Extraordinary 360 Spaces With Blockade Labs’ Text to Image AI Tool
• How to Unlock the Awesome Power of AI in Education

Connect and Collaborate

For more ideas, use cases and inspiration on content creation, join our communities on social media! Twitter / X ThingLink Education and Blockade Labs Skybox AI LinkedIn Community and ThingLink Education Facebook Group. Discord Blockade Labs Community.

What is Skybox AI?

Skybox AI by Blockade Labs is a groundbreaking AI tool which empowers anyone to generate unique, high-quality and detailed 360 visuals from simple plain text prompts and a vast selection of styles. Creators can construct 360-degree immersive visuals ready for annotating in seconds, no coding required.

Why Choose Skybox AI and ThingLink? Benefits include:

1. Secure and Supported Learning: Introduce educators and students to the dynamic world of text-to-image generation in a secure and supported manner. ThingLink account management is all that is required, no additional Skybox accounts are created. The ability to craft prompts and continuously annotate creations not only adds depth to the learning experience but also serves as an invaluable step toward digital fluency.
2. User-Friendly Design: Creating interactive 360-degree worlds with ThingLink and Skybox is incredibly accessible, even for beginners. Kickstart your projects with  straightforward text prompts; no coding skills required.
3. Scalability: Whether you’re crafting a single immersive scene or constructing an expansive, interconnected world, ThingLink and Skybox offer infinite possibilities in terms of size and complexity.
4. Versatile Styling: Tailor the look and feel of your projects with a selection of styles—from “Whimsical World” and “Realistic,” to “Dreamlike,” and more.
5. Make use of VR Headsets: ThingLink has long been the go-to solution for creating content for VR Headsets such as ClassVR, as well as creating real-life contexts, this package enables educators and students to create VR ready experiences from worlds yet to be imagined.

Creating Powerful Moments of Insight – To Kill a Mocking Bird

Next Steps

Complete the form below! Schools, universities and businesses with a ThingLink organization account can purchase Skybox AI as an add-on service for all their users. The entry-level package, priced at $1,000, includes 15,000 image generations per year. If you are an individual Teacher or Professional Individual ThingLink account holder, please go direct to Blockade Labs for a free trial and account.

In Action: Case Studies of ThingLink and SkyBox AI Together

How to Create Extraordinary 360 Spaces With Blockade Labs’ Text to Image AI Tool

How to Unlock the Awesome Power of AI in Education

Connect and Collaborate

For more ideas, use cases and inspiration on content creation, join our communities on social media! Twitter / X ThingLink Education and Blockade Labs Skybox AI LinkedIn Community and ThingLink Education Facebook Group. Discord Blockade Labs Community.

Connect News and Stories

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