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.

Step aboard to learn more!

Background to the project

Dwitney is an educator who specialises in the creation of escape room games, digital scavenger hunts, murder mystery and team building games. Her company Urban Escapade hosts the experiences for groups of friends and colleagues, but she is also an online educator on the worldwide home education platform Outschool. Dwitney holds a Bachelor of Honours in History and Development Studies, an M.A. in Public History, and an M.A. in Globalization Studies. With this background in history and a love of all things historical, many of her games and experiences feature a historical setting.

Dwitney started teaching via Outschool shortly before the pandemic, when very few people were offering online escape rooms. She saw an example of a ThingLink escape room on Teachers Pay Teachers, themed around on Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol, and realised it had everything her team needed.

Dwitney’s OutSchool classes that she then launched using ThingLink were doing so well, that she launched her online game business full time, creating content using ThingLink.

“When we did ThingLink for the first time it just took off! I had done collaborations with colleges and universities and corporate events, creating team building games and murder mystery events and that kind of thing using it. So just grew and grew. Over the course of the pandemic we created 15 to 16 different projects.”

Dwitney Bethel, Urban Escapade

How this escape room was created

Dwitney had an initial concept of an escape room based on the Titanic, having recently watched a documentary about the ship. She realized that the ship would work well as the location of an escape room experience given the different areas that the users could move through – the deck, first, second and third class and so on. She was keen to create a new approach to exploring the ship and the events leading up to the sinking for students who would have seen the Titanic movie, as well as multiple CGI reproductions of the ship.

A history mystery escape room

Creating a “history mystery” seemed like a great way to allow students to explore the content with fresh eyes and in a more interactive and nuanced way. At all times Dwitney and her team have kept as faithful as possible to the design of the period and reflect in each “class” of the ship the realistic items that might have appeared there.

The escape room has weaved together historical fact with a fictional storyline that is engaging and exciting, as Dwitney puts it “a thin line of fact and fiction, which doesn’t go too much outside of the realm of possibility.” Dwitney’s team introduced a fictional “saboteur” character – which avoided the potential difficulty of the students having to assign blame for the tragedy on one of the real individuals involved. It was also very important to Dwitney and her team that they respect the real event and the people that lost their lives.

Teaching analytical skills in ThingLink

The escape room demonstrates to students the importance of assessing evidence in an objective way. Dwitney wanted to show how evidence could be manipulated, and landed on the idea of a faked weather report. Students go through a simulation of one day during the voyage to explore witness statements, transmissions, newspapers and other primary source documents. Every piece of evidence is found by exploring the tags throughout the scenes, which may contain images, text, music or videos. Whilst working through the puzzles, additional help and support is provided by an animated AI assistant who provides additional evidence that he has “discovered”.

Scenario Builder: Perfect tool for creating multi-linear learning

Whilst working on the renders, Dwitney heard about ThingLink’s new Scenario Builder tool. She had been keen to add some sort of timer to her games but this wasn’t possible using the main ThingLink editor. Having explored what Scenario Builder was capable of creating, Dwitney realised that the format would provide the ideal way for students to explore the ship their way, without being told where to go next. They can move between floors in a “choose your own adventure” way, using multi-linear paths and using their reasoning skills to deduct where they should go next. A wrong decision has consequences, such as not being able to reach the lifeboats in time.

“We decided; let’s fictionalise the mystery part of it, but do it in a way where they can still go through the historical accounts. We wanted to do a mix of puzzles as well as trivia questions as well as just exploring stuff. So we added videos and clips and a lot of multimedia – to make it innovative and fun.”

Dwitney Bethel, Urban Escapade

Designing the graphic elements of the escape room

Dwitney works remotely with an architectural designer who creates the 360 renders using Sketchup, although a similar 360 scene could be created easily using Skybox. The AI assistant was created very simply using Canva, with a video on a loop and an audio file added which Dwitney had created using a text-to-speech converter. She also used Canva for creating much of the imagery and pieces of evidence.

How do students use this escape room?

Students work through the escape game tutorials either in groups or individually, with Dwitney on screen to help them if they get stuck at any point! Depending on the age of the students, she sometimes also provides background information, instructions or evidence before the game starts, for students to read up on.

When completing the challenge in a group, one student might write down all the evidence the group finds. They then discuss which floor to visit next and decide as a group the course of action. Dwitney helps them through as a guide when required, and asks them to name their top two suspects. The students then discover if they were correct!

What do students think of the escape room?

Dwitney has received excellent feedback from both students and their parents for this latest escape room. This has led to students and parents requesting more escape room lessons from Dwitney on Outschool.

“This is the most fun we’ve ever had we can’t wait to do more!”

Student feedback

Students respond that they enjoy controlling the direction of the experience and being responsible for their decisions, rather than being told where to go and what to do next. Dwitney has taught students from Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, the UK and will often be given requests for the theme of a new escape room.

“The kids will always give me ideas for the next one. They may ask for one themed around their favorite TV shows or they might say that they enjoy fantasy stuff or sci-fi. So I’m always trying to think of new themes and coming up with something different.”

Dwitney Bethel, Urban Escapade

Why do escape rooms make such excellent teaching resources?

Escape rooms work so well from a pedagogy point of view because they teach so much more than the subject material contained within them! Integral to every escape room are problem-solving skills and reasoning, as well as working under pressure if you use a timer. However, use them as virtual team activities, and you add a whole other level of soft skills such as teamwork, co-operation and group decision making.

For a great use of this in action, see our case study on the medical escape room created by Dr Abhi Jones for remote teams of students at the University of Central Lancashire. Whilst team building activities were not in fact the main remit of the challenge, the qualitative feedback from students was that it was an invaluable exercise for improving communication, delegation, operating as a team under stress and looking after other team members.

Benefits of creating a virtual escape room

Unlike a physical escape room, where there are certain limitations to the setting, a virtual breakout room is only limited by your imagination, creativity or graphic design skills and platforms available to you and your team. You can therefore create an epic or fantastical setting, or one steeped in a specific historical era or location. Perhaps a Harry Potter themed escape from Hogwarts for younger students? Or one based on a favourite movie, TV or book series for older students? You can now create limitless fantasy worlds in immersive 360 for your ThingLink escape rooms and other games with our Skybox integration!

Create your own virtual escape room

Escape rooms are so simple to create with ThingLink – and you can choose whether to use Scenario Builder as Dwitney did, or simply to use the ThingLink main editor.

Creating Escape Rooms in the main ThingLink editor

Here is an example below of how you can create one this way. We have used maths riddles in all our rooms, which we have themed to match each room or space. But the questions and content could be on any subject. Simply add a Transit Tag – and turn “Conditional Transition” on. Only by entering the correct answer can the user “escape” to the next room in sequence. They keep moving through rooms, areas or scenes, having to answer questions in the tags each time, until they reach the final room and escape. You can add clues in tags in each room as they go which they need to escape each individual room, as well as for the final challenge in the last room in the sequence.

Creating Escape Rooms in ThingLink’s Scenario Builder

The difference between creating escape rooms in the main ThingLink editor and in Scenario Builder is that instead of one linear path that the user has to take from room to room, you can create multiple paths or consequences in Scenario Builder depending on the choice or response. A choose your own adventure game! You can also add the timer function to the entire game, or to individual sections with Scenario Builder.

“Because I can now use Scenario Builder, this is the first time that I could really go all out without constraint. This is probably the most excited I’ve ever been for a project because I had the Titanic theme on the back burner for a long time. Because until now we didn’t have the tools to do it the way that I actually wanted to do it.”

Dwitney Bethel, Urban Escapade

ThingLink: A responsive platform that adapts to user needs and feedback

“I told ThingLink about the areas that I would have liked to change over the years. They’ve always kept me up to date with any changes and that’s how [my work] has been able to grow. So as ThingLink added different features, I did as well. And so it’s been a great tool and resource for me.”

Dwitney Bethel, Urban Escapade

If there is a feature or development you would like to suggest for ThingLink, please get in touch! Our team are always open to new ideas: in fact many of the new features that we have introduced over the last few years have been a direct result of our customer feedback and suggestions. We also love to see how you have been using ThingLink, so if you would like to be featured in a similar case study, do let us know!

More escape room ideas from our blog

Virtual team building activities and employee training games

Create your own scenario based learning with our new templates

Using ThingLink to develop virtual team building

A guide to creating amazing immersive learning resources

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

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.

Now On-Demand

Sign Up for the Replay and Resources

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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

ThingLink X (Twitter) Blockade Labs X (Twitter) ThingLink LinkedIn Blockade Labs LinkedIn

Adding AI-assisted image generation to ThingLink’s creation flow

Since 2016, ThingLink has empowered educators and students to create virtual field trips, interactive walkthroughs, and engaging point-and-click games using annotated 360-degree images and videos.

Until now, users have had the option to download or purchase these images from libraries and photo services, or create their own. The integration with Skybox AI adds an exciting new dimension to ThingLink’s creative workflow. Educators and students can now utilize cutting-edge artificial intelligence to generate scenes for immersive learning experiences, storytelling and entry-level game development, further enhancing engagement and educational outcomes.

Embracing the next generation of storytelling

“We are empowering educators and students to become creators and embrace the next generation of storytelling. Using Skybox AI and ThingLink, it’s possible to both design and execute a visually stunning point-and-click game in the same study unit. It is like having a team of the world’s fastest and best illustrators helping visualize your ideas”.

ThingLink founder and CEO Ulla-Maaria Koivula.

ThingLink’s integration with Skybox AI helps streamline the immersive content creation process and saves time from creating visual assets in one service, and interactive projects in another. Previously, ThingLink has announced similar integrations with Canva and Unsplash.

In addition to the technical integration, ThingLink and Blockade Labs have agreed on a strategic partnership through which Skybox AI can be made accessible to entire organizations, instead of just individual users. This lets Blockade Labs quickly test customer interest in new market segments.

“Creating 3D worlds from text prompts without coding is a powerful step towards unlocking human creativity. We are excited for our partnership with ThingLink and for users to interact with these incredibly imaginative easy-to-use tools”.

Marguerite deCourcelle CEO Blockade Labs.

Schools, universities and businesses that have a ThingLink organization account can purchase Skybox AI as an add-on service for all of their users. The entry level package, priced at $1,000, includes 15,000 image generations per year.

About ThingLink

ThingLink is a trusted immersive learning technology partner for leading businesses and educational institutions in Europe and North America. Thousands of companies, schools, and higher education institutions use ThingLink to create interactive 2D, 3D, VR, and AR learning experiences, such as virtual tours, guided field trips, employee trainings, and branched multimedia simulations.

About Blockade Labs 

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.

Connect News and Stories

ThingLink X (Twitter) and Blockade Labs X (Twitter)

ThingLink LinkedIn and Blockade Labs LinkedIn

Press Contact 

For additional information or to schedule an interview, please contact

Louise Jones

Community and Engagement @ ThingLink

louise@thinglink.com